Rao bulletin 1 October 2016 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles pg Article Subject
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- Military Birth Control ► Increased Education Access Needed
- USMC Aircraft Shortage ► Civilian Plane Contracted to Fill Gap
- Military Awards Review Update 01 ► 1357 Post-9/11 Citations
- Silver Star ********************************* Guard Reserve Retirement ► Understanding Guard Points
- Guard Reserve Retirement
| As part of that review, a working group collected feedback from airmen and "concluded Tops in Blue is no longer aligned with the entertainment preferences of the airmen and families of the Air Force." Word about Tops in Blue's end first leaked out on the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page, which on Wednesday posted a redacted screenshot of another Facebook page discussing its fate. For years, canceling Tops in Blue was a frequent suggestion when airmen were asked to name ways to save money. One ex-member, former Capt. Gavin Light, filed an inspector general complaint in 2013 alleging waste, abuse and a "blatant disregard for safety" in the program. Light told Air Force Times that while the cash-strapped Air Force was cutting on-base programs that airmen actually used, such as bowling alleys and auto body shops, it had no business spending money on the band.
In 2015, the last year Tops in Blue toured, the Air Force officially budgeted more than $1.3 million for the program, including more than $1 million in morale, welfare and readiness money and $319,000 in appropriated taxpayer funds. But corporate sponsorships were declining, from roughly $170,000 in 2014 to $25,000 in 2015, forcing the Air Force to up its MWR funding of the band by nearly 13 percent. Critics of the band also said the Air Force's official budgetary estimates didn't take into account the salaries of the band's roughly three dozen members -- who were taken out of their usual jobs for a year while they rehearsed and toured -- as well as travel costs for sending them all over the world. Those salaries cost at least another million dollars. Former members said they often worked 18 hours a day, operating on just a few hours of sleep, which led to illnesses and injuries. A truck driver for the band told Air Force Times he was regularly told to ignore rules requiring vehicle operators to get eight hours of sleep and requirements to periodically check equipment to ensure it hadn't shifted in transit. Because of that, he said, instruments or equipment were often broken en route. The 2013 commander-directed investigation, launched as a result of Light's complaint and obtained by Air Force Times via a Freedom of Information Act request, substantiated an unnamed female airman's allegations of sexual harassment while she was on tour in 2012. The report, which partially substantiated some of Light's allegations, also found a technical sergeant received a severe electric shock while trying to hook up equipment to a poorly grounded temporary power board, and that Tops in Blue did not follow the rules and properly report it. That tech sergeant also jackknifed and rolled a 7-1/2-ton tractor trailer while taking an exit ramp too fast, which resulted in the scrapping of the truck. The next day, another airman crashed another truck into a lamp post in a church parking lot, extensively damaging the truck and knocking the post over. Those accidents cost the Air Force $135,208. [Source: AirForceTimes | Stephen Losey | September 16, 2016 ++] ********************************* Military Birth Control ► Increased Education & Access Needed A trio of Democrats is urging the Defense secretary to increase contraceptive education and access for troops and their families. “We are concerned that women, who represent an increasingly large percentage of the U.S. military, may not have access to the most effective or preferred methods of contraception, which is especially concerning leading up to and during deployment,” the senators wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter on 23 SEP. “Access to family planning services is an integral component of primary health care and a necessary preventive health option for all women.” The letter was led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). About 10 percent of female troops have unwanted pregnancies, according to the letter. That compares with less than 5 percent elsewhere in the United States. At the same time, estimates on contraceptive use among deployed troops vary wildly, according to the letter. Estimates range from as low as 39 percent to a high as 77 percent. The issue takes on added urgency, the senators said, because of the spread of the Zika virus, which can cause severe birth defects. “Family planning services are a primary tool for combating the effects of Zika and are critical to allow women to time their pregnancies,” the senators wrote. Some obstacles for female troops include inconsistent stocking of contraceptives by different military treatment facilities, difficulties getting refills while