NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/soc/veterans/1509

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 15.8 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!UB.com!pacbell.com!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail
From: [e-mail] (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: AF News Svc 01/28/93
Date: 28 Jan 1993 15:39:16 -0600
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Lines: 267
Sender: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

051.  Commander's sentence
052.  Pilot bonus
053.  Health care prognosis
054.  Health promotion
055.  Team Spirit
056.  New Jersey Guard openings
                  &    &    &
                  &    &    &
                  &    &    &
051.  Commander's sentence
     GOODFELLOW AFB, Texas (AFNS) -- The former commander of Goodfellow
Technical Training Center was sentenced to dismissal from the Air Force after
being found guilty of pornography charges Jan 25.
     A jury deliberated about an hour before sentencing Col. James A. Maxwell
Jr., said  Capt. Christopher Mathews, circuit trial counsel.
     Dismissal for an officer is equivalent to a dishonorable discharge for an
enlisted member and includes loss of all pay, allowances and military
retirement benefits.
     Maxwell, a 26-year Air Force veteran, was charged July 2 with conduct
unbecoming an officer for using his personal computer to solicit, collect and
distribute child pornography and pornographic information.
     He was also charged with interstate transmission of indecent language and
pornography via the computer, and using indecent language with a junior
officer.
     The maximum jail sentence Maxwell could have received was 10 years and
six months.
     He was center commander for two years and will stay at Goodfellow as
special assistant to the commander while his appeal is pending.


052.  Pilot bonus
     RANDOLPH AFB, Texas (AFNS) -- Some 1,100 eligible pilots have until March
15 to take advantage of an accelerated pilot bonus program or risk being
reassigned to non-flying positions, Air Force personnel officials said.
     Bonus-eligible pilots who intend to stay with the Air Force for the
long-term will have to declare their intentions early this year because of the
recently implemented program, officials said.
     Pilots currently eligible, as well as those who will become eligible by
March 15, must sign a bonus agreement before March 15 to participate in the
fiscal 1993 program.
     Those eligible later in the fiscal year need to sign an ACP contract by
March 15 to get the bonus.  These agreements would then take effect on the
pilots' eligibility dates, officials said.
     Eligible pilots who decline the aviator continuation pay may be
reassigned from flying positions to meet other needs of the Air Force.
     The program pays an annual bonus in return for a promise to stay in the
Air Force for at least 14 years of commissioned service.
     The accelerated ACP program has a dual strategy, officials said.
     The Air Force's first priority is to retain as many pilots as possible
for the long-term, they said.  The second is to open up cockpits in the
short-term by identifying those pilots unwilling to make a long-term
commitment.
     The cockpits are needed to train and provide experience for young pilots
who will meet Air Force requirements in the mid- to late-1990s.
     Eligibility criteria include:
     -- Fixed wing pilots.
     -- Officers with at least six but less than 13 years of total service.
     -- Officers operationally qualified to perform flying duties.
     -- Officers who have completed the active-duty service commitment for
undergraduate pilot training, as well as those who will complete their
commitment before Oct. 1.
     -- Company grade or field grade officers selected for promotion
below-the-zone.
     Deferred officers and those selected for major in-the-promotion zone are
ineligible.  This means officers who met the Dec. 7, 1992, Central Major
Selection Board competing in- or above-the-promotion zone are not eligible.
     More information is available through local commanders and military
personnel flights.  Information is also available by calling Maj. Craig
Soderquist or TSgt. Lisa Moutria, DSN 487-3356.


