Travis Tailwind: November 18, 2022

TRAVIS TAILWIND

Master Sgt. Matt Dillon performs a safe for maintenance observation on a C-17 Globemaster III at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pa., Nov. 3.

Sharpening soft skills goal of development program Exchange sweepstakes strives to deliver holiday cheer to military shoppers

Army & Air Force Exchange Service Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE — Military Star is turn ing holiday shopping into holiday prizes for the military community.

Now through Dec. 31, every time Travis shoppers use their Military Star card, they’ll automatically earn an entry into the ninth annual “Your Holiday Bill Is on Us” worldwide sweepstakes for a chance to have their entire holiday bill paid off or other prizes.

Five grand-prize winners will have their Military Star card balance paid in full through a statement cred it. Grand-prize winners whose balances do not meet the minimum prize of $2,500 will receive a statement cred it for the difference. Ten second-place winners will receive $1,000 statement credits and 25 third-place win ners will receive $500 statement credits.

“Airmen and military shoppers who use Military Star for their holiday shopping at the Travis Exchange and commissary can earn unlimited entries into this fantastic sweepstakes,” Travis Exchange General Manager Phonda Bishop said in a press release. “And that’s on top of earning rewards points on purchases and enjoying exclusive cardholder savings.”

Since the sweepstakes began in 2014, Military Star has paid off more than $320,000 in bills for military he roes, according to the press release.

Authorized shoppers can use their Military Star card at any military exchange, commissary, ShopMyExchange.com, myNavyExchange.com, ShopCGX. com, Armed Forced recreation centers, exchange mall vendor and more.

For rules, visit MyECP.com/CustomerAds/Page/Ex change.

The Military Star card is an exclusive line of cred it for service members and their families to use at ex changes and commissaries – no matter where they serve. For more information, visit MyECP.com.

TRAVIS TAILWIND

Publishers: Foy S. McNaughton and T. Burt McNaughton

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Claudia Sanchez-Bustamante MHS COMMUNICATIONS

An active brain is a healthy brain, experts agree.

Engaging in lifelong learning provides the opportunity to learn new skills, and participating in men tally and socially stimulating activi ties helps keep your brain healthy, according to a study the National In stitutes of Health published in 2021.

At the Defense Health Agency, the skills-based professional devel opment program offers its global workforce an opportunity to engage in both and do so remotely.

The Defense Health Agency’s program aims to provide “mid-ca reer DHA employees – including military, civilians and contractors –with soft skills to develop their lead ership and managerial capacity,” said Yolanda Mosé, the program’s lead at the Defense Health Agen cy’s Education and Training Direc torate.

Soft skills are nontechnical skills that allow an individual to perform their job successfully, such as com municating and working well with others, and managing their time properly.

“The program is an additional resource for all DHA employees to sharpen their professional skills,” Mosé said.

Fulfilled staff

Offering employees

opportunities to enhance their skills at work is one way to ensure staff are fulfilled in the work they do, which is one of the Defense Health Agency’s strategic objectives.

“The program seeks to achieve success by focusing on crucial com petencies to allow learners to en hance their interpersonal and nontechnical workplace skills,” Mosé

Travis Tailwind is a publication produced by the Daily Republic. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited.

Content published in Travis Tailwind is not necessarily the official view of, nor is it endorsed by, the U.S. government, the Department of Defense or the Department of the Air Force. The appearance of advertising in the publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force or the Daily Republic of the products or services advertised.

Those off base who wish to receive home delivery of Travis Tailwind may call 707-427-6975. For information on paid advertising, call 707-425-4646. Correspondence may be sent to: Travis Tailwind/Daily Republic, 1250 Texas St., Fairfield, CA 94533.

said.

Focusing on soft skills can have a “huge impact” on the workforce, she said, because they’re just as im portant as technical skills for peo ple advancing in their careers, espe cially when they adopt supervisory roles overseeing others.

“The program offers over

CONTENTS

Master Sgt. Matt Dillon performs a safe for maintenance observation on a C-17 Globemaster III at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pa., Nov. 3.