deployed, stigma, and the difficulty of taking a daily pill in harsh deployments, they said. The senators suggested alleviating these issues by providing better access to and information about long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) such as intrauterine devices. The senators applauded steps the Navy has already taken to expand access to such contraceptives. “From 2014-2016, the Navy has proactively expanded LARC access by sponsoring one-day provider training events at 11” military treatment facilities, they wrote. “As a result, use of LARCs in the Navy and the Marines has increased from 14 percent in 2009, to 32 percent in 2015. We support extension of these models and applaud the progress made to expand access to care for female servicemembers.” The senators also asked Carter to ensure uniform screening on contraceptive needs during mandatory health assessments; a broad range of contraception options; the collection and reporting of information about access and barriers to contraception; the inclusion of information about LARCs in Pentagon clinical guidelines; and Pentagon support for LARC training. “Our nation’s servicemembers deserve a commitment to protect their health and wellbeing that is worthy of their commitment to protect our country,” they wrote. “Failure to provide adequate preventive health care, such as contraception, leaves female servicemembers vulnerable to unintended pregnancies and compromises the preparedness of our troops.” [Source: The Hill | Rebecca Kheel | September 23, 2016 ++] ********************************* USMC Aircraft Shortage ► Civilian Plane Contracted to Fill Gap Recon Marines are training for some of the Corps' most challenging tactical jumps by leaping from a civilian skydiving plane. Unable to use the Corps' KC-130J Super Hercules transport and tanker planes for training because those aircraft are tapped out with forward-deployed operations, the Marines from 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, have entered into a contract with a civilian company to ensure they get the jump time before deploying. The jump training will take place in two waves, according to 2nd Marine Division spokesman 1 st Lt. Johnny Henderson. The first iteration, running from Sept. 20 to 22, is a static low-line and military free fall involving roughly 50 Marines. The second wave is planned from Sept. 30 through Oct. 22 near Raeford, N.C., where Paraclete Aviation, the skydiving company, is based. Marine Forces Command said the shortfall is due to the KC-130J being a “critical enabler for forward deployed Marine Air-Ground Task Force success.” Aerial refueler transport squadron detachments are currently dedicated to the Special-Purpose MAGTFs assigned to cover European, Africa, and Central commands. “Global demand signal associated with the ‘new normal’ increases the number of deployed KC-130 detachments, adding pressure to personnel tempo and reducing capacity to support [continental United States] Marine Expeditionary Force requirements,” the command said in a written response to Marine Corps Times. Marine Corps officials did not say how often civilian aircraft have been used in similar jumps in past years. Reconnaissance officials declined to comment on the matter. Under the terms of the contract, the company will equip its aircraft with certain items common to any military jumper. The Marines will use a CASA C-212 ramp-style aircraft configured for day and night operations and equipped with oxygen for pilots and aircrew. The planes have red and green jump lights in the cargo compartment and the pilots are certified to land and operate out of military airfields. The training will involve a number of tactical insertions, including difficult and risky High Altitude High Opening, or HAHO, operations and High Altitude Low Opening, or HALO, jumps. They will use the SF-10A multi-mission parachute system, which includes a drogue to slow freefall, as well the Tandem Offset Resupply Delivery System, or TORDS, a parachute that can carry more than 500 pounds of gear. Cargo delivery such as door bundles will take place, as well, according to the contract. The Marine Corps does not expect to return to optimal aviation readiness levels until at least 2020, assuming the service gets necessary funding. Mission-capable rates for all but one of the Marine Corps' 12 fixed-wing, rotary and tiltrotor airframes have fallen since the end of fiscal 2009, according to data obtained by Marine Corps Times via Freedom of Information Act request. [Source: Marine Corps Times | Lance M. Bacon | September 21, 2016 ++] ********************************* Military Awards Review Update 01 ► 1357 Post-9/11 Citations An airman who took enemy fire during a river evacuation in Afghanistan in 2009 recently received a Silver Star for his bravery. Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle recounted the story of Airman First Class Benjamin Hutchins, a Tactical Air Control Party airman supporting the 82nd Airborne Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team. "This is an example of our airmen," Carlisle said during a speech at the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference near Washington, D.C. Carlisle said Hutchins received his award on 11 SEP. Hutchins and a team of soldiers were on the west bank of the Murghab River looking for a supply airdrop, Carlisle said. One of the canisters fell off target into the river, and two soldiers swam out to retrieve it. But Taliban militants on the east side of the river were watching. The soldiers were swept out by a "strong current they weren't anticipating," Carlisle said. "Airman Hutchins jumps into the river after [them] … but the Taliban start[ed] shooting at the last man in the water." Hutchins, swimming around for roughly an hour, evaded Taliban fire by skimming the surface of the water "with [only] his nose and mouth" while diving back down to find his fellow service members. The 82nd Airborne soon came to the aid of all three men, but the Taliban began another firefight -- with machine guns, sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades -- on the east bank. Fresh out of the river, Hutchins took lead of the team. "They come out, and start running across an open field and take on the Taliban. They take out the rocket propeller, the machine gun. There's still dealing with the snipers, but Hutchins, being a TACP, gets on the radio … calls in a [strike] from an MQ-1 Predator in a danger-close situation, but … it takes out the Taliban," Carlisle said. In an ironic twist, "they did eventually get their container back," he said. Hutchins had been submitted for the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, but the Air Force on 20 SEP could not verify whether he received it, or whether the award had instead been upgraded to the Silver Star. The Defense Department is reviewing more than 1,357 post-9/11 valor citations to determine if they warrant a higher award such as the Medal of Honor, officials announced in January. In 2014, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a review of all decorations and awards programs "to ensure that after 13 years of combat the awards system appropriately recognizes the service, sacrifices and action of our service members," officials told USA Today at the time. The latest review is due to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter by Sept. 30, 2017. [Source: Military.com | Oriana Pawlyk | September 21, 2016 ++] 
Silver Star ********************************* Guard & Reserve Retirement ► Understanding Guard Points Members of the Reserve Corps (the National Guard and Reserves) have a different pay and retirement system than Active Duty servicemembers. Their Reserve retirement system is set up with the same principals as the Active Duty system, but instead of calculating the retirement based on years of service, it is calculated using Retirement Points. Understanding how Retirement Points are earned is essential to understanding when you will be eligible for retirement, and how to calculate the value of a Reserve pension. For information on how to do this refer to the attachment to this Bulletin titled, "Guard & Reserve Retirement". [Source: The Military Wallet | http://themilitarywallet.com/guard-reserve-points | September 20, 2016 ++] ********************************* Hand Grenades ► ET-MP to Replace M-67 Hand grenades are an ancient weapon but hardly irrelevant. There are few devices as brutally effective at killing inside enclosed spaces, such as caves or rooms, than a device such as the U.S. Army’s M67 fragmentation grenade. The M67 has been around for awhile, being first introduced into service in 1968. And mechanically, it’s little different from the grenades American soldiers lobbed into bunkers during the World Wars. It’s a relic, one still quite practical and useful, that has survived like the M2 Browning machine gun into the 21st century. But the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal is working on a replacement, which if introduced into service, will amount to the first new lethal American grenade since Vietnam. And there’s an interesting design choice behind it. The Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose grenade, or ET-MP, will be able to switch between two modes and produce two different kinds of explosions, according to Picattiny. At the same time, it brings back an older “concussive” effect absent from the U.S. Army since the 1970s. Adjust the grenade, and the operator can select a fragmentation or concussion mode. The ET-MP is also safer for the thrower, Picatinny Arsenal added in an announcement this week. This is because the grenade will feature an electronic fuze, or delay mechanism, unlike the M67’s mechanical fuze. To simplify, an electronic fuze is more reliable over the long term and the detonation can be timed to be extremely precise. However, the grenade appears to be just a design at this stage, with the Pentagon committing $1.1 million in funding for the 2017 fiscal year — tiny on the scale of other military programs. 
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