The White Falcon - 24.09.1960, Blaðsíða 2

2
WHITE FALCON
Saturday, September 24, 1960
We’re Ready
Welcome Aboard
Two weeks ago the WHITE FALCON said .... this
(Keflavik Airport) is a complex machine so-drawn to
accomplish an all encompassing mission. Our missions
cannot be outlined concisely, but the role the base played
in supporting Exercise FALLEX proves our readiness.
Everybody at Keflavik took on the extra logistical
duties to support the extra units with a more than “grin
and bear it” attiude. This was so necessary that one com-
mander said .... this help is indispensable in the effort
to provide 100 per cent air coverage in the operating
areas located many miles at sea.”
Airmen already know that exercises are held to test
readiness—how well each is atoned to his mission—how
well he performs in a team effort—how well the team
perform for its superiors—how good exercise plans are
—and the big question—will the overall effort be suf-
ficient for the results sought?
To bring the subject closer to each airmen, we can
cite the acceptance of the idea that base buses would be
crowded .... we can cite the foresight in catching buses
earlier or later to avoid peak hour rushes.
And we appreciate greatly the words of Capt. N. C.
Gillette, who told the men in the exercise, “I fully realize
the impact such a large number of additional men has
on a base and hope that mutual relations would bear up
under the strain .... while September will be a rough
month .... the base personnel are stationed here for
a normal duty tour.”
Captain, welcome aboard!!
★ ^ ★
Disseminating Information
Doesn't Come Easy
Disseminating information 24 hours a day to the Kefla-
vik Airport populace is not an easy job; it requires around-
the-clock news gathering.
And news gathering is not easy when atmospheric
conditions disrupt radio-teletype reception, prevent taping
desired programs from the Armed Forces Radio and Tele-
vision Service out of New York.
Loyalty to the Journalism field, in radio or the editorial
field, overshadows the frustrations over equipment that is
inoperative off and on. The keen interest in getting the
best possible news by taping any good broadcast in Eng-
lish and then transcribing it to fit local needs makes
every newscast the best available.
When radio teletype is coming 5x5, the news broad-
cast is the hottest-as timely as that coming off any wire
editor’s newsroom in the states.
Coverage in the WHITE FALCON has been broadened
to bring all the news.
Makeup problems when pictures are not received in
time or when news sources call after deadline time mul-
tiply the problems faced. Despite this, through pure dint,
the FALCON staff is managing to disseminate the best
news possible.
Without the calls from individuals, the FALCON staff
could not bring complete coverage. Continue to help us,
call us in time; help us keep our news tips and futures
book filled and assure the best for our listening and read-
ing public. With this type cooperation, a trying job be-
comes a pleasant one.
THE WHITE FALCON
Col. Benjamin G. Willis, USAF
Island Commander Iceland (ISCOMICE)
THE WHITE FALKON is an official Class II Armed Forces newspaper published weekly at
Keflavik Airport, Iceland by and for the Navy and Air Force personnel of the Iceland
Defense Force. THE WHITE FALCON reseives AFP8 material. Views and opinions ex-
pressed herein are not neccassarily those of the Department of Defense.
Telephone number: '4156.
Information Officer................Capt. Warren J. Papin, USAF
Editor ............................ SSgt. Clarence J. Bizet, USAF
Associate Editor.....................SSgt. John W. Horky, USAF
IsafoldarprentsmIOja h.f.
CAN-CAN-DO—Yes, the lady is an
authentic Parisienne, definitely
statesque, and only 18 at that.
She’s Claudine Longet, whirling
nightly through the can-can in the
Folies Bergere at a Las Vegas,
Nev., hotel.
AF Improves
Titan Missile;
Adds Power
The latest missile — An ad-
vanced model of the Titan inter-
continental ballistic missile is be-
ing developed by the Air Force.
The improved model will be capa-
ble of carrying a heavier load and
will have a greatly reduced re-
action time.
Known as the Titan II, the im-
proved weapon system may be
launched directly from its under-
ground silo within a few seconds
after the order to fire is given.
This advancement results from
the development of a Titan which
can be fueled with storable liquid
propellants. Materials now in use,
such as liquid oxygen, must be
kept in special containers at mi-
nus 300 degrees Fahrenheit tem-
peratures to retain their liquid
state.
Storable liquids will permit the
advanced Titan to be fueled and
keep in a ready-firing condition
for long periods of time at ordi-
nary temperatures.
The current model of the
Titan is housed underground for
protection and lifted to the sur-
face for launching, giving it a
reaction time of a few minutes.
In addition to other advance-
ments, Titan II will be directed
to its target by a self-contained,
all-inertial guidance system. This
system cannot be jammed by any
known method.