ON THE COVER

Yolanda Mose/DHA

Air Force Maj. Theodore Urbano, chief of Defense Health Agency’s Education and Training directorate’s policy and programming branch, facilitates a training series on resiliency in the workplace.

Band of the Golden West perform at Kings’ Salute to Service Night

ABOVE LEFT:

ABOVE RIGHT:

RIGHT:

Lan Kim/U.S. Air Force photos

U.S. airmen of the Mobility band, an ensemble from the USAF Band of the Golden West, stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California, pose for a photo during a Sacramento Kings basketball game at the Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Nov. 9. They performed as part of the Kings’ “Salute to Service” night that honored Veterans Day and paid respect to all veterans in attendance.

U.S. Air Force Airmen 1st Class Keegan Bushouer, right, and Ashley Huseby, USAF Band of the Golden West vocalists, perform during a Sacramento Kings basketball game at the Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Nov. 9.

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Sam Kennedy, USAF Band of the Golden West bass guitarist and noncommissioned officer in charge of the Mobility band, performs during a Sacramento Kings basketball game at the Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Nov. 9.

‘They didn’t expect us to fight back’: How one street in Ukraine survived

Laura King LOS ANGELES TIMES

BORODYANKA, Ukraine — The smell of bodies decompos ing under rubble no longer hangs in the air. The land mine-clearers have come and gone. School is back in session, though classes are curtailed by power cuts. The hair salon is open.

But Raisa Yakovenko, a 61-year-old pensioner, still jumps at the thump of a refriger ator door shutting – a faint echo of the Russian bombs that dam aged her apartment and ravaged this community in the opening days of the nearly 9-month-old war in Ukraine.

“My troubles are not so se rious,” she said. “You can live without windows.”

The town of Borodyanka was among the invasion’s first casualties, becoming a choke point for Russian convoys roll ing southeast toward the capi tal, Kyiv, about 35 miles away. Its 14,000 residents paid a heavy price for their resistance: Scorched, wrecked buildings sit alongside structures left un touched, as if a tornado tore through town.

“They didn’t expect us to fight back,” said Roman Rudnychen ko, 57, who works for the town as its lead architect.

Now, nearly seven months af ter Russian troops ended a brief but brutal occupation, Borody anka has come to symbolize a certain defiant resiliency, though one that is sorely tested at times.

Visiting foreign dignitaries regularly trek up from Kyiv to gaze upon – and be photo graphed in front of – the blackened tower blocks. This week, the British street artist known as Banksy unveiled a signature stencil-style mural on the side

of a heavily damaged apartment building, depicting a gymnast doing a handstand atop a pile of rubble.

“Borodyanka, Ukraine,” read the caption on the artist’s Insta gram account.

Many locals, though, are somewhat weary of their plucky image. Only a little over half the town’s population has come back, and many of their homes are uninhabitable. With win ter bearing down, townspeople and local authorities are racing to carry out repairs to make the cold months survivable.

In a sense, Borodyanka is Ukraine writ small. As more and more territory in the south and northeast is recaptured by Ukrainian forces, the receding tide of occupation leaves behind a landscape of battered cities, towns and villages.

The latest of those is the stra tegic southern city of Kher son, which Russian troops aban doned last week, smashing vital infrastructure as they went.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rapturously received by local people when he visited Kherson on Monday, hailed its residents as heroes and pledged to restore essential services as soon as pos sible.

But across the country, re building is a fraught, quandaryfilled endeavor.

With nationwide reconstruc tion costs already estimated at a staggering $350 billion, and nearly one-third of the coun try’s 44 million people displaced inside Ukraine or having fled abroad, Ukrainians grapple with constant, harsh reassessments: Stay or go? Rebuild, or start fresh elsewhere? Cling to memo ries, or put them aside?

“We’re part of a historic pro cess,” said Rudnychenko, the

architect. “But we don’t know yet how the story ends.”

nnn

A street with the simple name of Tsentralna – Central – cuts a straight line through Borodyan ka, bisecting neighborhoods of modest wood or brick homes that give way to forests and fields. It’s lined with large apartment buildings, many dating back to the Soviet era, punctuated by small businesses, the post office and the police station.

