The White Falcon - 26.02.1993, Blaðsíða 1

HITE
FALCON
Icelandic phrases of the week:
Which way is: I Hwadna att er (e kualha alter)
North: Nordur (northur)
South: Sudur (suthur)
East: Austur (aider)
West: Vestur (westur)
Vol. 52 No. 8 February 26,1993
Serving the Iceland Defense Force Community
forces, skills to hunt submarine
Crews combine
By J03 (SW) Andreas Walter
The U.S. Navy in Keflavik played host to
the first ever “Keflavik Tactical Exchange,”
bringing together Maritime Patrol Aircrews
(MPA) from seven countries. The Keflavik
Tactical Exchange provided a multinational
forum for MPA crews to debate and practice
warfare issues near coastal regions.
The week-long series of discussions and
flight operations which began Feb. 17, was
developed by the staff of Fleet Air Keflavik.
Participating countries included: Canada,
France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the
United Kingdom and the United States.
Lt. Peter Paul Bominaar, Royal Nether-
lands Navy, Tactical Coordinator and Mis-
sion Commander for the Dutch crew said,
“The exercise should primarily be a learning
mperience in a time when the military or-
■nizations world-wide are experiencing
budget cuts.” He added that, although this is
not his first time in Iceland, the chance to
work together and compare the skills of the
seven different countries proved interesting.
The Dutch squadrons are based in Valk-
enburg, Netherlands, and have had a continu-
ous detachment of one aircraft to NAS,
Keflavik since 1985.
U.S. Naval forces included Patrol Squad-
ron FIVE which is on a six-month deploy-
ment to Keflavik from Jacksonville, Fla., and
an aircraft and crew from Patrol Squadron
THIRTY, the East Coast fleet replacement
squadron for U.S. P-3 squadrons.
“We’ve operated one-on-one many times
before with our NATO allies but what made
this special is that aircrews from seven out of
nine NATO MPA countries exchanged tac-
tical ideas at the crew level and put these
concepts to the test against a modem diesel
submarine,” said LCDR David Fay, Tactical
Training Officer for VP 30.
Each country and crew actively contrib-
uted tactical concepts in a face-to-face semi-
nar and then took to the air to put these tactics
to the test to locate a diesel submarine.
Each crew was scheduled for three flights
to increase their awareness of North Atlantic
operations, and participated in presentations
and discussions concerning safety and mis-
sion objectives.
According to CAPT Pete Renting, Chief
of Staff for Commander, Reet Air Keflavik,
“Changes in the world situation over the last
five years highlight the fact that today’s
maritime threat operates in the world’s coastal
regions. It’s a tougher environment for anti-
submarine warfare and one where the U.S.
Navy needs the assistance of its NATO allies
- both for their greater experience and the fact
that we can’t do it all alone anymore. We
intend to face tomorrow’s targets as an allied
maritime patrol force - cooperating across
traditional national and service boundries.”
Inspector General to visit base, hold open forum
Have you ever wanted to talk to someone
who can make things happen? In reality that
someone is you. The performance of your
job probably affects more than just yourself.
Each of us works to sustain or better our
lifestyle. We are all accountable for what
goes right, and wrong; at work and at home,
no matter our age, branch of the service we
serve in or what command we are attached to.
We all have bosses who in turn have au-
thority and responsibility for and to others.
Just as we each receive performance evalu-
ations or fitness reports about the job we are
doing, so do our commands, through visits
by inspector generals.
Next week RADM Kevin F. Delaney, U.S.
Commander in Chief Atlantic Inspector
General, and a 25 member team, will visit
and inspect the staff of Commander, Iceland
Defense Force (IDF).
According to LCDR Wendy Gee, Assis-
tant Chief of Staff for Administration on the
TDF staff, “IDF is one of ten subordinate
kmmands under the U.S. Atlantic Com-
^Rnd. The inspection, which is held every
three years, is used to determine our ability to
accomplish our mission. And in evaluating
our mission, we must look beyond our staff
to the other activities which make up the
base. They all contribute to our mission in
some way, regardless of service.”
The inspection team, with varied experi-
ences of the individual members, is here to
aid and assist according to Gee. “They will
identify and define problem areas and help us
seek avenues to resolve them. They will also
look at our achievements and accomplish-
ments to share with others or give guidance
on how programs have worked at other loca-
tions so that we can learn from others.” She
added, “This is not a fine-toothed comb in-
spection, like many of us have been through
in the past. They (the IG Team) will observe
what’s happening here, and ask ‘what are you
doing good/bad?’ ‘How can you do your job
or make life better here?”’
As IG Team observers visit many com-
mands around the base to see how they run
business, RADM Delaney and a few mem-
bers of his team will give presentations, fol-
lowed by an open forum open to all military
personnel. The Quality of Life discussions
will be held each of the following days at 2
p.m. in Andrews Theater:
Tuesday - (E-l through E-6)
Wednesday - (E-7 through E-9)
Thursday - Officers (all)
The forum is in no way intended to deviate
from, but to complement, traditional and
existing channels of communications and the
chain of command.
NAS receives Innkeeper of the Year award
The U.S. Naval Air Station (NAS), Keflavik recently received the 1993 Innkeeper
of the Year Award (Jumbo), the second time in a row. ENS Aaron K. Stanley, Billet-
ing Officer, said, “The award was given for the station’s efforts to improve the quality
of life. I believe the award was received because of three things: good leadership, $1.8
million granted for barracks renovations, and actually making the renovations become
a reality.”
Billeting was thoroughly inspected for everything from furniture to paint and clean-
liness of their 22 buildings. More than 54 Icelandic, U.S. civilian and militaiy person-
nel make up the team which maintains billeting quarters for more than 2,200 people
on base.