The first operational squadron
of Titans will enter the Air Force
inventory in 1961. The present
Titan missile will be known as the
SM-68 and the advanced Titan II
will be designated as the SM-68B.
You can find whatever you
want at our house by looking
where it wouldn’t be if you did
want it.
Interpretative
Minority Can Win
Robert Trout of CBS News, anchor man of the CBS Radio’s
convention coverage, outlines just how a President is elected.
The next President of the United States is scheduled to be
elected formally on December 19, 1960 by 537 persons balloting in
their respective home states. The counting of their votes will not
take place until January 6, 1961, when a joint session of Congress
will do the job. On that day the new President will be legally
recognized.
This is the law.
It derives from Article II of the United States Constitution,
as modified by the Twelfth and Twentieth Amendments, and im-
plemented by Federal and state statutes. The supreme law simply
states: “Each state shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legisla-
ture may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole
Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may
be entitled in the Congress ....”
These electors constitute the Electoral College, and it chooses
the Chief Executive.
What the Founding Fathers had in mind was a group of well-
informed, judiciously responsible electors, men who would be care-
fully selected by state legislators; they, in turn, would decide on
the best qualified man available for President. (Originally, their
second choice became Vice President). The drafters of the Constitu-
tion either did not envision the two-party system which has envolved.
But Americans have found party structures congenial, or at
least necessary. American self-government has become progressively
more popular (or “direct”), notably in its manner of choosing major
office holders.
Pressure has been constant for more direct-choice methods on
the part of individual citizens, who have felt a desire for more
intimate control over their executive and legislative .leaders. The
direct ballot, they feel, ensures such a relationship.
So today Electoral College plurality of their respective
voting for President and Vice
President is largely a formality.
True, each state chooses Presi-
dential electors as stipulated by
its own laws, implementing those
of the Congress and the instruc-
tion of the Constitution. But the
electors’ votes are foregone con-
clusions. They ballot now in ac-
state’s voters. The development
of parties also revealed the im-
practicality of choosing the sec-
ond most popular man as Vice
President, since he tended to be
of an opposite political viewpoint.
And so now one vote per citizen
goes to both the Presidential
nominee and his running mate.
cordance with the wishes of a
It should be noted that the electors of each state vote in con-
formity with the dictate of a plurality of their state’s citizens only;
whether a candidate carries a state by one vote or one million, he
gets all of the state’s electoral votes. This technical arrangement
enables a President to be elected with a minority of the total
This outline should make it clear to WHITE FALCON readers
that one absentee vote is important. It could easily swing the elec-
tion. Help choose the leaders of your choice, write for an absentee
ballot and vote.
★ ★
Future of Pro-Pay
Looks Promising
Airmen trying to make up their minds whether or not to re-
enlist will be interested in this long range plan on pro-pay.
An Air Force News Release says that according to rules laid
by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, (Manpower,
Personnel and Reserve), the entire pro-pay schedule must be laid
on in a minimum of four years.
This means that by the end of Fiscal Year ‘63 (June 1963)
15 per cent of the Air Force, or approximately 80,000 will be
drawing either P-1 ($30) or P-2 ($60).
The ,P-2 pro-pay budget for FY ‘62 provides a ceiling of 8,333
airmen with an expected increase to 13,000 by the end of FY ‘62.
Those to be awarded P-2 will be at the “7” skill level, and above,
and all will be in grades of technical sergeant and above.
At the present time there is no Department of Defense aut-
horization to open the gates to P-3.
The introduction of the P-1 rating in six increments was based
on this master list. The master list is reviewed periodically and
adjusted to accommodate changing technology, training costs, man-
ning, retention and other factors.
The first increment of P-2 which was made this month in
16 skills will be followed later this year with about 26 skills of
the 131 skills of the currently drawing P-1 pay.
The introduction of P-2 in small increments has called attention
to the continuous Air Force-wide retraining program of some 11,000
members each month. A small number of these people are technical
sergeants and above who are being retrained from a pro-pay skill
which became P-2 this September 1 to another pro-pay job not
designated for P-2 until a later date.
To head off possible temporary loss of pro-pay, the message
advised that every precaution should be taken toward protecting
the trainees present and future pro-pay status. However, the
message noted that commands are responsible for retraining
men into needed skills, some of which, inevitable, will not carry
a pro-pay tag.
While the pro-pay program has been designed to award P-2 to
all technical sergeants and above with a valid pro-pay skill, the
Office of Secretary of Defense and budgetary requirements to
phase this program in over a four-year period will not allow all
techs and above in P-1 status to be awarded fP-2 at one time.