Even in its prewar heyday, the street might have appeared unprepossessing to outsiders. But for Olga Drabei, 34, who lived her entire life at Tsentralna 306, her third-floor flat rep resents “everything – my entire

Drabei, 34, says the third-floor flat she had to

attacks represents “everything — my entire childhood, marriage, motherhood, all that is dear to me.” She hopes to eventually to return to her home.

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Residents of Borodyanka, Ukraine, kneel as the procession for fallen soldier Oleksii Kozlenko, 32, passes on Nov. 9.

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Olga

leave after Russian

childhood, marriage, motherhood, all that is dear to me.”

More than eight months after bombing shook the building in early March, the 50-unit block has been deemed structurally sound, but is still with out electricity or running water. Blasts blew out dozens of windows; fire left stairwells charred. Some residents gave up hopes of returning before winter, sealing up doorways with giant squiggles of foam insulation.

Drabei and her husband, together with their 7-year-old son, hope to move back in soon from cramped temporary quarters nearby. But her par ents and 89-year-old grandmother, who lived with them before the war, may not rejoin them. War’s upheaval has already been too much.

On a dank day last week, Drabei showed visi tors around the apartment’s chilly, jumbled rooms. The television and most appliances had been loot ed. Her son had already outgrown a small child’s bed left behind in a corner. The once carefully tended garden behind the building was a tangle of weeds and bare tree branches.

“We’re lucky – we’re alive, and we have a place to return to,” Drabei said. “Life will come back to our town. It will just be different than before.”

Just down the street, at Tsentralna 367, Yak ovenko, the pensioner, lives alone with her kit ten, Javelinka – named after the anti-tank missiles that helped Ukrainian forces blunt the Russian of fensive aimed at Kyiv. The damage to her build ing happened when missiles slammed into a mil itary recruitment office across the street in early March, nearly flattening it, along with the adjoin ing greengrocer’s and pharmacy.

Unexpected noises still make her nervous, she said, but stroking Javelinka helps her calm down.

With her window blown out, Yakovenko made do with plastic and cardboard coverings all spring and summer, until the state paid to install new glass. She was still waiting for a door to replace the one that was blasted off its hinges.

She counted herself lucky. Along with virtually everyone on Tsentralna, she knew the story of Ivan Simoroz, a young police officer who once lived on the street.

On Feb. 26, two days after the Russian inva sion began, the 26-year-old was on duty at the sta tion when his family home was bombed. His wife, mother, father, brother and grandmother were killed outright; his month-old baby daughter, Poli na, died a short time later in the hospital.

“The sadness is so large sometimes,” Yakoven ko said.

On the building’s ground floor, a 73-year-old named Halyna waved from her window at depart ing visitors. She cracked it open to explain that her own apartment down the street was destroyed, so she was renting a unit here, one that was cold but

largely intact.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I have two blankets!” nnn

By cruel coincidence, nearly all the Borody anka men mobilized for military service are de ployed at the scene of a particularly brutal ongoing battle, in and near the town of Bakhmut, hundreds of miles away on the eastern front lines.

One day last week, the body of fallen soldier Oleksii Kozlenko, 32, arrived home. As the funeral procession moved up Tsentralna, a group of wom en who had gathered to receive aid packages from the municipality turned and knelt down as the cof fin passed.

“Every day, it seems that we bury someone,” said Rudnychenko, the architect.

Farther down Tsentralna, at the Flower Cafe –which sells plants and bouquets as well as food –proprietress Tetiana Lytvynenko, 33, was serving up paninis and coffee. Business was a bit slow, she said.

The cafe sits opposite the much-photographed pair of nine-story buildings with blackened fa cades, just across the street from the Banksy mu ral on an adjoining building. Lytvynenko said it was understandable that outsiders would come to see these things; even she is sometimes shocked by the sight of the sooty, hulking husks where so many of her customers once lived.

“When people come to see, I just wish more of them would order some food!” she said.

