The White Falcon - 14.12.2001, Blaðsíða 2

White Falcon
Commander, Iceland Defense Force
Commander, Fleet Air Kcflavik
Rear Adm. John J. Waickwicz
The White Falcon is produced by the Iceland
Defense Force staff. The editorial content of this
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Deputy PAO - Fridjwr Kr. Eydal
Editor-in-Chief - JOl Linda Pepka
Design, Layout, Staff Journalist -
J02 Stephen Shecdy
J02 Jean Ross
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In the Spotlight
On behalf of the Fleet Air Keflavik (CFK) staff,
I would like to wish all of you Happy Holidays. I
hope you enjoy the holiday season and spend some
time with your families and loved ones.
In the four months I have been aboard CFK, I
have been impressed with the total commitment
and sacrifice the staff, Tactical Support Center
(TSC), Aviation Intermediate Maintenance
Department (AIMD), Aviation Supply Detachment
(ASD), and PATRON have made to meet the mis-
sion. Operating 24/7, they have always risen to the
occasion and met every operational commitment.
I’d like to share some of those highlights with you.
In late September, Lt. Cmdr. Rob Calhoun led a
detachment of personnel and aircraft to Lajes,
Azores, for a highly successful coordinated opera-
tions exercise with our NATO allies. While the
detachment was participating in the exercise, they
also provided valuable support to the USS
Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group as they transited
into the Mediterranean Sea on their deployment.
Aircrews from VP-8 demonstrated their opera-
tional versatility as they conducted surface, subsur-
face, reconnaissance, communications and intelli-
gence missions with impressive effectiveness.
Supporting U.S. Navy battle groups as they cross
the Atlantic continues to be one of Team Keflavik’s
most important missions.
Late October gave us a chance to conduct real
world operations. The entire CFK team consisting
of TSC watchstanders, AIMD maintenance techni-
cians, ASD supply professionals, and the PATRON
aircrews and maintainers came together and sup-
ported round the clock operations for almost two
weeks. Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance
(MPR) aircrews from our own VP-8, the
Netherlands, VP-45, VP-16, Norway and Canada
all participated in the flight operations. The main-
tainers did an excellent job of keeping the aircraft
flying and the operation was a success.
The success of the entire operation was even
more impressive because the TSC, or operation’s
nerve center, was in the midst of a difficult and
time consuming equipment and software upgrade.
The upgrade, started in September, was the first
comprehensive TSC systems upgrade in over three
years. Working around the clock for over three
months, the CFK N6 department completed the
upgrade in record time. AK1 Anthony Pearson and
AK2 Carol Samuel coordinated the receipt of more
CFK
Capt. Mike Morgan
than 500 pieces
of equipment as
well as the dis-
posal of nearly
$250,000 of anti-
quated equip-
ment. The N6
department
installed the hard-
ware and con-
ducted the tests
and evaluations.
The Automated
Data Processing
division finished
the upgrade
installing and
evaluating over 30
new software applications and completing the final
phase, staff training.
Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8), the current
Keflavik deployed PATRON, just passed an impor-
tant deployment milestone - the halfway mark in
their six-month deployment from NAS Brunswick,
Maine. They held their “Over-the-Hump” Party on
Nov. 11. Congratulations to all the “Fighting
Tigers.” We know you look forward to being back
home in a few months, but we hope you enjoy the
rest of your time here in Iceland. We look forward
to helping you make the most of it.
Looking ahead a few months, we will be partic-
ipating in a number of exercises and operations. In
February we will send a crew to Valkenburg,
Netherlands to participate in PLAYEX 2002, a
NATO ASW exercise, and one aircrew to Kinloss,
Scotland, to support the Joint Maritime Course
(JMC) 02-1. JMCs are held several times each year
and provide excellent venues to train our aircrews
for coordinated NATO operations. These exercises
are important because they result in high combat
readiness and allied interoperability.
I would like to finish by recognizing a few of the
great Sailors 1 am privileged to serve with here at
CFK. First, YN2 Jason Karcher was selected from
a very competitive field to be our Sailor of the
Quarter. Since 1 last wrote, AD2 Lisa Murphy, AT2
Chad Abrams, AMI Paul Fields, and CT02
Amanda Nicksic decided to stay Navy and reenlist-
ed. Congratulations to all of you.
Have a safe and happy holiday season.
Tis the Season
k .. CUx i
LYTE BYTES B
By Chaplain John Hoke
‘“Tis the season to be jolly”, and not salty.
Outside one of the Chapel of Light’s win-
dows stands a very dry, very brown and very
dead spruce tree. I am not sure why it is still
there after a whole year, but it is still there.
Perhaps to remind preachers of God’s Word
that a little bit of salt goes a long way. A year
ago, left over ice-melt salt and stone was
accidentally dumped out near this little
Christmas tree. It was too much salt for the
tree to take and it died. The Lord Jesus tells
us to be the “salt of the earth,” that is, make
a difference, bring out the best flavor, act as
a preservative and be like an essential ingre-
dient to all living things. With no salt there is
little or no taste, no preservation, no life
found within. However, too much salt will
spoil the taste, and likely kill the recipient.
We all know from collective wisdom that,
“more flies are caught with honey than with
vinegar.” Besides almost every kid can hum
and almost sing, “a spoonful of sugar makes
the medicine go down in the most delightful
way.” So this very dead tree is like a modern
day parable, Yes, it is essential to preach the
Word of God without watering it down or
making it meaningless and powerless to
cleanse the soul of sin and bring real healing
and the best out of the believer. But too much
salt will kill just as sure as too little salt will
not heal. I bet I have every reader agreeing
with me to this point.
How about “sugar and spice and every-
thing nice.” Isn’t too much sugar just as
destructive, and eventually deadly, as too
much salt? In one sense sugar is even more of
a menace to human life than too much salt. It
is more likely to be swallowed and become
acceptable and even addictive. Because it
seems so sweet, we are less likely to spit it
out and say, “stop it, are you trying to poison
me?” If being over weight is a major cause of
early death, then high sugar, carbohydrate
diets are a real killer.
So we naturally pull away from too much
salt, but we should also have a revolting
response to too much sugar. Which brings me
to the whole reason I started to write this arti-
cle, Is there any salt in your Christmas’
recipe, or is it only sugar and spice? Is there
any aspect of the spirit of the one who ran the
first Advent, “A herald’s voice in the desert:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight
his paths.’” St. John the Baptist came to pre-
pare a way for the Lord, which meant coming
forward, and confessing their sins and show-
ing some evidence of a change of heart.
Like black ice, hidden from sight and no
sign of real danger, an early sugar coated cel-
ebration of Christmas can be deadly. With no
penitential spirit to move one to confess and
repent, no powerful word of God to set one
free, no salty grace to wash out the sickness
of sin and ofler real healing, then a sugar
sweet party centered 24 days before
Christmas Day will fail to bring about a bet-
ter world and a holier people.
I am not advocating the shooting of Rudolf
the Red Noised Reindeer, or taking a blow-
torch to Frosty the Snowman, or taking Santa
in for a military haircut. For in their own way,
each of these winter folk heroes touches our
imagination, how even nature can be touched
and changed by this very special time of the
year.
But can we? Will we change and join both
heaven and nature to sing “Joy to the World”
now and throughout the whole year, until He
comes in glory.
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The White Falcon
December 14, 2001