United We Roll at Stardust Radio

As a resident of the Gulf Coast and having seen the devastation that the oil spill has caused to so many businesses and families who have lived & worked here for generations, I was pleased to see this notice come in my email. The Northwest Florida area has one of the highest Veteran populations in the country, so I am sure there are some who will be interested in this information.

Just as it is heartbreaking to see a Pelican or Sea Turtle at death's door because of the oil, it is equally heartbreaking to learn of the businesses that have had to close and the families who are struggling. Immediately, one thinks of the fishermen and the seafood businesses. They have suffered terribly. But also many others have lost large amounts of revenue as the usual summer tourists canceled reservations with news of the oil spill. Lodging, restaurants, even businesses that coordinate weddings on the beach and many more have suffered - and some may not make it or have already gone under.

So here is a heartfelt "Thank You" to Secretary Shinseki for reaching out to the Veterans along the Gulf Coast.

Shinseki Calls for "Forbearance" by Mortgage Companies

WASHINGTON (August 20, 2010)- Veterans in the Gulf States impacted by the recent oil spill may qualify for delayed mortgage payments if their mortgages are already guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

"We are strongly urging mortgage companies to extend every possible forbearance to Veterans whose livelihoods have been affected by the oil spill crisis," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

Shinseki noted that several mortgage companies have already announced plans to waive late payment charges and suspend negative reporting to credit bureaus on affected borrowers. VA is asking all mortgage companies to follow this example.

"Through no fault of their own, many of our Veterans are out of work and are struggling to earn an income," the Secretary added. "We must assist these Veterans in this difficult time, just as they have supported us in their sacrifice to the Nation."

VA has information on its website, www.homeloans.va.gov , that provides basic guidance for Veterans affected by a major disaster. Veterans in need of mortgage counseling may also contact their nearest VA regional loan center at 1-877-827-3702 for help and information, regardless of whether or not they have a VA home loan.

We will talk about it again our United We Roll show today, August 17th of 2010, as we visit with two Medevac EMT's who have saved lives and assisted in bringing home wounded military members who may not have survived in past years. We have heard survival rates in other visits with deployed medical personnel of 98 to 99% - those are phenomenal rates for hospitals at home, let alone for medical facilities facing combat injuries and delays.

We also spoke with members of a security patrol who were on location when a little Iraqi girl was terribly injured by an IED. Using their Combat Lifesaver Skill training - a course of first aid to be used until a medical person is available - they were able to save the girl's life, as verified by the surgeon's who completed her care.

The US military deserves recognition from the civilian citizens in our great country for the incredible training that is provided in this and other critical areas. Training that brings our loved ones home. Training that fills our loved ones in uniform with the confidence to perform their duties and to reach out to help others around them.

Not only do we need to thank those who serve. We also need to pointedly thank those who train - for they enable more of our men and women in uniform to succeed and to survive when sent into harm's way.

The following article is about a medical training exercise that took place with a blend of forces, first responders and civilians totalling more than 3500 personnel involved. Another major training episode that could save lives.

Our thanks to all who are involved in training our military personnel and to all who serve.

Medical team trains for emergency response
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123217948
by Linda Frost
59th Medical Wing Public Affairs

8/16/2010 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force medical professionals participated in a massive joint forces field-training exercise recently simulating a terrorist attack in the U.S.

The 10-day exercise, held at Camp Atterbury, Ind., allowed servicemembers to participate in a war game scenario and know their specific duties in case a catastrophic event ever occurs in the U.S.

Nearly 125 Airmen from Lackland Air Force, Maxwell AFB, Ala., and Sheppard AFB, Texas, formed an Expeditionary Medical Support team to support the joint forces exercise of more than 3,500 Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, and civilians from around the nation.

An EMEDS team is composed of medical, logistics, administrative and other staff members to quickly deploy and set up a field hospital.

In the exercise, dubbed Vibrant Response, a 10-kiloton nuclear device had been detonated, devastating the immediate area and creating a scenario that simulated a nuclear, biological and chemical attack in the Indianapolis vicinity.

Military members provided assistance to federal, state and local emergency responders during the exercise to save lives, prevent further injury and provide temporary critical support.

Led by U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command's Joint Force Land Component Command, the exercise included urban and aerial search and rescue missions, simulated decontamination operations, airlift and medical training.

The Air Force EMEDS team, commanded by Col. Janet Robinson, the 59th Dental Group commander, provided full-scale medical support for ground evacuation, treating patients, hospitalization, preventive medicine, veterinary, medical logistical support and blood distribution.