The small, bright cafe that she and her husband ran for a decade was badly bomb-damaged, but because it’s a modular kiosk, it wasn’t too difficult to replace. That wasn’t the case with their nearby apartment. While sheltering outside Borodyanka with their young son, the couple spotted the smok ing ruins of their building in news footage.

She shook her head.

“At first, we were shocked and crying, but we’ve passed that phase,” she said. “Now we just laugh.”

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

A mural by British street artist Banksy depicts a judo match, one of several works the artist did in Borodyanka and other hard-hit locations in Ukraine.

DAF already taking steps to meet climate goals

WASHINGTON (AFNS) — The Department of the Air Force recently released its Climate Ac tion Plan formulated in foresight and response to climate change and its reshaping of the increas ingly complex global security environment.

Air Force installations are implementing innovative solu tions and pilot programs to meet the goals outlined in the plan, bolstering mission readiness through installation energy re silience.

Priority one places empha sis on modernizing infrastruc ture and investing in climateready installations to maintain air and space dominance in the face of climate risks. Infrastruc ture is the foundation on which installations project airpower and readiness, which makes se curing these assets a top priority for the force.

Initiatives are underway to

assess climate effects, modern ize infrastructure, and adapt in stallations to minimize impacts from future climate threats.

For example, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida has part nered with the local communi ty to build oyster reefs as a na ture-based solution to combat erosion and buffer against storm surges. MacDill’s eastern shore line is prone to coastal erosion, and oyster reefs aid in stabiliz ing the shoreline as well as improving MacDill’s vast natural habitats and water quality. The build is part of an ongoing Oys ter Reef Shoreline Stabilization project, which started in 2004, and is helping to enhance instal lation and community resilience and local ecosystem.

In support of priority two, to make climate-informed deci sions, the Department of the Air Force has begun working to in corporate climate attributes into their policy and practice to make energy and infrastructure proj ects resilient to climate impacts

while maximizing operational capability and reducing green house gas emissions where pos sible.

Priority three focuses on pur suing alternative energy sourc es, optimizing energy usage and working toward 100% carbonpollution free electricity and zero emission vehicle targets. The Air Force is realizing the key objectives outlined in this priority through innovative in vestments and pilot programs at installations across the country.

In September 2022, the De partment of the Air Force re leased its request for proposal of its first micro-reactor at Eiel son Air Force Base, Alaska. This pilot program will use small nu clear reactors to produce up to See CLIMATE Page 15

Joshua Seybert/U.S. Air Force

A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 171st Air Refueling Wing flies over a park while descending to land at the Pittsburgh Airport in Moon Township, Pennsylvania., May 17.

Exchange protection plans give shoppers security and savings

Army & Air Force Exchange Service Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE — Travis Army & Air Force Exchange Service shoppers can keep their purchases safe with Exchange Protection Plans, saving money on costly repairs or replacements down the road.

The plans, powered by Asurion, can be purchased with elec tronics, jewelry, appliances, sun glasses, lawn and garden items and more. The plans cover the

most common factors that can damage or destroy items, such as accidental damage from han dling (on portable electronics); breakdowns because of heat, dust and humidity; power surg es; and wear and tear. Exchange Protection Plans come in vary ing lengths, from one-year to lifetime warranties.

“Adding an Exchange Pro tection Plan to a big-ticket pur chase is a smart move that can save Travis shoppers the cost of having to replace the item if it breaks,” Travis Exchange Gen eral Manager Phonda Bish op said in a press release. “For as little as 2% of the price of the item, military shoppers can keep their purchases safe.”

Stratcom commander says US should look to 1950s to regain competitive edge

C. Todd Lopez DOD NEWS

The current conflict in Ukraine is not the worst that the U.S. should be prepared for. Around the corner, said the com mander of U.S. Strategic Command, the U.S. must be prepared for much more.

“This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup,” Navy Adm. Charles A. Richard, commander of Stratcom, said. “The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested a long time.”

During a speech at the Naval Subma rine League’s 2022 Annual Symposium & Industry Update Richard said the U.S. must get itself prepared.

“We have to do some rapid, fundamen tal change in the way we approach the de fense of this nation,” he said. “I will tell you, the current situation is vividly illu minating what nuclear coercion looks like and how you, or how you don’t stand up to that.”

