TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE — In honor of the U.S. Space Force’s third birthday, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service is giving away more than $4,600 in tactical gear prizes in a series of worldwide sweepstakes.
Now through Jan. 12, authorized Exchange shoppers can enter at ShopMyExchange.com/ sweepstakes to win one of 180 prizes that include:
n Elite Survival Pulse 24 backpack (1 winner).
n Elite Survival Guardian EDC backpack (1 winner).
n Rocky RKC108 tactical boots (3 winners).
n Streamlight ProTac 2L-X flashlight (5 winners).
n Qalo silicone ring (20 winners).
n Rite in the Rain target (25 winners).
n Nite Ize Radiant pen light (25 winners).
n Otis ripcord (25 winners).
n Gear Aid Heroclip hybrid gear clip (25 winners).
n Mechanix Wear FastFit gloves (50 winners).
Travis Exchange shoppers can also find additional Space Force birthday savings in stores and online. Visit ShopMyExchange.com/savings-center/weekly-ads to view weekly sales flyers.
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WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Every day of the year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command defends North America using an all-domain and globally integrated approach to track everything that flies in and around Canada and the United States. On Dec. 24 each year, NORAD adds a special mission: Tracking Santa.
Like many origin stories, NORAD’s mission to track Santa began by ac cident. In 1955, a young child trying to reach Santa dialed the misprinted phone number from a department store ad in the local newspaper. Instead of calling Santa, the child called the Con tinental Air Defense Command Opera tions Center in Colorado Springs, Col orado.
Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, the commander on duty that night who an swered the child’s phone call, was quick to realize a mistake had been made and assured the child he was Santa. After more incoming calls, Shoup assigned a duty officer to continue answering calls and a tradition was born, that contin ued when NORAD was formed in 1958.
Each year since, NORAD has dutifully reported Santa’s location on Dec. 24 to millions of children and families across the world. Because of the support, services and resources generously provided by volunteers, our government and corporate contributors, NORAD Tracks Santa has persevered for more than 65 years.
In fact, what started because of a typo has flourished and is recognized as one of the Defense Department’s largest community outreach programs.
Each year, the NORAD Tracks Santa website receives several million unique
visitors from more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Volunteers typically answer more than 130,000 calls to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline from children across the globe.
In addition to the phone line and website, children and the young-atheart can track Santa through mobile apps and social media platforms: n Facebook: https://www.facebook. com/noradsanta.
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.
n Twitter: https://twitter.com/ NoradSanta.
n YouTube: http://www.youtube. com/NORADTracksSanta.
n Instagram: https://www. instagram.com/noradtrackssanta_ official.
n NORAD Tracks Santa Website: https://www.noradsanta.org.
n NORAD Tracks Santa Newsroom: https://noradsantanews.com/ newsroom.
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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:
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Singers with the Air Force Band perform during a holiday concert at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Dec. 11.
Eric Dietrich/U.S. Air Force
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE — Families gathered Monday night at Travis Air Force Base for a menorah-lighting in celebration of Hanukkah.
It was the 5th Annual Grand Menorah Lighting and Hanukkah Celebration at the base hosted in conjunction with Chabad of Solano County.
RIGHT: Rabbi Chaim Zaklos, left, Jewish Community of Solano County Rabbi, and retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Prosper Bousley, light the menorah during a Menorah lighting ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, Monday. Families at Travis AFB gathered for a Menorah lighting in celebration of Hannukah.
BOTTOM LEFT: U.S. Air Force Col. Derek Salmi, left, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander, and Col. Steven Richardson, 60th AMW chaplain, celebrate after lighting an electric Menorah at Travis Air Force Base, Monday.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Families celebrate during a Menorah lighting ceremony at Travis Air Force Base, Monday.
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) —
The Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with the Nano Bio-Materials Consortium, and Case Western Reserve University to create wearable sensors that measure biomarkers in airmen and guardians.
The term “biomarker” refers to any physiological or molecular information that can be tracked for human health.
The collaboration, called Biomolecular Structure and Integration for Sensors, or BioSIS, connects the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, the 711th Human Performance Wing, the Nano Bio-Materials Consortium and Case Western Reserve University.
