TBI

Got the following email several months back, finally posting it...and it happens to be timely for Veteran's Day.
~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: Travers, Chelsea [mailto:Ctravers@caremeridian.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 06:59
To: davewitt
Subject: RE: Question/Website

Hi David,

Thank you for getting back to me. I have gone ahead and attached the article to this email, it contains a few reference links. If you do decide to use the article do you think you could do me a favor and send me an email letting me know that the article is up? I would really appreciate it.

Thank you again for your help and support!

Take Care,

Chelsea


-----Original Message-----
From: David Witt
Sent: Wed 4/21/2010 9:10 PM
To: Travers, Chelsea
Subject: RE: Question/Website

Chelsea,

Sure, please send me the article.

d

  _____ 

From: Travers, Chelsea [mailto:Ctravers@caremeridian.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 14:38
To: davewitt
Subject: Question/Website

Hi,

My name is Chelsea.  I am contacting you on behalf of CareMeridian
(caremeridian.com). CareMeridian is a well known subacute and skilled
nursing/rehabilitation facility located throughout the Western United States
for patients suffering from traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, or
medical complexities such as neuromuscular or congenital anomalies.  Brain
injuries are becoming all too commonly associated with modern warfare.  Many
veterans return home with brain injuries without knowing they are suffering
from them. Members of the US Department of Veterans Affairs have even coined
brain injuries as the "signature wound" of the War on Terror. To raise
awareness I was hoping that I could offer you an original article about TBI
as it relates to warfare, that you could post on your website
(iloaktree.blogspot.com).

Please let me know if this is something you'd be interested in.  If you have
any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly at this email
address.

