The White Falcon - 21.01.1961, Side 2

2
WHITE FALCON
Saturday, January 21, 1961
We Believe
It's Worth It
In our issue of November 12, 1960, the WHITE
FALCON suggested that every member of the services
be given training in diplomacy—the end result would be
a thorough understanding or as we said .... to attain
a complete understanding-maintaining decorum among
foreign people—adapting to local customs—observing
laws—learning to be a good neighbor.
We also suggested that some day base brouchures
would devote a chapter on “This Is Your Host” and that
in NATO countries another booklet would devote a chapter
to “These Are Your Guests.”
And now comes a story in the NATO LETTER of
December 1960 which is written by Max Beloff, Glad-
stone Professor of Government and Public Administra-
tion in the University of Oxford.
Entitled, “Fact and Fiction in the Atlantic Com-
munity” the author notes, “It is important to accelerate
the communication of ideas—scientific, social, military,
political—if our Alliance is to flourish.”
Mr. Beloff’s article is of particular interest to us
who serve in a NATO force and to those in whose lands
we are called to serve. For this reason, the WHITE
FALCON is devoting much of its space to the article.
We believe it gives much food for thought and is worth
the serious-reading time of those stationed at Keflavik
and our Icelandic audience.
★ ★ ★
Of the Minuteman
Railroaders Learn
AFNS—By mounting Minuteman solid-fueled ICBMs on trains
and shuttling them back and forth across the Country the U. S.
possesses a strategic weapon almost impossible to neutralize—and
one that insures instant retaliation against an enemy attack on
this country.
This was the theme of an address before the American Rail-
road Executives Association, meeting in Seattle, Washington, Dec.
13, by Lt. Gen. Bernard A. Schriever, Commander, Air Research
and Development Command.
He complimented the railroaders on their wholehearted support
of the Air Force’s mobile Minuteman program.
“Fortunately, we have been able to depend upon the railroads
and their combined estimated investment of more than $35 billion
in road and equipment. We have been offered access to many thous-
ands of miles of usable track and the services of 1,000,000 ex-
perienced railroad personnel.
General Schriever noted the»rapid development of ballistic
missiles, and acknowledged the present inability to strike in-
coming enemy missiles from the air. Until we have such a capa-
bility our best defense is the ability to mount an offensive, he
said. The mobile Minuteman constitutes such a defense.
Inherent in this philosophy is the necessity for protecting our
own weapons against surprise attack, the general said. He described
two courses adopted by the Air Force to achieve survivability—
hardening with dispersal, and mobility.
Minuteman is being developed to fit both of these conditions.
“By positioning large numbers of Minuteman missiles in hard-
ened, underground sites we make it economically feasible to mount
an impressive counterforce of tremendous power. We levy maximum
demands on an enemy’s accuracy, timing and salvo capability,”
General Schriever told his listeners.
“By deploying quantities of Minuteman missiles on trains
which can move freely in random fashion, we greatly complicate
the enemy’s targeting problems. By blending credible survivability
and strike effectiveness into our Minuteman forces, we arrive
at a favorable cost-effectiveness ratio.”
General Schriever emphasized the lack of danger in having a
substantial number of nuclear-tipped missiles “roaming about our
country and through our communities.”
“Transporting a Minuteman missile about the Country will be
no more hazardous than the movement of a gasoline tank car,”
he said.
Commenting on the economy of the Minuteman, and the efforts
of ARDC to reduce installations cost to the bone, General Schriever
called attention to savings to be made in the launch control system.
THE WHITE FALCON
Col. Benjamin G. Willis, USAF
Commander, Air Forces Iceland
The WHITE FALCON is an of tidal Clot, II Armed Forces newspaper published weekly at
Keflavik Airport, Iceland by Air Forces Iceland of the Military Air Transport BertAce for
m^tin^U Stationed at Keflavik Airport. The WHITE FALCON receives AFPS and
AFN8 materials. Views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the
Department of Defense. # . _
Information Officer.....................Capt. Warren J Papm, USAF
Editor ................................. SSgt. Clarence J. Bizet, USAF
IsafoldarprentsmiOJa h.f.
Aerospace Power for
Sgt. Morris
Aids State
With Call
Washington, D. C. (MNS)—A
MATS radio operator from the
1254th ATW at Washington In-
ternational Airport may have
helped save Haile Selassie’s Ethi-
opian Kingdom this month.
At the height of the recent up-
rising Addis Abeba, a three-con-
tinent radio-telephone hookup be-
tween Haile Selassie and one of
his generals was accomplished by
SSgt. Kenneth W. Morris, radio
operator aboard a 1254th aircraft
which flew several U. S. Senators
on a trip to Africa.
The call, which took about seven
hours to set up and complete,
went from the MATS plane in
Liberia to Andrews AFB, Md.,
to Paris, and then to Asmara in
Ethiopia.
The King stopped in Liberia on
a flight to Ethiopia from Brazil.
Unable to contact Ethiopia direct
from Liberia, he went to the
American Ambassador at Liberia
for assistance. __
Results followed quickly. The
ambassador sent a man out to
the airfield to talk to Sergeant
Morris. After trying to contact
Paris directly, with no luck be-
cause of atmospheric disturbance,
the sergeant radioed Andrews
AFB, Maryland which in turn
reached Paris—and the Emperor
talked with his ambassador in
Paris from aboard the aircraft.
