The White Falcon - 23.11.2001, Page 2

White Falcon
Commander, Iceland Defense Force
Commander, Fleet Air Keflavlk
Rear Adm. John J. Waickwicz
The White Falcon is produced by the Iceland
Defense Force staff. The editorial content of this
newspaper is prepared, edited and provided by
the public affairs office of IDF. Photo process-
ing is provided by Commander, Fleet Air
Kcflavik.
PAO - Lt. Steven Mavica
Deputy PAO - Fridjior Kr. Eydal
Editor-in-Chief - JOl Linda Pepka
Design, Layout, Staff Journalist -
J02 Stephen Sheedy
J02 Jean Ross
Admin. Asst. - Rannvcig Fri6bjarnard6ttir
The White Falcon is an authorized publication
for members of the military services and their
families stationed at NAS Kcflavik. Its contents
do not necessarily reflect the official views of the
U.S. Government, the Department of Defense,
the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S.
Army or the U.S. Air Force and do not imply
endorsement thereof.
The appearance of advertising in this newspa-
per, including inserts or supplements, docs not
constitute endorsement by the Department of
Defense, the Navy, Marine Corps, Army or Air
Force, Commander Iceland Defense Force or
Vikurfrcttir of the products and services adver-
tised.
Everything advertised in The White Falcon
shall be made available for purchase, use or
patronage without regard to race, color, religion,
gender, national origin, age, marital status, phys-
ical handicap, political affiliation or any other
non-merit factor of the purchaser, user or patron.
If a violation or rejection of this equal opportu-
nity policy by an advertiser is confirmed, the
publisher shall refuse to print advertising from
that source until the violation is corrected.
The White Falcon is published by Vikurfrcttir,
a private publisher, in no way connected with the
Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy, the U.S.
Marine Corps, the U.S. Army or the U.S. Air
Force, under exclusive contract with the U.S.
Navy.
Questions or comments can be directed to the
public affairs officer or the editor. The White
Fulcon staff can be reached by calling 4612 or
6492, e-mail pao^idfcfk.navy.mil or stopping
by Bldg. 936. The deadline for story submis-
sions is close of business Friday for the follow-
ing week of publication. The White Falcon
reserves the right to edit all submissions.
The White Falcon is published every Friday by
Vikurfrcttir, whose office is located at
Grundarvegur 23, 260 Njardvik. U.S. and
Icelandic businesses interested in advertising in
The White Falcon may contact Jonas Franz at 0-
421-4717, fax 421-2777 or e-mail franz@vf.is.
The White Fulcon is printed at Stapaprcnt in
Kcflavik. The White Falcon is online at
www.nctskcf.navy.mil
In the Spotlight
Quality of Life in Iceland is what you make of
it. Who is this guy talking about the Quality of
life? Well, I’m the Command Master Chief for
COMFAIRKEF and Iceland Defense Force, but
I’m also the chairman of the Quality of Life
(QOL) Board, which consists of the Senior
Enlisted Advisors of the base. The board reports
to the QOL council consisting of the Component
Commanders chaired by Rear Adm. Waickwicz.
The QOL council and board provide the mech-
anism for bringing issues beyond the capability
of the individuals to resolve to the attention of
the QOL board for discussion and prompt reso-
lution.
So how do you get word to the QOL board?
First, if you have a complaint or suggestion, con-
tact the service provider. For example, if gym
locker rooms need repair, contact the personnel
at the desk or the gym director. If your complaint
or suggestion falls onto deaf ears, contact your
Senior Enlisted Advisor and he or she will con-
tact the service provider to ensure that action is
being taken. If the suggestion is more than what
the service provider can do, then the QOL board
will make recommendations to the council.
The board is not designed to circumvent the
chain of command. All personnel are encour-
aged to utilize existing command structures and
informal feedback systems to resolve issues at
the lowest possible level.
Here’s a list of some of the items that the board
and council are reviewing and current pending
action:
- The Single Service Members Center current-
ly under construction scheduled to be completed
in March 2002.