In 2022, the body of research accumulated by BioSIS since 2018 led to the founding of private spinoff company Sensate Biosystems. The Nano Bio-Materials Consortium provided funding to Case Western Reserve University to license the existing Air Force Research Laboratory patent, assemble its own team and kickstart the company to develop wearable molecular sensor research for dual use in the commercial market.
Human performance monitoring wearable sensors optimize capability in capturing and monitoring molecular signatures in body fluids such as saliva, interstitial fluid and perspiration. This technology is key to tracking well-being during critical missions, sensing when airmen and guardians become overly fatigued, stressed or hyperstimulated, according to Dr. Lawrence Drummy, senior materials
engineer in the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and BioSIS technical lead.
“Historically, we have very few sensors on the Airmen,” Drummy said. “We are looking to equip them with more advanced human monitoring capabilities so mission commanders can integrate that information and make more rapid decisions.”
Wearable sensor technology has the potential to quantitatively measure human stress levels during missions, notify personnel to return to safety zones and monitor biomolecular responses in those who become sick or injured.
“These wearable sensors can take on a variety of forms such as mouthguards, patches applied to the skin or microneedle patches that just penetrate the epidermis into the interstitial fluid, for example,” Drummy said. “These sensors will be integrated into a network, not just used as standalones, so that a global picture of performance can be generated.”
Dr. Jorge Chavez Benavides, technical lead in the Airman Systems Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing, and his team were invited to participate in project ideation and brainstorming discussions with Case Western Reserve University and the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate to define the scope of the BioSIS program research.
“The ability to monitor biomarkers for different conditions continuously in real time will provide information about how the human body works and responds to external stressors to a level of detail that has not been seen before,” Chavez Benavides said. “This information will allow the design of personalized models that could predict performance
and health issues before they occur, minimizing negative effects in our mission and health.”
A key goal for BioSIS in its nascent stage was to select which biomarkers to research. Researchers ultimately narrowed the list down to Neuropeptide Y –a protein abundant in the human brain and detectable in human sweat that is useful in predicting the performance of individuals under extreme stress – and lactate, which can be used to monitor injury healing, Drummy said.
“Biomolecules like Neuropeptide Y and lactate, they exist in
Russia’s struggle on the battlefRussia’s struggle on the battlefields has led to attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, resulting in suffering and death for Ukrainian civilians.
Ukraine’s partners – including the United States – are doing all they can to alleviate the damage Russia’s missile attacks on critical infrastructure have caused.
Russia has sent waves of missiles into Ukraine targeting the energy grid. These attacks are exacerbated by Ukraine’s winter weather with the high temperature over the next week forecast to be 35 degrees Fahrenheit with lows of around 10 degrees.
“The administration has been working – in partnership with the National Labs, industry, utilities, and the Ukrainian government –to locate available equipment in the U.S. that can be delivered to Ukraine for emergency support,” Department of Energy officials said.
Officials have committed more than $53 million in support for Ukraine’s electric grid. “The equipment we are providing is critical for Ukraine’s emergency repairs in the face of Russia’s
attacks,” Department of Energy officials said. “This support will help Ukraine rebuild the backbone of their power transmission system, which is critical in keeping the lights on and homes warm through the winter.”
The effort is part of the wholeof-government approach the United States is implementing in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked and cruel full-scale invasion of its neighbor. The Defense Department alone has committed almost $20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Feb. 24.
Millions of Ukrainians are feeling the effects of Russia’s missile attacks, and the United States is just one of many countries helping Ukraine repair and sustain its electrical grid. “We will continue to identify equipment that can be sent from the United States, in addition to ongoing efforts to locate and acquire equipment abroad that is compatible with Ukraine’s system,” officials said.
The Department of Energy located the equipment, and U.S. Transportation Command hustled the gear from the United States to locations in Europe where Ukrainian officials could take possession of it. The initial tranches of equipment are now
inside Ukraine where electrical workers are using it to repair damaged infrastructure.
The United States and partner nations are also rushing air defense capabilities to Ukraine so it can defend itself against Russia’s attacks. “We have been sending a range of air defense equipment to Ukraine,” said a DoD official.
“We delivered the first two NASAMS [National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems] to Ukraine and we are making air defense a priority in our assistance,” the official said.