Competitors like China, Richard said, are outcompeting the U.S., and in a dra matic fashion. The U.S. must step up its deterrence game, he said, or it’s going to be bowled over.

“As I assess our level of deterrence against China, the ship is slowly sinking,” he said. “It is sinking slowly, but it is sink ing, as fundamentally they are putting ca pability in the field faster than we are. As those curves keep going, it isn’t going to matter how good our [operating plan] is or how good our commanders are, or how good our forces are — we’re not going to have enough of them. And that is a very near-term problem.”

One area where the U.S. still domi nates is with its underseas capabilities –the U.S. submarine fleet, Richard said.

“Undersea capabilities is still the one . . . maybe the only true asymmetric advan tage we still have against our opponents,” Richard said. “But unless we pick up the pace, in terms of getting our maintenance

See STRATCOM Page 9

U.S. Navy photo

An MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, assigned to the “Wildcats” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23, delivers supplies to the ballistic missile submarine USS Nevada (SSBN 733) during a vertical replenishment at sea.

Stratcom

problems fixed, getting new construction going . . . if we can’t figure that out . . . we are not going to put ourselves in a good po sition to maintain strategic deterrence and national defense.”

Regaining the advantage in other areas might mean looking backwards, as much as 60 or more years, Richard said, to a time when the U.S. military was able to do things faster than what it does today.

“We used to know how to move fast, and we have lost the art of that,” he said.

One example he provided was that of the AGM-28 Hound Dog cruise missile, which entered service in 1960.

“The Air Force went from a request, al most written on a napkin . . . when they fig ured out in the late 1950s that the Soviet in tegrated air defense systems were getting to the point that the B-52 just wasn’t going to make it in, and we needed a thing called up ‘cruise missile.’ And so, they envisioned what a standoff weapon looks like.”

The U.S. military was able to deliv er the Hound Dog cruise missile in just

33 months.

“We had two squadrons of B-52s equipped with this 800-nautical-mile Mach two-plus, one megaton nuclear warhead with accuracy that was really good for its day, hanging off the wings of B-52s in less than three years,” he said. “This weap on was so cool you could actually turn the engines on, on its cruise missiles on your wings, to give you additional thrust on takeoff.”

Richard said there are other examples of how the U.S. military was able to rapid ly develop and field capability to meet its needs, and that the U.S. must get back to that.

“We have got to get back into the busi ness of not talking about how we are going to mitigate our assumed eventual failure to get Columbia in on time, and B-21, and LRSO, and flip it to the way we used to ask questions in this nation, which is what’s it going to take? Is it money? Is it people? Do you need authorities? What risk? That’s how we got to the Moon by 1969. We need to bring some of that back. Otherwise, China is simply going to outcompete us, and Russia isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

Tinker Air Force Base History Office

The AGM-28 “Hound Dog” missile was designed exclusively for carriage under the wings of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber.

DoD makes audit progress, but much more needs to happen, official says

Jim Garamone

DOD NEWS

The Defense Department made progress toward a “clean audit,” but not as much as offi cials hoped.

“The results of the fifth annual DoD-wide financial audit will be a disclaimer of opinion for DoD as a whole,” Michael J. McCord, the undersecretary of defense (comptroller)/chief fi nancial officer, said. “This is the same as last year and . . . not unexpected. We did expect this dis claimer, but we will also sus tain all of our prior year positive opinions, which cover approxi mately 39% of our assets.”

The annual audit is a huge undertaking with independent ac countants looking at a depart ment with $3.5 trillion in assets.

The audit looks at every as pect of the department – an or ganization of about 2.9 million people with one of the feder al government’s largest portfo lios of real property. There are more than 643,900 assets – build ings, structures, utilities, roads and fences and more – located on over 4,860 sites worldwide as of the beginning of fiscal year 2022, officials said.

When officials say worldwide, this means assets in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, seven U.S. territories and more than 40 foreign countries. All told this encompasses nearly 25.8 million acres.