053.  Health care prognosis
by TSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
     BOLLING AFB, D.C. -- The prognosis for the continuation of quality
medical care in the Air Force is good, although skyrocketing costs will
continue to challenge the military's health care services, said the Air Force
surgeon general.
     "Our goal is to maintain as robust a health care system as we can," said
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Alexander M. Sloan.  "Obviously with the downsizing, we're
looking at ways to do things more efficiently.
     "This period is a very turbulent one for the Air Force and the medical
service.  I hope the Air Force community understands that the leadership feels
medical care is a very important aspect of what we do in the Air Force.  Great
attention has been given and will continue to be given to benefits at all
levels," Sloan told Air Force News Service.
     Not surprisingly, after taking over as surgeon general last year, Sloan
has been bombarded with questions from people around the Air Force about the
continued availability of quality health care as the military gets smaller.
     "I'm frequently asked by our retirees if they will still have access to
care.  'Will I be able to continue to use the military hospital clinics?  What
does the future look like for us?'" Sloan said.
     At the same time, the Air Force Medical Service has developed and is
implementing a program known as the Transitional Health Care Program to assist
beneficiaries at base closure sites during the transition period between
closure of base medical facilities and establishment of a permanent Defense
Department health care program.  The transitional program will provide
selected pharmacy and health benefits adviser services.
     "For active-duty people and their families, we expect to see access
improve somewhat as we redistribute medical personnel resources from closing
facilities to other facilities throughout the Air Force," Sloan said.
     Active-duty people and their families often direct questions toward
access to certain medical specialities rather than toward overall primary
care.
     "We continue to get high marks on primary care, but some of our people
are concerned about OB/GYN care because we don't have enough of those folks...
and I tell them we can expect to improve, we hope, in a year or two, based on
the number of people we recruit."
     Sloan said active-duty families are also attentive to family advocacy and
health promotion issues.  Interest in programs on parent training, stress
management, nutrition and smoking cessation, for example, show the changing
emphasis in Air Force medicine from treatment to prevention.
     "Access to all levels of care continues to be a major issue for both our
patients and the medical service," he said.  "Our patients have always been
our No. 1 priority, and we'll continue to look for ways to improve access to
serve them better."
     Sloan added he's never been more proud of the medical service's efforts,
and that the approval expressed by patients tells him that the military has
the best medical system in existence.
     However, he said it will be tough to control the medical service budget
and continue to provide the same level and quality of service it has always
done.  He also admits the Air Force and the other military services are not
alone in their health care woes, saying, "It is a national problem."
     For example, a congressional subcommittee recently reported that national
health spending is rising about 10 percent a year, or about twice the rate of
nominal economic growth.  If health care costs continue to rise, Congress says
almost 20 percent of the economy will be eaten by it.
     Dr. Enrique Mendez Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health
affairs, told Congress last year that based on an annual survey of almost
3,000 employers, the average American corporation spent 21.6 percent more in
1990 than in 1989 to provide doctor and hospital care of its employees.
     Mendez added, "The department cannot afford such an increase," and must
make adjustments if it's to continue providing quality health care.
     Sloan pointed out that the incentives to change the nation's health care
delivery system are enormous.
     "The business of medical care is a big item of concern across the
country.  People are now making life choices based on availability of health
insurance.  People are refusing to take a job in another city because they
don't get their health benefits transferred," he said.
     "When you get down to that level of involvement by middle America, then
it becomes the kind of issue you saw in the presidential election."
     Sloan said the bill for America's health care system will be about $900
billion in 1993, with no end to its growth in site.  "Clearly, medical care is
something that resisted our attempts to manage it."
     However, he believes there will be some consorted effort to reform the
United States health system.  "I predict we'll see something very
significantly different from what we have now, perhaps within the next few
months, and at the most, within three years."
     In the meantime, the surgeon general thinks it would be prudent for
active-duty people, and especially retirees, to have some type of supplemental
health insurance to pay for CHAMPUS cost shares and emergency health care
needs.
     "I've had supplemental health insurance myself for years because I think
it's a smart business decision," Sloan said.  "I would recommend that our
families, and our individual servicemembers, look at their own personal
situation, and consider what is best for them.  Generally speaking,
supplemental health insurance is a good idea for everyone."


