Gosport - August 29, 2014

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Vol. 78, No. 34

VISIT GOSPORT ONLINE: www.gosportpensacola.com

August 29, 2014

Hurricane preparedness: Are you ready? By MC2(SW/AW/EXW) Stacy D. Laseter Navy Region Southeast Public Affairs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s the middle of the 2014 hurricane season with Hurricane Cristobal in the Atlantic, so there’s no better time to ask yourself this question: Are you ready? Although the Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, the bulk of the named systems form during the latter part of the season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). And while the first part of this hurricane season has been quiet, NOAA records show that 321 hurricanes have made landfall in the southeastern United States. That places Navy Region Southeast installations squarely in the target zone. So how do you prepare? Start with a plan. “Make a plan that your family understands,” Navy Region Southeast Regional Emergency Management Officer Scott Crossley said. “Plans should include a meeting location if your family is separated, out-of-town contact numbers, local evacuation routes, medicines, what you’ll do with your pets, important pa-

pers you’ll need and more. You can’t be too prepared.” In addition to an evacuation plan, it’s recommended families have at least three days of emergency supplies, according to the American Red Cross, including one gallon of water per person per day, nonperishable foods and hygiene products. Hurricane season will come and go, but as Crossley points out, being prepared is not a seasonal event. “It’s not just for hurricane season,” said Crossley. “You need to plan and be prepared yearround.” YN1 Serge Kabanda, CNRSE flag writer, whose entire career has been located in states prone to hurricanes, understands the need to “be ready.” “Disaster preparedness is important, especially if you don’t live alone,” said Kabanda. “Even if you have pets, you should always have an emergency plan. A hurricane. A fire. Even being robbed. Just be ready for anything that could happen and know what to do. Being prepared means you don’t have to panic whenever things actually do happen.” So what do you do if something does

NATTC, MANNA winners in Feds Feed Families donations ... Navy and Marine Corps students from Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) load food, donated through the Feds Feed Families (FFF) program, onto a MANNA Food Pantries truck Aug. 15. NAS Pensacola’s total as of Aug. 25 was 96,557 pounds for this year’s campaign. This year’s top contributor was NATTC at 8,144 pounds. Photo by BM1 Martha Mendoza

See Be ready on page 2

Air Force ‘Career Day’ highlights flight education choices Story, photo By Mike O’Connor Gosport Associate Editor

An Aug. 22 fly-in at NAS Pensacola’s Forrest Sherman Field featured several of the U.S. Air Force’s state-of-the-art aircraft for the base’s Air Force flight students to examine up close. The Career Day fly-ins, which will be held quarterly, also offered students the opportunity to talk with the crews of these aircraft, in order to learn about duty with their squadrons and what life will be like when they are deployed.

Air Force Capt. Jason Middlebrooks (top right) answers questions from service members about his B-52H Stratofortress.

An AC-130 gunship and a U28 Pilatus from Hurlburt Field were on hand, along with an E-

Vouchers enable accelerated officer graduate education By Ed Barker NETC PAO

Naval officers unable to pursue full-time graduate studies now have an additional education option with the FY-15 Graduate Education Voucher (GEV) program announced Aug. 25. Detailed in Naval Administrative Message (NAVADMIN) 191/14, the GEV program offers

eligible officers the opportunity to receive funded graduate education during off-duty hours. Through GEV, unrestricted line (URL) officers can apply to receive funding for Navy-relevant graduate education meeting the requirements of at least one subspecialty code as specified by the Navy Subspecialty

See GEV on page 2

8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) from Georgia’s (Warner)

Robins Air Force Base; and a B52H Stratofortress from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Their aircrew stood by for question-and-answer sessions. “Many of the students are right in their what we call ‘drop,’ ” Air Force Maj. Dwayne Killebrew, director of current operations, 479th Operational Support Squadron (OSS), said. “They’re getting close to the end, where they’re going to put together a list of what aircraft they want to go fly. Many of these students are fresh out of college; they have some idea about what these airplanes

do and what the mission is. “They got briefs this morning from the crews. Students want to hear it from the guys who are actually flying the mission,” Killebrew said. “Today they might get a brief that sparks their interest, or see a plane they haven’t before. There’s something about hearing it from the crews themselves. They flew it in here; it’s their airplane.” Maj. Millard Matthews III gave tours of the B-52 H Stratofortress and presented reasons why duty with that aircraft was a good choice for Air Force

See USAF on page 2

Icy challenge to help others ... Blue Angels Elementary School Principal Karen Montgomery gets the cold treatment Aug. 22 as part of an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) ice bucket challenge completed by all the students and staff at the school. About 1,000 people participated in the event, and volunteers from NAS Pensacola helped hand out the cups of ice that students dumped on their heads. The school has strong military ties. Montgomery said about 400 of the 913 children enrolled at Blue Angels Elementary are from military families. The event had personal significance for Montgomery and her sister, Lori Henderson, a first-grade teacher at the school. They lost their father, retired Navy ADR1 Nicholas Christodolus, to ALS in 2010. Photo by Janet Thomas

Published by Ballinger Publishing, a private firm in no way connected with the Department of the Navy. Opinions contained herein are not official expressions of the Department of the Navy nor do the advertisements constitute Department of the Navy, NAS Pensacola or Ballinger Publishing’s endorsement of products or services advertised.


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