USAF command seeking airmen for brief deployments to Africa

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PeterCH

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USAF command seeking airmen for brief deployments to Africa
By Jennifer H. Svan
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 15, 2010
AF seeks airmen for Africa
Capt. Kevin Graham gives a tour of the C-130 Hercules flight deck to members of the Ugandan defense force last year at Entebbe Air Base. U.S. Air Forces Africa is looking for volunteer airmen to participate in such events.
Paula Kurtz/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — U.S. Air Forces Africa is looking for a few good airmen.

The command recently launched an initiative seeking volunteers for short deployments to Africa in an effort to build a cadre of experienced airmen, while also addressing some staffing shortages.

Creating a volunteer pool might help AFAFRICA avoid postponing or canceling future events, said Col. Catherine Chin, AFAFRICA director of manpower, personnel and services. At the start of fiscal 2010, the command had about 100 events planned for the African theater. But because of logistical challenges including the lack of staffing, the number of missions was scaled back to 60.

Without any assigned wings, the command has to request troops through the Air Force, a process that can take up to four months. And on occasion, the command doesn’t get the airmen they request, or in time, which forces them to cancel or postpone missions.

Plus, the command never gets the same airmen twice, which can slow relationship-building on the continent, officials said.

“We’re trying to build an experienced pool of volunteers who can deploy to Africa,” Chin said.

AFAFRICA officials say the program, believed to be a first for the Air Force, is a creative solution to not having its own troops. Most volunteers will participate in 8-to-10-day “theater security cooperation” events in Africa, missions aimed at helping nations improve their air infrastructure, safety and security. Examples of past events include a military working dog demonstration in Ghana, the sharing of C-130 flight tactics in Algeria, and flight medicine training in Mali.

So far, interest from airmen in the volunteer program has exceeded expectations, Chin said.

Within the first few weeks of putting out the call for volunteers in late May, more than 60 people signed up. An additional 50 have either been approved or are in the application process, she said.

To qualify, an airman must be in good standing, meet Air Force fitness requirements, complete 10 hours of online cultural training, and be recommended by their squadron commander. And they must be outside their Air Expeditionary Force window of deployment.

“Ultimately, commanders have the stick,” Chin said. “They get to decide whether their people are available or not.”

AFAFRICA is looking for airmen across all career fields and ranks. Some applicants have extensive African experience, Chin said, such as growing up in Africa with missionary parents. Others are fluent in languages spoken in Africa, such as Arabic and Amharic, she said. “Then there are just people really enthusiastic about the mission, who think it’s cool …who want to support AFAFRICA,” she said. “And there’s a place for them too.”

U.S. Africa Command, AFAFRICA’s parent command, has faced similar challenges finding troops for their missions.

A Government Accountability Office report released last month described AFRICOM’s lack of assigned troops as a handicap.

“From AFRICOM’s and some military service components’ perspective, having to formally request forces for all activities may affect AFRICOM’s effectiveness if there are greater DOD priorities,” the GAO reported. “Furthermore, the special operations command component stated that, without assigned forces, it cannot act as a crisis-response force, which is the role of special operations commands in other combatant commands.”

But officials at command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, said of the hundreds of activities the command carries out each year, only a handful get cancelled or delayed because of staffing issues, and those tend to be specialized missions that require specialized staff.

For more information on the Air Force program, airmen can go to the “17th AF Theater Security Cooperation Volunteer Initiative” on the Air Force portal homepage, www.my.af.mil, and click on Air Force Announcements.

[email protected]
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http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/...rmen-for-brief-deployments-to-africa-1.114732
 
TonyHawk said:
At a huge cost... no different than going to a bank... there is only one winner :cry:
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Well, I see a free South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Western Europe and now Eastern Europe thanks to American anti-Soviet, anti-Red Chinese, anti-Nazi German and anti-Imperial Japanese activities.
 
Depends on one's political stance. Libertarians would prefer for the USA to become isolationist and make all decisions based on domestic politics - so less support for NATO, Korea, Japan, Israel etc - more for local domestic improvements.
 
PeterCH said:
Depends on one's political stance. Libertarians would prefer for the USA to become isolationist and make all decisions based on domestic politics - so less support for NATO, Korea, Japan, Israel etc - more for local domestic improvements.
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I would think the opposite true surely.
 
PeterCH said:
Depends on one's political stance. Libertarians would prefer for the USA to become isolationist and make all decisions based on domestic politics - so less support for NATO, Korea, Japan, Israel etc - more for local domestic improvements.
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I've never understood this stance. Most international American involvement has been largely to achieve an outcome that is advantageous to America's domestic interests.
 