"It was a tremendous training experience ... this gave us the opportunity to train together in an environment that simulated a real world situation and helped develop us as a cohesive team," Colonel Robinson said.

Colonel Robinson said the exercise enabled the Airmen to work closely with their Army counterparts to learn each other's capabilities, ways of doing things and language differences.

"Some of the challenges we encountered were issues we should expect to meet if we were to deploy to an event, and were invaluable in forcing us to develop workarounds to get the mission accomplished," Colonel Robinson added.

"As expected, our Air Force personnel deployed with the right attitude, motivation and desire for excellence, and did an outstanding job working with other federal, state and local emergency responders," she said.

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 8/17/10 2:00pm – 5:05pm Central (Live)
Wednesday 8/18/10 6:30pm – 9:35pm Central (Repeat)

Welcome Stardust Listeners and thank you for joining us on United We Roll this Tuesday, the 17th day of August, as we once again take time to honor those who serve our country and who protect our freedom!

Now on to our show for this week. We have five new visits with five of our deployed Heroes of Freedom. The show Today will actually end at 5:05pm CDT, approximately one hour beyond our normal two hour period. Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, August 11th at 6:30pm Central. In addition, after the shows have been broadcast, an MP3 copy will be placed on our show archive site for listening and downloading. You can reach our archive site at www.stardustradio.info or on the United We Roll page at www.stardustradio.com

(2:08pm) During our first visit, we will be talking with Air Force member SMSgt Anthony "Tony" Staut, who is currently deployed with the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron as a Medevac EMT on fixed wing aircraft such as the C-130, C-17 and KC-135

(2:50pm) Our next visit is with Army Sgt Bonnie Clark, currently on duty in Iraq with the HHC, 1-3 AAB, 3rd ID. As a Human Resource member with the 1-3 Advise and Assist Brigade, Sgt Clark wears more hats and handles more tasks than most stateside personnel offices would ever hope to see and the draw down is adding to the work load.

(3:21pm) During our third visit, we will be speaking with Army Sgt Arttory Benson, who is on his second deployment and is serving with F Co, TF 2-7, 1-3 AAB, 3rd ID. Sgt Benson is assigned as a truck driver and is part of the unit that delivers supplies to the smaller FOB's(Forward Operating Bases) that are around them and/or belong to their brigade.

(3:46pm) For our fourth visit, we will be hearing from Army 1LT Rachel Adair who is deployed as the Company XO (Executive Officer) with G Co. TF 1, 41st FA (Field Artillery), 1st AAB (Advise & Assist Brigade), 3rd ID (Infantry Division).

(4:22pm) Our fifth and final visit for today is a unique treat as we visited with Army Sgt Troy Ruffin (Medevac/EMT) in April, during the early part of his one year deployment and we are catching up with him again to see how things are changing with his unit as the draw down is impacting more and more units in Iraq. (B Co. 2-7 IN, 3rd ID)

Before we wrap up, we want to acknowledge and thank Talking Communities, the Veteran owned service that brings us our Chat Star Teleconference Facility with state of the art private rooms and audio visual supports. If you need a place to host business seminars, display products or have a craft demo, or maybe you need to have a family celebration with members who are scattered around the US or the world. This is the place to see, hear, speak, show and text each other. For more information, contact the Stardust Radio business office at 319-648-3201.

Ladies & Gentlemen, we wish to thank all of you for joining us and we hope that you will be with us again next week when we will have more great visits from our Heroes of Freedom.

To all of our Veterans and all military family members who are listening, thank you for your service and for our freedom. To all of our First Responders and your family members, thank you for watching over our families, homes and communities.

Once again, we would like to remind any of our listeners who are interested in health and legislative issues that affect those who protect our freedom to tune in to our other broadcasts – OFFE with Gene Simes and Jere Berry at 8pm Central on Tuesday nights ...... and also with Rick Townsend and Firebase Network Sundays at 6:00pm Central.

Please remember, it is up to us at home to help our troops, not only with letters and care packages, but also by being aware of legislation in our states and in DC that will impact them and their families. We must do our part to insure that our Heroes of Freedom receive the benefits and health care that they deserve for keeping our country safe and free. It is the least that we can do for them and it is part of what we must do to help insure freedom for our children.

We wish you all a good, safe and healthy week.

May God Bless You All And May God Bless America!