Another relay was set up in
the same way, from the plane to
Andrews to Paris to Ethiopia.
The King talked with his general
in Ethiopia for about 30 minutes.
The Whys and Hows
Workers Health Benefits
“Q” AND “A” ABOUT FEDERAL
WORKERS HEALTH BENEFITS ACTS
AFNS The following questions and answers have been prepared
by the Civil Service Commission to answer the many inquiries being
received about the Retired Federal Employees Health Benfits Act
which authorizes a program of health benefits for retired Federal
employees and survivor annuitants. Many questions cannot be
answered in detail at this time because regulations have not yet
been issued and the contract for the uniform Government-wide plan
has not been negotiated.
GENERAL
Q. What are the two new laws which are concerned with
health benefits for active or retired Federal employees?
A. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Act of 1959
(Public Law 86-382) and the Retired Federal Employees Health
Benefits Act of 1960 (Public Law 86-724).
Q. What is the purpose of each?
A. The Health Benefits Act of 1959, which became effective
in July 1960, authorizes a health benefits program for active
employees and their families. Employees (and their survivors)
who are enrolled under the 1959 Act may continue their coverage
after retirement (or death) if they meet certain requirements.
The Retired Federal Employees Health Benefits Act of 1960
authorizes a health benefits program for retired employees and
survivor annuitants ineligible to participate in the program set
up under the 1959 Act because the employees* Federal employ-
men terminated in retirement or death before the July 1960 ef-
fective date of the active employee program.
Q. Why wasn’t just one law enacted to cover both groups?
A. In general, retired employees are in the higher age
brackets and therefore make greater use of health benefits. The
cost of providing benefits for older persons is from two to three
times the cost of providing benefits to younger persons. There-
fore, combining the two programs presented a difficult problem.
Rather than delay both programs, Congress decided to provide
one for active employees and to continue to seek a solution to
the additional problems involved in providing health benefits
coverage for persons who were already annuitants when the
1959 Act became effective.
Q. Will the annuitant heath benefits plan, for which the Com-
mission will contract, be less liberal than the plan for active
employees?
A. Yes. The only alternative would be a premium rate which
most annuitants could not afford to pay.
Q. When will the Retired Federal Health Benefits Act become
effective?
A. July 1, 1961.
VP Scans
Area Seas
Patrol Squadron 10, Det. 13 is
now patrolling the waters sur-
rounding Iceland in their Lock-
heed Neptune patrol bombers
(IP2V-5F). The squadron took
over from Patrol Squadron 11
without interruption of patrols
when they arrived here Jan. 8
and 9.
Here for five months, the
squadron is commanded by Cdr.
T. J. Brady. He has 21 officers
and 119 enlisted men who are
“eager and ready to maintain the
excellent record set by Patrol
Squadron 11.”
This Wednesday, Commander
Brady turned over the squadron
to Cdr. Jens B. Hansen. The out-
going Commander will fly to Rota,
Spain, to take command of Patrol
Squadron 10 which is now com-
manded by Cdr. R. A. Kimener.
The squadron comes here with
a record of two Battle Efficiency
“Es” which they won in 1958 and
1959. While scanning the Iceland-
ic environ, the squadron will con-
tinue its efforts, already started,
toward another “E”.
ELIGIBILITY
Q. Who is eligible for benefits under the Retired Federal
Employees Health Benefit Act?
A. In general, the following individuals are eligible:
* An employee who retired before July 1960 on an immediate
annuity after 12 years or more of service or for disability.
* A member of a family who receives an immediate annuity
as the survivor of such a retired Federal employee.
* A member of a family who receives an immediate annuity
as the survivor of an employee who died in service after
completing 5 or more, years of service.
Q. What is an immediate annuity?
A. For ft retired employee, an immediate annuity is one
which begins not later than one month after separation from
the service. For a survivor, an immediate annuity is one which
begins not later than one month after the death of the employee
or annuitant whose service forms the basis for the annuity.
Q. Does the Retired Federal Employees Health Benefits Act
pertain only to persons receiving annuities under the Civil Service
System or monthly compensation under the Federal Employees
Compensation Act?
A. No. Annuitants under the following retirement systems
may also be eligible:
* Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
* Foreign Service.
* Policemen and Firemen of the District of Columbia.
* Public School Teachers of the District of Columbia.
* Lighthouse Service.
* Federal Courts.
Q. Are any groups of persons specifically excluded from
coverage?
A. Yes. (1) Annuitants receiving annuities under the Tenn-
essee Valley Authority Retirement System; (2) Retired employees
(or their survivor annuitants) who retired from a position with
a corporation under the supervision of the Farm Credit Ad-
ministration, if any member of the board of directors of such
corporation is elected or appointed by private interests; (3)
Retired employees (or their survivor annuitants) who are not
United States citizens and whose permanent duty stations were
outside the United States on the day before they became an-
nuitants.
Q. Some employees were retired from positions with the
Tennessee Valley Authority but receive their annuities under the
Civil Service Retirement System. Are they eligible?
A. No, because at the time of their retirement they were
Tennessee Valley Authority employees and, as such, are excluded
from coverage by the Act.
(To be continued.)
Peace Through Deterrence