And it is more than that: DoD operates one of the largest health care systems in the United States providing medical benefits to more than 9.6 million active duty personnel, military retirees and their families across the U.S. and overseas.

Bases, posts and stations

are the equivalent of small towns across the globe with po lice, hospitals, grocery stores, schools, transportation systems and housing.

All this is covered by the au dit.

The results released by the DoD Inspector General today is a conglomeration of 27 different entities in the department – the services, DoD agencies and sev eral other smaller funds and entities within the department. The Inspector General consolidates those 27 audits.

Seven components sus tained unmodified audit opinions – clean audits – on their fis cal 2022 audits, McCord said. These are: the Military Retire ment Fund, the Defense Com missary Agency, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the De fense Finance and Accounting Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Civil Works, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Defense Health Agen cy – Contract Resource Manage ment.

In addition, the Medicare-El igible Retiree Health Care Fund received a qualified opinion. An other positive in the process is military pay and civilian pay.

“Both of these processes received unmodified opinions again this year,” McCord said. “I highlight these because although we have a lot of work to do, the one thing that we have to make sure we do first is [take] care of people.”

The military and civilian pay, the unmodified opinion on the military retirement fund and the military retiree health care fund show the emphasis is in the right place.

“You have this kind of concen tration of higher performance on

the pay and benefits side which is important,” he said.

McCord would not give a date for when he believes the depart ment, as a whole, will receive a clean audit, but he does believe the process will speed up given

some of the changes that have been made and will be made.

One change has been the ef fort to modernize the work force, McCord said. Agencies are employing robotic process automation efforts to reduce

manual tasks, allowing financial managers to focus on more com plex issues. DoD has deployed 607 “bots,” with 54% aligning to financial management processes and 20 percent directly

From

supporting compliance or au dit response, officials said. The Defense Finance and Account ing Service deployed 52 “bots” for 48 new-use cases and proj ects saving approximately 128,045 hours or an estimated $4.2 million in cost savings.

The department is stress ing improved business opera tions. The Air Force, for example, corrected approximately $5.2 billion in historical vari ances on its equipment and ac cumulated depreciation general ledger accounts. This increases visibility and allows for greater control and oversight of military equipment financial transac tions.

Changes also mean bet ter data for quality decisionmaking. The Defense Logistics Agency completed a 100 per cent physical inventory, estab lishing beginning balances and item counts for stockpile inven tory. That, plus other correc tive actions, has allowed the De fense Logistics Agency to sustain

an inventory accuracy at 98% or greater, which supports de cision-making at all the military services.

The agencies are also moving to more reliable networks. In fiscal 2022, the Navy decommis sioned three audit-relevant legacy systems, migrating data and users across three commands to modern systems. Overall, the Navy has decommissioned 11 legacy systems.

“I would prefer to see more progress, of course, but we are peeling off the layers,” Mc Cord said. The easy correc tions – the so-called “low-hang ing fruit” – are behind the effort now. The problems confronting auditors and managers are harder “and the progress is getting harder, too,” the undersecretary said. “As we move forward, we have to continue to focus on lead ership and collaboration across DoD to solve these more diffi cult challenges. Because we all have this role to play in support of the DoD strategic manage ment plan.”

An aerial photo of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2021.

Campus 601 Whispering Bay Lane, Suisun City, CA 94585 707-425-1849 www.mcbcfs.org

1405 Kentucky Street Fair eld, CA 94533

Rev. Dr. Terry Long, Pastor Sunday Sunday School: 11:00 a.m.

Morning Worship Service: 12:00 p.m. Children’s Church: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday Prayer Meeting: 6:30-7:00 p.m. Bible Study: 7:00-8:00 p.m. Web Site: www.stpaulfair eld.org Email: stpaulbcfair eld@comcast.net Church Phone: 707-422-2003

Holy Spirit Parish

1050 North Texas Street

Fair eld, CA 94533-0624

707-425-3138 www.holyspiritfair eld.org

Weekend Mass: Saturday • 5:00 pm & 7:00 pm (Spanish) Sunday • 6:00am (Spanish), 7:30, 9:00, 10:30am, 12:00pm, 2:00pm (Spanish), 7:00pm (Spanish)

