News Tribune reporter Adam Lynn files this story after interviewing the new top airman in the Puget Sound area Friday:
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The new commander of McChord Air Force Base will have his hands full as the Obama administration moves to draw down troops in Iraq and increase operations in Afghanistan.

McChord and its 4,600 military and civilian personnel and 43 C-17 cargo jets certainly will play a central role “if a decision is made to shift forces anywhere in the world,” Col. Kevin J. Kilb said Friday.

“Obviously, we’re focused on doing our part to win today’s fight,” Kilb said after being installed as commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing during festivities at the base south of Tacoma. “The continuous support of the war fighter is what we’re focused on.”

He replaces Col. Jeffrey Stephenson, who has been appointed as chief of staff of the Air Force Chair at the National War College in Washington, D.C.

Local concerns also will occupy Kilb, a 20-year Air Force veteran who has commanded units across the world.

Kilb, 43, told The News Tribune that one of his top priorities will be ensuring that McChord’s merger with Fort Lewis goes as smoothly as possible. Wing commander assignments usually last 20 to 24 months.

The two Pierce County military installations are scheduled to become a single base by October 2010. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission ordered the consolidation in 2005.

“Making sure we get that right” while “taking care of our airmen and their families” will require a concerted effort over the next year or so, Kilb said.

“We want to become the model joint base in the Department of Defense,” he said.

Kilb comes to McChord from Air Force headquarters in the nation’s capital, where he served as chief of the Global Mobility Division and chair of the Global Mobility Panel, Directorate of Programs, Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Programs.

He is a command pilot with more than 3,600 hours of flight time in aircraft including the C-17A, C-130E/H Hercules and UH-1N Huey helicopter.

Kilb’s duty stations included a deployment to Iraq in 2006, where he commanded the 407th Air Expeditionary Group at Ali Air Base near the ancient city of Ur.

He and his wife, Stacey, have three daughters, ages 6, 5 and 5 months.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com

The Los Angeles Times offers a snapshot of Jean Chamberlin, the vice president and general manager of Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III program.

She's a local gal:

Chamberlin, 55, grew up in Tacoma, Wash., where her father retired as a senior master sergeant at nearby McChord Air Force Base. "I always had planes flying around in my backyard."

BAGHDAD – The loadmaster’s voice pierced the engine roar.

“Make sure you’re buckled up,” he said. “We’re going to land in about five minutes.”

From my seat aboard the C-17 Globemaster in the skies above Iraq, I could see out one of the side windows. We were still easily thousands of feet in the air.

And it didn’t even take the full five minutes to land in Baghdad.

The cargo jet – operated by a crew from Charleston Air Force Base – began its descent by dipping its wings to both sides. The pilot then pointed the nose toward the ground, and the plane shook as it picked up velocity. It flattened out as it approached the runway, and soon we were on the ground in Iraq.

The last-minute preparations in Kuwait have a way of wearing people down. I shared the flight with dozens of members of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade, 28th Infantry Division, many of whom hadn’t yet deployed. Even as we were making the descent into Baghdad – something that one would think would create some jitters – almost everyone aboard the jet remained asleep.

McChord Air Force Base limits bird strikes through a combination of nature, timing and technology.

The base, home to a wing of C-17 Globemaster cargo jets, must deal with Canada geese, gulls, sparrows, larks and pigeons near its flight line. But it hasn’t had an aircraft significantly damaged from a bird strike in recent memory, said Lt. Col. Jon Olekszyk, the operations officer for the 62nd Operations Support Squadron.

That’s in part because ground crews crunch online and real-time data on migratory patterns of birds and schedules takeoffs and landings away from times when large flocks are in the area; dawn and dusk during autumn is a particularly heavy time for bird migration. And the base employs a falconer, who trains a large bird to fly near the flight line to help clear the skies

“Just the presence of a falcon soaring in the area deters most of the birds from flying around here,” said Master Sgt. Brian Poje, the Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard program manager.

The base first used a falconer in 1998, and bird strikes are down 65 percent since the program’s implementation, Poje said.

=> Read more!

Pick up a copy of the Northwest Airlifter, the on-base newspaper for McChord Air Force Base, and it was unavoidable: a countdown to the start of the Nuclear Surety Inspection.

Clearly, the inspection was a big deal.

“It’s not just a big deal at McChord,” said Col. Jeffrey Stephenson, the commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing, a day after the base passed its inspection. “This is – no kidding – our No. 1 mission. It’s a no-fail mission, because anytime you deal with nuclear materials in any form or fashion, it’s not just of national interest. It’s of international interest.”

The 4th Airlift Squadron is responsible for transporting the military’s nuclear weapons, and two other units have failed inspection in recent months.

The inspection by the Air Mobility Command Inspector General Team, which began Wednesday and concluded Monday, was rigorous, Stephenson said.

“They ask if the airmen are mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for the mission,” he said. “ Do they know the processes? Do they know the procedures? Are there self-inspection books (in order)? They have their own checklist to make sure their programs are uptight and their procedures are followed to a T.”

The inspection results could be viewed as a slumpbuster for the Air Force, which has suffered a string of embarrassments over the handling of nuclear weapons.

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McChord Air Force Base’s 62nd Airlift Wing has passed its nuclear inspection with the highest grade, the base announced Monday.

The wing received a grade of satisfactory, according to a press release. The base’s 4th Airlift Squadron plans and executes all Primary Nuclear Airlift Force missions.

The inspection was primarily conducted by the Air Mobility Command’s Inspector General department. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Air Force Inspection Agency and U.S. Strategic Command also participated.

