Editor’s Note: The “People First” section is compiled from information from the Air Force Personnel Center, TRICARE, 56th Force Support Squadron, Airman and Family Readiness Flight, Veterans Affairs, the civilian personnel office and armed forces news services. For the complete story, go to the web address listed at the end of the story.
Program to improve IT core services achieves milestone
An Air Force program that will save money, save energy and improve core information technology services, such as e-mail, has recently met a significant milestone.
Hardware to consolidate four regional data processing centers into one area processing center has been delivered, installed and tested at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
More than half of the Air Force Materiel Command information technology equipment housed at Wright-Patterson as well as at Tinker AFB, Okla.; Hill AFB, Utah; Robins AFB, Ga.; and other remote processing centers is past end of life, according to Laura Ervin-Cook, program manager.
“This increases the risk of catastrophic failure for critical mission support infrastructure and has resulted in an increase in the frequency and duration of service outages, which directly affect the Air Force mission,” Ervin-Cook said. “In 2011, the Air Force chief information officer said his number one cyber priority was the AFNet migration, and he wanted it completed by the end of 2012.”
Another issue is that routed information would often have multiple routings, for example from Hanscom AFB, Mass., to Robins to Wright-Patterson. Now the route is only one in and one out, which will help solve the latency and failure rates.
http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123313339
Air Force looks to put wings on enlisted retrainees
Enlisted Airmen have the opportunity to earn a pair of wings and go fly, fight and win America’s wars.
Air Force officials are looking for retrainees to become career enlisted aviators as flight engineers, aircraft loadmasters, flight attendants, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operators.
The duties and responsibilities of these positions call for Airmen to serve as crew members aboard many of the Air Force’s aircraft.
“If you really want to travel around the world and see different things, you can do that as a career enlisted aviator,” said Master Sgt. Matt Ardis, the career enlisted aviator in-service recruiter at the Pentagon.
For Tech. Sgt. Francis Camejo, who retrained as a C-17 Globemaster III loadmaster in 2009, the best part of being a career enlisted aviator is directly contributing to so many Air Force missions.
“When you airlift over 5 million pounds of cargo and passengers per year without injuries or damage to equipment, you gain a sense of pride in your work,” Camejo said.
http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123313945
CMSAF Roy: ‘Future is now’
During recent visits to Air Force bases across the nation, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy discussed issues ranging from AEF Next to resiliency to developing 21st century Airmen.
Air Force leaders must ensure future enlisted leaders are skilled in things like leadership and communication – the institutional competencies that are essential to any career, Roy said. Within this year, leaders are going to start transforming enlisted professional military education.
“The future is now,” he said.
Roy added that there are plans to reduce the average 10-year gap between Airman Leadership School and the NCO Academy.
“What we have found over the past few years is there’s a huge gap in our enlisted professional military education,” he said. “That time frame is very important for Airmen because that’s the time in which they find themselves supervising others.”
These issues led to the development of the evolution of enlisted professional military education, “EPME Next.” The goal of the program is to provide development at an earlier stage in an Airman’s career to better meet the Air Force mission requirements of the future, he said.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123313152
‘AF 101’ gives spouses tips for life in military
Taking care of Air Force families has been a passion of Suzie Schwartz, wife of former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and Paula Roy, wife of Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy. They have tackled issues that have ranged from spouse employment to issues affecting the families of deployed Airmen and the exceptional family member program, in addition to listening to families directly during visits around the globe.
Through their efforts, a guide book has been developed to give spouses a “toolbox” of information, as well as a way to familiarize them with such things as the Air Force mission, organization, rank structure and traditions.
“Air Force 101” was developed in response to requests for a “spouse battlebook” – a one-stop resource on the basics of life in the Air Force. This guide is designed to provide spouses with “enough information to know what questions to ask…and, who to ask to fully understand the answers.”
To access a copy of the guide, go to: https://www.usafservices.com/Home/SpouseSupport.aspx
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123313020