Daily: M-F • 7:00am & 9:00am Saturday • 9:00am; Tues & Fri • 7:00pm (Spanish); Wed • 7:00pm (English) OLPH Confessions in

English: Saturday • 3:00-4:30pm Spanish: Tues & Fri • 4:00pm-6:00pm

CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH of CHRIST Meetsat

Rockville Cemetery

Stone Chapel

4221 Suisun Valley Rd, Fairfield

9:00 a.m. Sunday Morning Bible Study

9:50 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship

5:30 p.m. Sunday Evening Bible Study

7:00 p.m. Wednesday Evening Bible Study

We welcome and encourage you to come and hear the good news of the gospel of Christ, and to learn about eternal salvation for all mankind that is offered through Jesus.

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Bring a heart and mind willing to hear God’s Word and to do His great will... For more information or directions, please visit our website at www.rockvillecofc.com

For advertising information about this director y, call Classifieds at 707-427-6973 or email: cgibbs@dailyrepublic.net

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UNITED METHODIST

“To know Him, and to make Him known”

Bible-Based Expository Preaching Sunday Worship Services 9:00 & 10:45 AM

Pastor Jon Kile 192 Bella Vista Road, Vacaville 707-451-2026

Sunday school for all ages is provided during both services. Visit our website for information on other ministries offered at www.vacavillefaith.org

490 Brown Street Vacaville, CA 95688 707-446-8684

Sundays: Sunday School (9:45 am) Worship Service (11:00 am) Fellowship Lunch (12:30 pm)

Thursdays: Prayer Meeting (7:00 pm) Bible studies throughout the week.

Pastor Ben Smith www.vacavillebiblechurch.com office@vacavillebiblechurch.com

Vacaville

Church of Christ

401 Fir St., Vacaville, CA 95688 (707) 448-5085

The Father’s House 4800 Horse Creek Drive Vacaville, CA 95688 (707) 455-7790 www.tfh.org

Service Times Sunday: 9am & 11am Live Stream at tfhvacaville tfhvacavilletfhvacaville

Minister: Elliott Williams Sunday Morning Bible Study 9:30 AM

Sunday Morning Worship 10:30 AM

Sunday Evening Worship 6:00 PM

Wed. Evening Bible Study 7:00 PM www.vacavillecofc.com

If you would like to take a free Bible correspondence course contact: Know Your Bible Program 401 Fir Street • Vacaville, CA 95688 (707) 448-5085

UNITY

DAF authorizes pass for Covid booster by Dec. 1

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —

As we enter cold and flu season, airmen and guardians are encouraged to get their Cov id-19 vaccination booster as soon as possible.

The virus continues to pose a risk to the health and welfare of service members, civilian em ployees and families.

Airmen and guardians who receive the Covid-19 bivalent booster released in September are authorized a one-day special pass from their commander as long as the booster is adminis tered by Dec. 1.

Department of the Air Force civilian employees who re ceive the current booster dur ing the duty day through either Defense Department or private providers are authorized up to four hours administrative leave. Additionally, civilian employees

may be granted up to two days of administrative leave to recov er from any adverse reaction to the vaccination.

For service members, tim ing of the one-day pass will be consistent with mission needs, members must present docu mentation and commanders may award the special pass ret roactively to those members who have already received a booster. The Office of Personnel Management authorizes federal civilian employees up to four hours of administrative leave to receive a vaccine booster shot, which is designed to cover “the time it takes to travel to the vac cination site, receive the vacci nation dose and return to work.”

If federal employees take less than four hours to receive their booster shot, they should be granted only that amount of time in administrative leave, and employees cannot receive

leave or overtime if they get their booster shot outside of their normal working hours.

Federal employees are also authorized up to four hours of administrative leave to accom pany their family members who are receiving any dose of a Cov id-19 vaccination.

Federal employees should obtain advance approval from their supervisor before being permitted to use administrative leave for Covid-19 vaccination purposes.

Covid-19 vaccinations in clude the initial one or two shot series as well as any subsequent booster shots.

