COLORADO S PRINGS M ILITARY NEWSPAPER GROUP
Thursday, May 4, 2017
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FIRST FRIDAY CONCERT
www.csmng.com
Vol. 11 No. 18
★★★★ 50 FSS Happenings on page 16 14 ★★★★
1 SOPS revamps ops floors; increases mission capability
Did you know the 50th Force Support Squadron is hosting a First Friday concert 3 p.m. Friday in the fitness center upper parking lot?
Base Briefs Spouses are invited to events marked with
THIS WEEK Combative courses available at Schriever Fitness Center
Free basic and intermediate combative courses are available at the Schriever Fitness Center 6 — 7 a.m. every Wednesday. The course is open to all Department of Defense cardholders affi liated with Schriever (15 years old and above). This is limited to 20 people a week and filled on a first come, first served basis. Bring a mouth guard, water bottle and exercise clothing that you’re not afraid of tearing. Individuals must register with the fitness center at 567-6628, no later than 5 p.m. every Monday.
Stage one fire restriction lifted
The stage one fire restriction has been lifted for El Paso County and Colorado Springs. While the restrictions have been lifted, we continue to stress using caution when using open flame or flame producing devices. Always keep a safe area for their use and make sure you keep fire suppression items available. The Sheriff ’s Office and other fire officials will continue to monitor weather and fire conditions throughout the year and may enact additional restrictions as needed in the months to come. More Briefs page 4 Sign up for weekly Schriever announcements, news and more. Visit www.schriever.af.mil and click “Public Affairs” under featured links.
Public Affairs
Courtesy photo
1st Space Operations Squadron Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness and Space Based Space Surveillance crews operate satellite vehicles in the new, combined ops floor at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado Friday, April 28, 2017. This marked the first time space situational awareness operations were brought together into one ops floor, Mod 9.
By Senior Airman Arielle Vasquez 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
The 1st Space Operations Squadron combined its Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness and Space Based Space Surveillance ops floors, which became fully functional April 20. Discussions for the project began in June 2014 with the vision of increasing communication and improving operational techniques. “Although the two ops floors were doing very similar parts of the space situational
Traffic Safety week concludes ......... 5 SAPR hosts 1st Zoo Zoom Run .......8 6 SOPS flies the COOP ....................9
data crossflows between GSSAP and SBSS systems. Once the squadron met all the necessary requirements to start the project, 1 SOPS members and the 50th Civil Engineer Squadron teamed up for the demolition process in October 2016. Staff Sgt. Shawn Tierney, 1 SOPS cyber transport technician, played a critical role in the construction phase. See Mission page 6
50th Space Wing Vision
Evolving the force, driving innovation, mastering space
Counseling strengthens self, community By Airman 1st Class William Tracy 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
Inside
awareness mission, they weren’t communicating with each other in that point in time,” said Maj. Jennifer Kaiser, 1 SOPS mission assurance director. “Col. Toby Doran, who was the squadron commander at the time, decided there was a need to unify the ops floors to gain more operational synergy for a better chance for tactics, techniques and procedures development and better cross utilization of data.” Lt. Col. Casey Beard, current 1 SOPS commander, expanded on this vision and added
For Schriever service members — such as Airman Snuff y, fresh out of tech school on his/her first assignment here at Schriever — who may be having a hard time adjusting to the military lifestyle, or may have problems at the workplace, at home or with a relationship, or just needs someone to talk to — what are their options? Luckily for Airman Snuff y and others, there are a wealth of ways to seek counseling for help with the struggles of their daily lives. “We can all use advice and guidance about life situations, life can be hard, and it never hurts to seek support,” said Katie Civiletto, Give an Hour program specialist. Give an
Hour is a counseling program, which provides military members, veterans, and their loved ones free therapeutic services in person, on the phone and through video. “Counseling helps individuals achieve a greater level of mental fitness helping improve their performance in their workplace and in their domestic life,” she said. There are a variety of free counseling services available to military members; all they have to do is seek their services, said Jessica Schroeder, Schriever community support coordinator. “One of the strongest things you can do is ask for help,” said Schroeder. Military counseling programs aren’t just limited to base installations either, said Schroeder.
“We have counseling options completely outside the Department of Defense within the Colorado Springs community,” she said. “There are also options you can access online and other means. Some, like military and family life counselors, can meet you at a predefined locations.” Schroeder says some may be apprehensive about seeking counseling services, but the benefits of dealing with problems are more preferable to keeping them sealed away untreated, with the possibility of causing problems in the future. “Counseling offers us the ability to address issues, rather than let them remain,” she said. “It’s better to not let them get pent up.” See Community page 17