Ukrainian officials report U.S. systems have been extremely effective in countering Russia’s continued missile and drone assaults.
very tiny concentrations in your blood,” said 1st Lt. Suren Uswatta, technical program manager in the Biomaterials branch and government program manager for the Nano Bio-Materials Consortium. “So, they’re very difficult – almost impossible – to detect. That’s what’s so very important about this new technology. It allows us to detect those tiny concentrations, those tiny amounts.”
Biomarker research in the Air Force Research Laboratory focuses on multiple biomolecules including lactate and Neuropeptide Y. Neuropeptide Y, in addition to its military relevance, was identified for its potential for future commercial health applications for weight-loss purposes, obesity
management and mood disorders, Drummy said.
When programs like BioSIS commercialize their research to private companies, the likelihood increases that the intellectual property, or IP, can be scaled up more affordably for production and future purchase by the Air Force, Uswatta said.
“We had an initial shortterm goal that after the first two years, we would pursue a path to commercialization, because this technology also has lots of potential for those outside of the military,” Uswatta said. “One way to do that is by using the intellectual property [IP] to start your own company, but that involves a lot of entrepreneurial risk – to career, to family life, finances, everything. It’s risky to take this new technology to market and create a product out of it. The NBMC wants to support
The Defense Department and military services are making progress in one of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s priorities – taking care of service members and their families.
In a September memo, Austin laid out specific actions to improve and enhance support to military members and their families in several important areas.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder detailed some of DOD’s progress during a news conference Tuesday.
“The secretary has been crystal clear that taking care of our service members and their families is a sacred obligation and a national security imperative,” Ryder said.
In October, the department automatically increased the basic allowance for housing rates in 28 areas where rent has skyrocketed 20% or more, the press secretary said. While the increase
will expire Dec. 31, the new BAH rates – which are an average of 12.1% higher – will kick off Jan. 1.
“Also in January, we will pay a basic needs allowance to eligible service members,” Ryder said. This assistance comes on top of next year’s 4.6% pay raise.
“In addition to assisting with helping service members and their families secure affordable basic needs, we’ve also taken action to make military moves easier,” he said.
In October, DoD permanently increased temporary lodging expense coverage to give families more flexibility to search for housing. The department also began paying dislocation allowance to all eligible service members.
Next month, the dislocation allowance will be increased for enlisted service members between the grades of E-1 to E-6 to help offset personal expenses for permanent changes of station, Ryder said.
DoD is also working to provide additional support for military
spouses. One program would expand spouse employment, while another looks to lessen the roadblocks for spouses who are relocating.
“We know that one-third of military spouses must obtain new professional licenses every time they move to a new state,” Ryder said. “To ease this burden, we’ve accelerated the development of seven more interstate licensure compacts. We anticipate state approval starting in 2023.”
Ryder said the most important of these is the interstate teacher mobility compact, which is being introduced in state legislatures across the nation next month.
Also important to DoD is the improvement in child care programs.
“This past fall, we expanded the Military Childcare in Your Neighborhood-Plus program to more states, which will increase access to quality civilian child care providers when onbase child care is unavailable,” he said.
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE —
Anyone – including civilians –can spread holiday cheer worldwide, bringing joy and a piece of home to service members and their families with an Army & Air Force Exchange Service gift card.
Any American can send a morale-boosting gift card, ranging
from $10 to $500, to soldiers, airmen, guardians, sailors, marines, military retirees or veterans by visiting ShopMyExchange.com and clicking “Purchase Gift Cards” at the bottom of the page.
“The Exchange salutes heroes serving across the globe this holiday season,” Travis Exchange General Manager Phonda Bishop said in a press release. “Many service members are away from their families during the holidays
and, although we can’t bring them all home, we are honored to provide a piece of home to make their holidays a little brighter. Exchange gift cards can be used for virtually anything, including a holiday meal or a new tablet for a video call with family.”
Service members can use Ex change gift cards at Exchange fa cilities worldwide. Gift cards can also be redeemed online at Shop MyExchange.com.
Santa takes a photo with a child during a Candy Cane Lane event at Travis Air Force Base, Dec. 16. The Air Force Sergeants Association of Travis AFB collaborated with 20 different organizations to host Candy Cane Lane, an annual holiday tradition providing goodie bags and toys for military families.
C. Todd Lopez DOD NEWS
The United Nations approved a resolution last week calling on nations not to conduct destructive, direct-ascent antisatellite missile tests. The United States agreed to the resolution, while China and Russia were among nine countries that voted against it.