For the latest information on Department of the Air Force Covid policies, statistics, news and resources, visit the Air Force’s Covid-19 website Air Force Medicine link at https:// www.airforcemedicine.af.mil/ COVID-19/.

Climate

From Page 6

5 megawatts of safe, reliable and clean energy to supplement cur rent installation energy sourc es. The technology’s ability to operate independently from the commercial grid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions make micro-reactors a promising pow er source for remote domestic military installations critical to national security infrastructure.

Additionally, Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County will complete one of the country’s largest solar array projects in 2022, adding 464 MW of renew able electricity to the grid and enhancing energy resilience for the installation and community. This effort builds on initiatives from installations like Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County to augment base power supply with solar energy.

In alignment with the Cli mate Action Plan, priority three and Executive Orders 14008 and 14057, the Department of the Air Force also plans to convert 100% of its eligible nontactical vehicle fleet to zero-emission

vehicles by 2035. With more than 48,000 vehicular assets across installations, the Depart ment of the Air Force sees fleet electrification as an opportunity to improve resiliency, decrease operation and maintenance costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In December 2021, the De partment of the Air Force kicked off this ambitious effort at two pilot sites, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and Joint Base Mc Guire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jer sey, to help understand infra structure risks and determine preferred functional require ments for vehicles. In 2022, the Department kicked off efforts at 15 additional installations and is working rigorously to develop policy guidance in pursuit of full new terrain vehicle fleet electri fication conversion.

The Department of the Air Force is leveraging existing en ergy resilience efforts – like In stallation Development Plans, Installation Energy Plans, and Energy Resilience Readiness Exercises – to ensure this tran sition is done with future needs and mission capabilities in mind.

From Page 2

19 sessions and learning op portunities, to include topics on project management, change management, professional eti quette, resiliency, teambuilding, and others,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Theodore Urbano, program facilitator and chief of the direc torate’s policy and programming branch.

“As a result of attending the trainings, participants leave with tangible skills, such as interper sonal communication, and the ability to develop plans of action and milestones they can immediately apply to their work cen ter and even personal lives,” Ur bano said.

How to enroll?

The skills-based develop ment program is available online at no cost to employees. Learn ers can register for the hour-long sessions on the Defense Health Agency’s intranet.

“There is no selection process and anyone with a Common Ac cess Card can register,” Urba no said.

Sessions are available throughout the calendar year and include series such as one on resiliency in the workplace and another on professional et iquette. There are also standalone sessions on team build ing, developing a Plan of Action and Milestones, known as a POA&M, and delegating effec tively, among others.

After completing a session, learners receive certificates of

completion and attendance.

In addition to the calendar of sessions, Mosé said custom ized programs are also avail able. She encourages supervi sors use those as team-building exercises.

“Using our training materi al and topics as a baseline, we customize the sessions to your team’s needs and facilitate only to your team,” she said.

Positive experiences

Urbano facilitates an eightpart series on resiliency in the program. As a master resilience trainer, he leverages his expertise to “increase awareness and teach learners how to use vari ous resilience strategies.”

In his experience, partici pants really enjoy the series, which launched in April.

The topics seem relevant, he said, “because the discus sions are rich, and participants are sharing personal stories that others can appreciate and learn from. It’s a wonderful atmo sphere.”

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Susan Moji ca, director of population health at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, in Portsmouth, Virginia, has benefitted from and had a positive experi ence with the program. She has taken three sessions and regis tered for two more.

“The program has served as a review of some foundational skills, provided updated resources and exposure to colleagues in other organizations, which may lead to networking and collab orative opportunities,” she said. “It also renewed my enthusiasm for personal and organizational

professional development.”

Mojica said she took a Plan of Action and Milestones session customized for her team’s needs. As a result, she feels the updat ed information and positive ses sion delivery improve her per formance.

“I’m more self-assured in my ability to lead a team or project using a POA&M.”

She now confidently recom mends the program to her team, colleagues and leaders.

For more information on the Defense Health Agency’s skillsbased professional development program, send an email to the Education and Training team at dha.ncr.education-trng.mbx.elbcustomer-satisfaction@mail.mil.