|
Got this of AF Aim Points:
Welcome to U.S. Air Force AIM Points
UPDATED: June 5, 2006Full Version
Recruiters fly educators into wild blue yonder
BY: Marc Schogol, Philadelphia Inquirer*
06/03/2006
The mission: Take a group of educators aloft to see a midair refueling and in the process fuel an awareness of how students can benefit from joining the Air National Guard.
It was a mission accomplished, judging by the reactions of about 40 administrators and teachers who came to the Willow Grove air base yesterday.
First, the group was told that National Guard members can attend any state college tuition-free. Then the Air Guard's 111th Fighter Wing took everyone up in the air for a look at A-10 attack planes getting a high-altitude fill-up from four-engine KC-135s.
About 80 percent of the units' 1,060 personnel have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but except for those with a few critical specialties, all volunteered for the duty. The 111th suffered no casualties.
The day's demonstration and briefing went down very well.
"It was awesome... something we can bring back for the students," said Jim Granahan, a machine-shop teacher at Monroe County Career Technical Institute in the Poconos.
"It was amazing," said a literally flushed Linda Grim, who teaches commercial baking at Bethlehem Area Vocational and Technical School in Bethlehem.
"I never realized what the Pennsylvania National Guard did," said Grim, after crawling into the rear hatch of a Stratotanker to watch a boom operator adroitly connect a refueling probe with the receptacle on an A-10 as the two aircraft flew just a few feet apart at 250 miles an hour.
As part of the recruiting pitch, which emphasized the appeal of military training to civilian employers, officials of the 111th stressed that contrary to widespread perceptions, the unit isn't going to be disbanded, though it may lose the A-10s.
The 111th was on a list of units to be deactivated that the Pentagon submitted last year to the Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
But a federal court judge, ruling on a suit filed by the state, barred the move. The BRAC subsequently voted to maintain the unit, but take away its A-10 "Warthogs."
The BRAC also voted to relocate Navy and Marine air units stationed at Willow Grove, leaving the Montgomery County facility's future as an air base up in the air.
Since then, the departure of the Navy and Marine units has been pushed back from next year to 2009 or 2010 said Lt. Col. Preston Smith, the 111th's executive officer.
As a result, while the Pentagon appeals the federal court decision, defense officials have said the 111th can keep its planes until 2010. Its mission may then change, Col. Smith said.
Six of the A-10s and two K-135s took part in yesterday's program. Many of the educators, who flew in the K-135s, eagerly snapped pictures of the refueling operation.
Back on the ground, they took pictures of each other in front of an A-10.
Among the group was Jim Lynch, an aerospace teacher at Philadelphia's Northeast High School - the city's aerospace magnet school.
A former member of the Air Force himself, Lynch is no stranger to flying - but said he loves it every time and will tell students "how great it is to fly."
Coach
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