054.  Health promotion
by TSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
     BOLLING AFB, D.C. -- Getting Air Force people behind health promotion and
fitness programs such as bicycle ergometry testing is the right thing to do in
these days of a smaller budget, said the Air Force surgeon general.
     "I understand that taking charge of one's own health is probably not the
main focus for most people today, but it is still an important factor in the
Air Force medical service mission to provide quality care to active duty,
family members and retirees," said Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Alexander M. Sloan.
     Today, the health profession has a better idea of what works and what
doesn't work in terms of health promotion.  The Pentagon has clearly focused
on the expense of health care delivery, and thinks health promotion programs
can help keep costs down, Sloan told Air Force News Service.
     "When you're trying to get the best possible use out of limited dollars,
then you want people to be as healthy as they can possibly be... it's in the
patient's best interest, and it's in everybody's best interest."
     It sounds great in theory, and aside from the difficulty of changing
someone's lifestyle, health promotion programs have already shown positive
results.  The medical service believes when people eat right, exercise
regularly and give up harmful habits, they feel better and their body
functions better.
     For instance, medical experts say that people have known for years that
diet and exercise have a measurable effect on the body, and that stress takes
a toll, but this information had not received a lot of attention before.
     Moreover, if people in the military do not change negative habits and
behavior, they may be in for a rude awakening when they move into the civilian
sector.  A recent congressional report said many commercial insurers are
screening out people with various ailments in order to cut their liabilities.
     The solution proposed by the surgeon general is to put a major emphasis
on a healthy lifestyle.
     "There is a tendency to focus only on the care of people who are already
sick, and that's been the orientation of American medicine, but we need to do
better in preventing the occurrence of such things as heart disease in the
first place," Sloan said.
     "Certainly the national culture has changed, and the leadership of the
Air Force strongly endorses the new fitness program and other health
prevention programs."
     Signs of some progress already being made are evident in results from a
recent Department of Defense health survey.
     Survey data shows that smoking among all servicemembers decreased from
40.9 percent in 1988 to 35 percent in 1992.  The survey also indicates
productivity loss, absence from work or inattention on the job due to drinking
has dropped from 22.1 percent in 1988 to 16.4 percent in 1992.
     Not surprisingly, the Air Force has focused a great deal of attention on
instituting a new fitness test, with a goal to have every Air Force person
performing a bicycle ergometry test in 1993.
     "I would say the major benefit of the test is that it's very
reproducible, and it gives you a reasonably accurate measure of one's aerobic
fitness," Sloan said.
     In addition, bicycle ergometry is safe.  Ergometry testing uses a heart
monitor and a computer to measure aerobic fitness.  Participants ride a bike
at 50 revolutions per minute, for six to 12 minutes.
     "Although we did not have a lot of problems with the old run around the
track, we did have incidents when people -- who had not been exercising
regularly before the run -- had difficulties," Sloan said.
     "Our experience now is that when people participate in bicycle ergometry
testing, and see how they can measure their own personal improvement, it turns
into a very positive experience."
     Sloan said the Air Force is in the final stages of implementing the
program worldwide, and that printed guidance will be out shortly.
     In addition to measuring the force's aerobic fitness, the surgeon general
wants to encourage Air Force people to focus on improving their nutritional
habits.
     Under a new program called "Check It Out," base dining halls will be
labeling foods so people will know at a glance the fat, proteins and
carbohydrate content of the food they're selecting.
     Also, Sloan said the Air Force is going to significantly change the way
it cooks foods to make sure healthy alternatives are available.
     "I think this will be a big step in the right direction.  Certainly we
intend to measure the consumption of healthy foods."
     The Air Force initiatives are part of a Defense Department program called
"Promoting Health 2000" that is concerned with environmental health,
nutrition, physical fitness and substance abuse.


055.  Team Spirit
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- U.S. and South Korean forces as well as other
American forces deploying to Korea will participate in Team Spirit '93, set to
start mid-march, U.S. and Korean officials said.
     Team Spirit is a joint and combined training exercise designed to test
the defensive capabilities of American and South Korean troops.  The exercise
is scheduled to last about 10 days.
     This is the 17th Team Spirit exercise.  The 1992 exercise was suspended
in hopes of improving North and South Korean ties and reducing tensions on the
peninsula.  The first Team Spirit was conducted in 1976.


056.  New Jersey Guard openings
     ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AFNS) -- The 177th Fighter Group, N.J. Air National
Guard, has immediate part-time openings for people leaving active duty.
     Vacancies exist in a number of career fields, including aircraft
maintenance, civil engineering, flight line mechanic and refueling.
Retraining is also available.
     More information and a complete listing of open career fields is
available by calling DSN 455-6212 or commercial 1-800-392-6377.
--

      // \\
    //     \\                    Air Force News Agency
   |         |               Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA
   \\  {*}  //                   [e-mail]
   \  CMSgt  /      ___________________ /____________________________________
   \  Mike   /
   \ Bergman /
     \     /