BobsLawnService said:
I've never understood this stance. Most international American involvement has been largely to achieve an outcome that is advantageous to America's domestic interests.
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Well that depends how you look at it. Some people contend that it has not been advantageous and America should not be keeping up its empire, instead focus on itself.
 
PeterCH said:
Well that depends how you look at it. Some people contend that it has not been advantageous and America should not be keeping up its empire, instead focus on itself.
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I'd have to say that they are wrong. By extending their sphere of influence and control they are ensuring their future access to oil, etc.

I honestly don't think there has beeen one military operation in recent memory which hasn't benefitted them in some way.
 
BobsLawnService said:
I'd have to say that they are wrong. By extending their sphere of influence and control they are ensuring their future access to oil, etc.

I honestly don't think there has beeen one military operation in recent memory which hasn't benefitted them in some way.
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America has plenty of oil. America does not really need the rest of the world but the rest of the world needs America.

Europe needs America for security and trade.
Japan, Taiwan and S Korea (and Australia/NZ) need America for security and trade.
Middle East needs America for security and trade.
Israel needs America for security and trade.
China needs America for trade (and indirectly internal security).
Most of the other countries need America. Even places like Iran, Russia and Venezuela need America. Without the US buying oil and fueling the appetite for oil and oil byproducts (US is a big market) oil becomes cheap, too cheap to exploit and these countries suffer.

All of this gets America spat on and gives them a huge debt. US is self sufficient and with trade and no maintenance of Empire (troops leave Japan, Korea, Europe, etc) USA could do much better for its people - many contend.
 
PeterCH said:
http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/...rmen-for-brief-deployments-to-africa-1.114732
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I don’t think this initiative would work (not in Africa). The American civilian pilots have had ‘spin’ training removed from the pilot’s curriculum (I kid you not). I have heard that the Israeli combat pilots teach American pilot’s how to fly their own planes because only the Israeli pilot pushes the boundary of the flight envelope in combat. Pilots in Africa routinely land on airfields and plan approaches that would make an American pilot’s hair stand on end. I would question the value of technical training when delicate adjustments are carried-out by the local blacksmith with a 4lb hammer. TIA and it requires a different approach to flying. A 1st world flight infrastructure doesn’t exist on the continent. Areas where American pilot’s can make a contribution, are primitive to non-existent.
 
PeterCH said:
US is self sufficient and with trade and no maintenance of Empire (troops leave Japan, Korea, Europe, etc) USA could do much better for its people - many contend.
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Brilliant idea! I would support American non-interference. Let the rest of the world stew without America’s benign influence. That’ll larn ‘em.
 
BEWARE

PeterCH said:
http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/...rmen-for-brief-deployments-to-africa-1.114732
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You might like to try this .........

Go to this link and feed your paranoia.

To get the news go here .......

Vicki Huddleston
I wonder ....... any relation to Father Trevor Huddleston :confused:


and here

AFRICOM

This is OLD stuff ......... Well perhaps not so old

A BDF official remarked that their hope is that Huddleston's trip to Botswana will prove useful to the long-established relationship between the BDF and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Vicki Huiddleston visits Botswana
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United States policy on Cuba should return to a course once followed by
former Presidents Bush and Clinton, according to a recent past U.S. envoy to
Cuba.

Vicki Huddleston, former chief of mission of the U.S. Interests Section
in Havana, talked with reporters at a breakfast hosted by Lexington
Institute's Philip Peters last Wednesday. She said the policy of more open
contacts fostered by former President Bush, the current president's father,
'helped the Cuban people materially and improved Cuban behavior abroad.' She
said, 'This is basically the policy that worked in Eastern Europe. So why
not in Cuba as well?'

When the more open policy was in effect, she said, 'Cuba withdrew forces
from Africa and did not interfere in Central American electoral processes,'
such as the election lost by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

Mrs. Huddleston was deputy and then director of the State Department's
Cuban affairs office from 1989-1993 during the elder Mr. Bush's term in the
White House.
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See Peter -- they are busy right here in our own back yard....... CUBA to AFRICA

Ambassador Vicki Huddleston Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense

MOST Interesting.

WHAT can you tell us Peter :confused:
 
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What would happen to the SAAF if all 5 capable pilots in it's ranks joined the initiative?
 
Palimino said:
Brilliant idea! I would support American non-interference. Let the rest of the world stew without America’s benign influence. That’ll larn ‘em.
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You and the Taliban, crazy lil Kim in Korea, Charvez, Glowing Ahemi......

Nice crowd
 
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