- Hiring a U.S. citizen as Human Resources
Office director, advertising worldwide to fill,
but has not been filled.
- Government vehicles used to transport new
reporting personal families to base
Indoctrination. Currently that’s no, DOD instruc-
tions do not allow non-DOD personnel to use
government vehicles, but we are checking the
possibility for a waiver to the instruction. To
overcome this problem in the meantime, we are
trying to ensure that sponsors have vehicles.
- An instruction is being written to formalize
how monies will be spent for the Family Service
and Youth Programs (FSYP) funds. These funds
are raised through the Combined Federal
IDF/CFK CMC
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CNOCM (SW) Steven J. Wacker
Campaign-Overseas (CFC-O) that come directly
back into the community. CFC-0 directors have
advised that this fund may be used for anything
that improves quality of life. In the next few
weeks, you should be seeing notices asking for
inputs on which base programs could use the
funds. The FSYP committee will then decide on
how to best distribute the funds. If you have any
questions on FSYP funds email the committee at
fsyp@idfcfk.navy.mil.
The QOL board and council work on your
concerns that affect the base as a whole. There
are other boards or advisory panels that are
available at commands for your suggestions.
Did you know that you could provide sugges-
tions on the food at the galley or improvements
to NEX? There is a Menu Review Board that
meets monthly to discuss the galley food/service
and there is a panel that offers suggestions to
NEX. Contact your command representative or
Senior Enlisted Advisor to get your suggestion
to the right person. All these boards or panels are
designed to improve service to you, the user.
I hope you all have the best of holidays.
LYTE BYTES ©
The value of faith communities
By Chaplain Rodger T. Ericson
In a recent web article, Secretary of
State Colin Powell wrote about the impor-
tance of integrated faith communities and
how they can help people experience
healthy lives.
He wrote:
I’m the young son of Jamaican immi-
grants. And what’s one of the biggest
influences in my childhood? The Young
Men’s Hebrew Association. Go figure.
It’s not as surprising as it might seem. I
grew up in a diverse New York neighbor-
hood called Banana Kelly. My friends
were Puerto Rican, Italian, and Greek.
My entire life pretty much spanned a few
blocks, with school on one end of Kelly
Street, and my church, St. Margaret’s
Episcopal, on the other. Church was
important in my family. We had our own
pew, and I was even an altar boy. But
after school, I headed to the Jewish cen-
ter because both my parents worked and it
was a safe place for me.
It was a cornerstone of the community.
It was filled with people who really cared
about kids — everybody’s kids. That sense
of community made all the difference in
my childhood.
The Secretary’s “beliefnet” theme
reflects how we work in the military chap-
laincy. We cross denominational and inter-
faith lines to meet community needs.
While we will defend the rights of those
who don’t want to “exercise” any religious
practice, we promote the importance of
faith communities and do not tear down or
denigrate other religious practices. We
work together to insure that you can freely
exercise of your religion. But, it up to you
to “exercise.”
The Holy Scriptures and my own coun-
seling cases reflect the need and value for
children and adults to be actively involved
faith communities.
I commend the many people at Keflavik
who enrich our community and I’m
pleased to say that so many are active in
one or more of the Chapel of Light con-
gregations. We become one large congre-
gation of shining light who seek to trust in
God’s promises.
Advent is approaching and with it, litur-
gically, the “new church year” begins on
Dec. 2. Reconsider the impact Jewish and
Christian congregations had on a boy
named Colin Powell. If you have left your
community for some reason, or ignored it
lately, come back home and start out the
New Year with your Lord and His people.
Then, in the words of Colon Powell,
“Together, we can give today’s kids that
sense of belonging... Let’s help them grow
up with faith as they live in their commu-
nities.”
You can read the complete version of
Secretary Powell’s article at
aol.beliefnet.com/story/50/story_5019_l.html.
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The White Falcon
November 23, 2001