Refraining from conducting those kinds of tests in space, in part, prevents the creation of new and dangerous space debris.
John F. Plumb, the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said the agreement not to conduct such tests is just one of many norms that will need to be established in space to make that domain safe for everybody who wants to operate there.
“Voting against it . . . could be for all sorts of reasons,” Plumb said during a Wednesday discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I’m not giving them [Russia and China] an excuse, [but] you don’t have to vote for it to comply with it. You don’t have
to vote for it to have some version of it that you might enforce.”
Norms in space, he said, can be established without a vote.
As the U.S. and other nations move into space, there will need to be norms established just as there are norms in place for operations on land, in the air, at sea, and even under the sea, Plumb said.
“We have established, over long periods of time, norms at sea to avoid collision [and] norms in the air to avoid collisions. Norms undersea. All sorts of places – ground, surface, air, subsur face – [in] any operational domain,” Plumb said.
Those established behaviors, he said, do more than just avoid collisions. They also pro vide a way for everybody operating in a do main to know when another actor’s intentions are hostile.
“[They] give you an understanding of if some one is accidentally or, frankly, intentionally vio lating those norms,” Plumb said. “It gives that trigger . . . to let you know something is amiss
See SPACE Page 9
here; we need to be on guard and be careful of what’s happening.”
Norms on the sea have existed for generations, Plumb said. In the air, for a little over 100 years. But in space, they must be established, because it is a relatively new domain for many of the nations and businesses operating there now.
“There are all sorts of commercial companies operating all sorts of craft . . . the number is going up,” he said. “I think the more we can develop norms that make sense for protection of a safe, secure, stable space environment, the better it is for all spacefaring nations. It lowers the risk of miscalculation and potential escalation, accidental escalation.”
With so many entities operating in space – many in the U.S. and many that are partners or aspiring partners of the federal
government, Plumb said an issue his office is tackling is the overclassification of information in the space domain.
Overclassification of information – where information is marked at a higher classification than it might need to be – makes it more difficult to share information with mission partners, including partner nations, other federal partners, and commercial entities.
“I think there’s clearly industry ramifications,” he said. “Especially companies that might have to build entire architectures of classified information handling that can’t talk to other parts of their company. We have to solve these problems so we can have our industrial base be able to move faster.”
Addressing the issue of overclassification is one of the priorities of the department, Plumb said.
“I ran a . . . summit for internal DoD space stakeholders and
[intelligence community] stake holders focused on what are those things that are limiting our ability to do deeper operational coopera tion with our spacefaring allies,” Plumb said. “And it turned out that most of the problems there are related to overclassification because . . . some things are clas sified in a way that I cannot share them with allies, even if they’re highly capable.”
Plumb said his office is work ing with the intelligence commu nity on reducing some of the clas sification issues so information can be better shared with opera tional partners.
“That is a huge, huge problem for us where we’re really starting to dig into,” he said. “And when I talk about that DoD/IC [intelli gence community] cooperation, this is one of those things that is . . . it’s the right time, it’s the right place, it’s the right window of op portunity to fix it.”
develop next-generation capabilities for airmen and guardians,” Chavez Benavides said.
The program advanced Department of the Air Force goals and promoted collaboration too.
“This program is a great example of how AFRL scientists work across technical directorates and with external partners to provide the best possible return on investment to the taxpayers’ funds provided to us to
Dr. Mark Chance, professor of Nutrition at Case Western Reserve University, led the research team that conducted the bulk of biomolecular research. As director of the Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics and BioSIS founder, Chance collaborated with Drummy, Uswatta and others in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing.
“The 711th was on the front
lines in terms of which things should be measured,” Chance said. “They help us isolate the markers. We [the Case Western Reserve University research team] said: tell us what needs to be measured and we will come up with a platform [that is now BioSIS]. The Air Force’s flexibility in letting us set this up is very unusual – they have instilled in us a level of trust, of confidence, that I truly appreciate.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Cyber Command has begun to make routine use of offensive cyber actions to defend the nation, taking aim this fall at Russian and Iranian hackers before they had a chance to disrupt the midterm elections, according to three U.S. officials.