We have learned over the years of visiting with deployed military members that many do not have the same job on deployment as they do at home. Take our interview with A1C Jordan Lelonis, who you can hear on our show broadcast Tuesday 8/10. At home, A1C Lelonis is an Air Traffic Controller. But on deployment - for which he volunteered - he is on escort security duty and is enjoying the opportunity to learn about the Kyrgyzstan people and their country. Tune in for his interview and check out the following article. Be sure to click on the link for some great photos.

http://www.manas.afcent.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123213073

First-time deployers serve outside their Air Force specialties
by Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Buzanowski
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

7/12/2010 - TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan -- For many Airmen deploying for the first time, they are serving outside of the comfort zone of their Air Force specialty. Right now, Airmen from more than 40 different career paths make up the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Security Escort Flight.

The squadron's outgoing commander, Lt.Col. Craig Cole, says they are the sentries who monitor the Kyrgyz-partner contractors no matter the weather or time of day. "They're dealing with the uneasiness with dealing with a diverse team of Airmen across the Air Force and the unique challenges of watching contractors perform their daily duties.

"I have often reminded them that a deployment to Manas is not the same as the more hazardous locations in Afghanistan or Iraq, but it will prepare them for future deployments because it causes them to deal with issues like preparing for a deployment, the travel to and from the AOR [area of responsibility] and settling in at a completely foreign location," said Colonel Cole.

The flight has Airmen serving in grades of airman through technical sergeant. Two master sergeants, Nathan Burleson and Mike Rogers, run the flight but everyone serves on four-month rotations.

"We trust, but verify the jobs the escorts are doing at random sites," said Sergeant Burleson as he drives on the flight line to make the three-times-weekly rounds. "We want to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and that they're paying full attention to the people they are escorting. We also want to be sure the escorts are taken care of - if it's sunny that they have shade and that they're drinking water to stay hydrated."

"We don't get out as much as we'd like to so we rely quite a bit on the NCOs in dispatch," said Sergeant Burleson.

One of those NCOs is Staff Sgt. Loree Flores. Originally an air traffic controller, she's currently filling a special duty at McConnell AFB, Kan., as a dorm manager. "They normally don't deploy dorm managers, but I asked to deploy since I haven't in four years."

Part of her time at the flight is spent on dispatch - the hub of security escort operations. She explained that the Airmen escort the workers' vehicles from the visitor control center to the work site and must account for every vehicle and person in their group.

"At dispatch, we track where all the security escorts are and if they need anything. The NCO warriors or points bring water, Gatorade and snacks out to the escorts, stopping to actual help work the escort sites when needed or to escort a vehicle from the group that needs to get off base," said Sergeant Flores.

At formations she reminds everyone not to be complacent. Escorts contribute directly to force protection and operational security programs here by having keen situational awareness.

"Watching contractors take out the trash is one of the less glamorous jobs that the escorts do," said Sergeant Burleson.

It's Transit Center at Manas' policy to shred all papers to help protect against privacy act violations, for example social security numbers on orders. If an escort sees papers that haven't been shredded they'll take the initiative and pull these papers before they leave the center, explained Sergeant Rogers.

Also, with such a high volume of transients coming home from down range they often discard weathered uniforms in the trash. The Security Escort Flight recognized this and now all service members are briefed to discard their uniforms at a particular collection point.

Like Sergeant Flores, Airman 1st Class Jordan Lelonis, also an air traffic controller, volunteered for the deployment. "If I had waited to deploy in my job I'd have been waiting about four years," said the first-time deployer from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. "It's a different change of pace and I was really excited to get the tasking. Within my first week here I felt really comfortable with the job."

Pointing at the two master sergeants at his construction site, "they really take care of everyone."

Airman 1st Class William Ybarra, F-16 crew chief, deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy, said he wasn't sure what to expect. "But the food is definitely better than what I expected. I can eat a lot more here than I can back home."

For other Airmen, the deployment is a chance to volunteer and be involved in the community. Airman 1st Class Joshua Weathers, a fuels Airman, is deployed here from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom. "I like the freedoms here of being able to volunteer," said the Airman who is on the base honor guard and is contemporary choir singer. "Morale is definitely good. The positives about this deployment outweigh the negatives."

The master sergeants explained that they coordinate a lot with the contracting office to anticipate the escort requirements for any given day which could be as many as 30-40 locations or jobs. About 75 percent of the escorts work a day shift, and in the winter when most outside projects cease for the season the number of escorts assigned to the flight will scale down.

"Over the past 6 months, I have had over 175 escorts rotate through here under my command. They provide a capability that is not glamorous, often tedious and definitely underappreciated. Without them, operations at the Transit Center would grind to a halt," said Colonel Cole. "The escorts have greatly enhanced our relations with our local partners by treating them with respect and professionalism."