"These results underscore our commitment to the American people in our ability to conduct our number one no-fail mission," wing commander Col. Jeffrey Stephenson said in a release. "No mission is more important than safeguarding our vital nuclear capabilities and maintaining nuclear deterrence.”

Full press release is below:

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Jenna Williams is no stranger to deployments. Her husband, Brad, is an airmen stationed at McChord Air Force Base. And her sister-in-law’s husband is a Fort Lewis soldier.

But whether it’s a 15-month deployment to Iraq or a four-month tour of airbases in the Middle East, the separation isn’t easy on the 22-year-old.

“The days just creep by sometimes,” she said.

But on Wednesday morning, her wait was over. Her husband, Senior Airman Brad Williams, returned to McChord with more than 100 other members of the 4th Airlift Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing after a four-month deployment to Turkey and Kuwait.

Family members and friends waited in the terminal near the flight line until minutes before the jet was scheduled to land. As it began circling around for its landing, they poured outside. Many held signs, balloons and miniature American flags. They erupted in a cheer when the plane landed.

They crowded around the stairs as the airmen walked off. Wing commander Col. Jeffrey Stephenson stood at the bottom of the staircase and shook hands as they walked down. They hugged and kissed their loved ones. Some cried.

“It’s just good to be back,” said Brad Williams said, who received a big hug from his wife and his sister, Amanda Hawkins, as he met them on the flight line.

=> Read more!

Members of the 4th Airlift Squadron will return to McChord Air Force Base on Wednesday after serving a four-month deployment overseas.

More than 100 airmen served throughout Europe, Southwest Asia and the Middle East as part of the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is responsible for all C-17 Globemaster III missions throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.
One mission involved ferrying about 2,000 Georgian troops serving in Iraq to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

“Our nation, our community and this combat airlift wing are proud of the airmen from the 4th Airlift Squadron and its many contributions to the war effort,” Col. Jeffrey Stephenson, 62nd Airlift Wing commander, said in a press release. “We welcome them home with open arms and are grateful each member has safely returned to their family and friends.”

McChord’s four active-duty flying squadrons deploy on a rotational basis, often for four-month tours. The 8th Airlift Squadron deployed in late October, replacing the 4th Airlift Squadron.

About 150 members of the 8th Airlift Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing will leave McChord Air Force Base on Monday for a four-month deployment in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It will deploy as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is tasked with planning and executing missions using C-17 Globemaster jets throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. The McChord airmen will operate from bases throughout Europe, Southwest Asia and the Middle East.

The 8th Airlift Squadron last deployed in July 2007. It will replace another McChord unit, the 4th Airlift Squadron, which is scheduled to return to home early next month.

“Our airmen are proud of our mission to support our fellow warriors as a deployed airlift squadron,” squadron commander Lt. Col. Albert Miller said in a release. “Every single day, we’ll be flying missions in direct support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, delivering troops and supplies and keeping convoys off the roads.”

Photo: Russ Carmack/The News Tribune

When my colleague Russ Carmack brought his images back from this morning's "ride" in Sim No. 11 out at McChord, one of the other photographers commented as to how we must've been out there early, given the dawn's early light out the cockpit window.

For us news types an 8 a.m. showup still counts as oh-dark-thirty. But that's not why the light looked that way.

The virtual reality world they can create in the C-17 simulators is impressive – after lifting off from a faithful VR version of the McChord flightline, we flew over a VR Tacoma Dome, a VR East Side, and, as you can see, a VR Mount Rainier.

Simulator instructor Bob Callahan and Lou Matz, the facility director from Boeing, explained that in the old days they used a cartoony VR world. But these days it's high-res satellite imagery, adjusted to bring up the 3D feel.

This is not "Flight Simulator" for your old desktop; McChord's C-17 sims are RV-sized contraptions on hydraulic lifts that vibrate and rumble. The instructors can summon up weather conditions with Zeus-like authority – rain, snow, hail, lightning, you name it. The horizon dips and bobs and weaves and the sensation of movement hits you in the gut.

Sometimes, people even barf (not us, mind).

Craig Kelshaw, McChord's simulator project officer, said the quality of the effects has allowed the Air Force to move more and more of its pilot training into the VR world. Figuring in fuel costs and wear and tear on the air frames, it costs $17,900 an hour for training in a C-17, compared with $600 an hour in the simulator, Kelshaw said.

There's only one significant drawback. The pilots, like the two pictured above – Capt. Chris Robinson, left, and Lt. Col. Ted Detwiler – are professionals. And their natural sense of competition and pride drives them to take the training seriously.

But in the sim, "game over" doesn't really mean "game over." There's not that underlying fear that if you screw up, you're going to die.

Sim instructors like Callahan say they can put pilots through every worst-case scenario they could ever possibly encounter in a real live airplane. And the laws of gravity notwithstanding, if they can come through all that in the sim, their chances of making the right decisions at real-life crunchtime go way, way up.

It was a pity that this top photo ran in black and white in today's paper, so I wanted to post it here – the blue sky of Antarctica is unlike any I've ever seen, and this picture does it justice.

The lower photo shows the payloads floating to the ground. The C-17 is just visible to the right of the picture.

These photos are courtesy of Forest Banks, the U.S. Air Force, Raytheon Polar Services and the Royal New Zealand Defense Forces.

The State from Columbia, S.C. -- where right at this very moment it's 74 and partly sunny -- has an interesting story about the perils of landing the big cargo jets in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not quite the same reception they get flying in and out of McMurdo Station.