The 13-year-old command took down the digital platform of a Russian troll farm in the 2018 midterm elections to prevent it from seeding material on American social media sites intended to agitate the already divided electorate and to diminish confidence in the election.
Then in 2020, Cybercom moved against Iranian hackers working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, shortly after they launched an operation posing as a far-right group to send threatening emails to American voters.
This year, the command’s Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) went after many of the same foreign entities, including those affiliated with the Russian and Iranian governments and their proxies, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
In a media roundtable this month at Fort Meade, Md., Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads both Cybercom and the National Security Agency, the world’s most powerful electronic spying agency, talked about how Cybercom went on the offense during the midterms, though he did not specify targets.
“We did conduct operations persistently to make sure that our foreign adversaries couldn’t utilize infrastructure to impact us,” said Nakasone. “We understood how foreign adversaries utilize
infrastructure throughout the world. We had that mapped pretty well. And we wanted to make sure that we took it down at key times.”
Nakasone noted that Cybercom’s national mission force, aided by NSA, followed a “campaign plan” to deprive the hackers of their tools and networks. “Rest assured,” he said. “We were doing operations well before the midterms began, and we were doing operations likely on the day of the midterms.” And they continued until the elections were certified, he said.
“This is what ‘persistent engagement’ is,” he added. “This is the idea of understanding your foreign adversaries and operating outside the United States.”
In a joint statement, the two agencies said: “We do not comment on cyber operations, plans or activities and wouldn’t speculate where and who those cyber operations were directed towards.”
Maj. Gen. Joe Hartman, who leads the Cyber National Mission Force, in a news conference Monday sought to demystify offensive operations. “It is certainly one of the things we do on a daily basis,” he said, explaining that his team targets the tools a hacker needs to conduct attacks: a computer, an internet connection, malware.
“We do everything we can to make it hard for our adversaries to use that ecosystem to threaten the U.S., allies and partners,” he said, speaking at a ceremony to raise CNMF to the status of a “sub-unified” command, similar to Joint Special Operations Command.
Nakasone noted that although there were “plenty of foreign influence operations” in the midterms, compared to previous elections “there was a lessened degree of activity.”
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Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
The Department of the Air Force has implemented a central fund for reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. This approach will provide Air Force senior leaders with greater insights about the types of reasonable accommodations
requested and funded throughout the Air Force.
“This central fund will help the Department of the Air Force retain and develop current civilian employees with a disability, recruit new talent, and remove barriers to advancement,” said Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones.
Approved reasonable accommodation requests will be
reimbursed using this fund as of Dec. 15. Organizations should coordinate with their local Disability Program Manager, follow local procurement procedures to fulfill approved requests, and utilize Emergency Special Program code “7F” to identify all approved reasonable accommodations costs for reimbursement.
Providing reasonable accommodations is a legal requirement
under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Department of the Air Force is developing a disabilities reasonable accommodations portal to centralize and streamline requests for reasonable accommodations. The goals of the portal are to facilitate and simplify the reasonable accommodation request process, allow the tracking of requests, and streamline the reimbursement process. The
service intends to roll out the portal in early 2023.
Jones has also directed the realignment of the Disability Program Manager position to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to administratively align duties and ensure accessibility is factored into diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the Department of the Air Force.
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As U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels teams fly through the sky at upwards of 700 miles per hour during exhibitions, take daring twists, dips, and turns – there’s a team of health care professionals looking out for them on the ground.
The aviators couldn’t do their thrilling and precise maneuvers 300 days a year without relying on flight surgeons to keep them at peak mental, physical, and nutritional levels.
The flight surgeons are so embedded in the daily lives of their demonstration teams that they can catch signs of problems early.
That’s important when aviators like the Blue Angels are flying as close as 18 inches apart from one another in precision formations.
“It’s a pretty unique level of trust we have,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Monica Borza, the Blue Angels flight surgeon.
“I get to know them extremely well. I can recognize if someone’s voice is even off one day,” Borza said. “That’s just how close we are here, and the way it’s set up for me to fully know them.”
That includes the more than 100 enlisted ground crew who travel with each of the different service teams.
Preventive care has become more prominent for the teams and for the Department of Defense as a whole.
“That’s really the razor’s edge of what we’re doing because we don’t have back-up aviators,” said U.S Air Force Capt. (Dr.) Travis Grindstaff, the flight surgeon for
the Thunderbirds.
“The biggest part of that shift is finding ways to make sure people are taken care of before the problems are so big that team members are affected by it,” Grindstaff said.
For example, some aviators may be only looking to their left, their right, or upwards at all times during the extremely close formations they fly. This creates muscle imbalances in the neck’s ability to rotate in the opposite direction, Grindstaff said.
“Some of the training we’ve started adding is in trying to get those muscle imbalances corrected, because, over time, that can lead to injury.”
“We’ll fly in each position and see what are the demands on their body, how they’re getting the injuries, how they’re getting different imbalances,”Grindstaff explained. That information then gets relayed to athletic trainers.
The athletic trainers do measurements of body mobility, balance, and muscle imbalances. Combined with the observations made by the flight surgeons, “we’re able to create a training plan and workout routine that can get pilots back to a normal state of health to prevent injuries,” Grindstaff said.
The Thunderbirds record flights through the pilot’s helmet heads-up display where they can hear them breathing and watch for any difficulties as the aviators reach gravitational force levels of seven to nine times the force of gravity (G forces).
The Blue Angels wear devices akin to the smart watches that capture sleep duration and level, heart rate, pulse oxygen levels, and body temperature. “It’s just good knowledge for them to be more in tune with what’s going on in their bodies,” Borza said.
“Pilots are professional athletes; they are very good at what they do,” Grindstaff said.
“Once the kickoff to the game has started, and the football is kicked off, they’re in game mode, and for them, that would be when they get in the jet and turn the jet on,” Grindstaff said, adding: “They’re able to turn off a lot of the other outside things in their lives that could be affecting them during that flight.”
However, the daily grind of travel, flight demonstrations, time zone changes, and lack of quality sleep create mental stresses.
The Thunderbirds provide chaplains once or twice a month for their flight teams to talk to if they wish. The Blue Angels have an embedded mental health professional who visits the squadron weekly.
The Thunderbird flight surgeon more specifically works with the first sergeant, an elite medic who has career experience and specialized training in talking to people about their problems to figure out how to help them, Grindstaff said.
“The first sergeant is very much a preventative, mental health person who is trained to help people keep their lives in order and in check,” Grindstaff said.
“It takes people with the right personalities and the right motivations to do it, because you’re basically signing up just to take care of people and their problems in order to help them perform. So, that could be any time of day, any day of the year,” Grindstaff said.
When little issues build “up to the boiling point, that’s what really puts people in danger of having an accident or hurting themselves,” he added.
Before their performances, the Blue Angels “chair fly” to visualize certain maneuvers, Borza said, like ice skaters do before their programs.
“They even say the radio calls that they’re going to say,” she said.
On performance days, the teams also do physical warm-ups “to activate the muscles but not fatigue them.”
The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds keep a high level of physical and mental strength through an annual comprehensive G-force tolerance improvement program that includes centrifuge training as well as a personal strength exercise programs. For the Blue Angels, these programs focus on the lower body, and cardiovascular capacity, proper daily hydration, nutrition, and sleep habits, Borza said.
“The main purpose of this program is to maximize G-tolerance through improvement and support aggressive daily maintenance of the physical and mental health of team members,” she said.
Every U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aviator undergoes a mandatory annual comprehensive flight physical exam to “prevent medical, physical or psychological conditions from adversely affecting flight performance, safety or the mission,” Borza said.
Proper nutrition and hydration are the “cornerstone of Gtolerance,” Borza said, and each team member follows an individualized daily calorie intake program to meet their energy requirements, she explained. Proper hydration is just as important, she said, “not only to aid
is the lead ground safety officer and is trained to read emergency procedures in the event of an aircraft mechanical emergency.
in G-tolerance but also human performance recovery.”
The Thunderbirds use home delivery meals they carry with them so they get healthy nutrition throughout the day, Grindstaff said.
Finally, and just as importantly, the flight surgeons are a vital part of the actual air demonstrations.
The Blue Angel flight surgeon
Grindstaff stands on the runways with a series of signal mirrors and light guns so the pilots know exactly where to fly within safety margins of the audience.
“Establishing good rapport with my aviators is critical to the safe completion of the operational mission,” Borza said, adding: “It’s a high operational tempo. But the good news is everyone’s doing the same tempo. So, we’re all in it together.”