Best regards,

Chelsea Travers
ctravers@caremeridian.com
~~~

Traumatic Brain Injuries and the Military

Military men and women are continually involved situations where risk of injury is high. One silent war wound that can often go unnoticed is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) . A TBI damages the brain that can often cause life-altering wounds, which can result in changes in personality, behavior, and even the brain functions of the victim. Some of these conditions are not just life-altering, but can be life threatening and are often partnered with rehabilitation from special care facilities like CareMeridian Las Vegas nursing home.

According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military were hospitalized due to TBI related injuries at a rate of 231 per 100,000. The rate for female members of the military was 150 per 100,000. Based on these statistics over 4,000 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year for traumatic brain injuries. Some are as mild as a concussion, while others can be severe and have life altering effects.

The best way to prevent TBI is through awareness. Recognizing and responding to the symptoms of a TBI can often aid in the preventing further damage caused by the injury. Dizziness, headaches, changes in personality or sleep patterns, and memory loss are clear signs of TBI. Unfortunately these symptoms can sometimes be ignored or discarded as minor pains during times of conflict and even once the solider returns home. This sets up a dangerous precedent for a war wound that may never heal, so it is vital that serviceman and their families are aware of TBI, so that they can recognize and help treat it if symptoms are present.

Greetings from Las Vegas 12 Aug 09...(264 words)

*For those of you getting this for the first time, I try and send out a
*little update about once a month to keep in touch with folks. Please feel
*free to read it, skim it, or ignore it. If you would rather not get it, let
*me know. See http://iloaktree.blogspot.com/ for more info.

All,
For those of you who follow these emails, I apologise for have gone so long without writing. As I recall, it has been about 18 months since my last letter. Part of the reason for this is that I have starting writing a blog, which is a much easier way of pushing information out to folks. The link can be found down below.

Since then, I have gone and come back from Iraq. I arrived back in Vegas and was given the job of flight commander in my squadron, which meant that I was supervising about 15 people. Due to the current ops tempo in the RPA world, most pilots in the squadron fly every day they are at work, flight commanders included. The combination of flying and supervisory duties kept me quite busy.

Also due to the heavy ops tempo, the Air Force has set up a new training base in New Mexico to create new RPA pilots, and they needed people to work there. I didn't really want to go, but unfortunately the guy in line ahead of me has a pregnant wife and the AF isn't allowed to PCS you within a certain time of a due date, so the job came to me. I'll be moving later this month.

I would have liked to go into more detail, but I'm afraid it would had delayed sending this, and I didn't want to wait any longer. I still plan on writing every so often, but for the latest news on me, visit my blog at the link below.

Fair winds,
d

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handcrafted emails by:
David Witt

Skype: oaktree1977
Twitter: iloaktree
On MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/davewitt
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davewitt
The blog: http://iloaktree.blogspot.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---,--/0\--,--- ----,--\0/--,----
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--message ends--

USAF demographics

I periodically get the USAF demographics mailed to me, they are an interesting look at the service.

-----Original Message-----
From: Air Force Personnel Center News Service [mailto:AFPC.News@randolph.af.mil]
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 12:22 PM
To: Witt, David
Subject: AFPC News Service Oct. 20, 2008: Service demographics offer snapshot of force

Welcome to the Air Force Personnel Center News Service



Oct. 20, 2008
Release No. 126

Service demographics offer snapshot of force

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Air Force Personnel Center officials here recently published a demographics report offering a snapshot of the service's active-duty and civilian force. This data is current as of Sept. 30 and can also be found at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/ under Air Force Demographics.

Statistics are rounded to the nearest tenth.

Active-duty demographics:

Snapshot of the Air Force
- 322, 897 individuals are on active duty
-- 64,805 officers and 258,092 enlisted personnel
- The Air Force has 13,242 pilots, 4,213 navigators, 1,282 air battle managers and 30,047 nonrated line officers in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below

Age
- The average age of the officer force is 35; for enlisted Airmen, it's
29
- Of the force, 38.47 percent are below the age of 26
-- 44.58 percent of enlisted Airmen are below 26 versus 14.11 percent of officers

Gender
- 19.6 percent of the force are women
-- 18.31 percent of the officers are women and 19.92 percent of the enlisted corps are women
-- 59.6 percent of the female officers are line officers; 40.4 percent are nonline
- 84.86 percent of the male officers are line officers; 15.14 percent are nonline
- The population of women is 63,272
- Women first entered pilot training in 1976, navigator training in 1977 and fighter pilot training in 1993
-- Currently, there are 601 (4.21 percent) female pilots, 246 (5.41
percent) female navigators and 151 air battle managers (11.3 percent)

Race of Airmen
The following percentages, which are self-reported, cover Air Force military members' racial information.
- 0.62 percent reported their race to be American Indian or native Alaskan
- 2.48 percent reported their race to be Asian
- 14.71 percent reported their race to be black or African American
- 0.97 percent reported their race to be native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
- 73.54 percent reported their race to be white
- 1.87 percent reported their race to be more than one of the categories

- 5.79 percent declined to report their race

Ethnicity
"Hispanic or Latino" is now considered an ethnic, not a racial, category that is registered separately and in addition to the above racial categories.
- 9.7 percent of Airmen call themselves "Hispanic/Latino"
- 86.58 percent "not Hispanic/Latino"
-- 3.72 declined to respond

Marital status
- 60.2 percent of the current force is married, which is 71.66 percent of the officers and 57.33 percent of enlisted Airmen
- There are 19,287 couples in the Air Force with both spouses in the military
-- 1,395 of these are married to members of other military services

Family members
- Active-duty members support 492,002 family members
-- 387,180 family members reside in an Airman's household

Overseas
- 20.95 percent of the current force is assigned overseas (including Alaska and Hawaii)
-- 9,697 officers and 57,937 enlisted personnel

Total active federal military service
- The average total active federal military service is 11 years for officers and 8 years for enlisted Airmen

Officer academic education
- 51.85 percent of the officers have advanced or professional degrees
-- 41.13 percent have master's degrees, 9.32 percent have professional degrees and 1.39 percent have doctorate degrees
-- 25.99 percent of company grade officers have advanced degrees, 19.16 percent have master's degrees, 6.56 percent have professional degrees and 0.27 percent have doctorate degrees
-- 85.63 percent of field grade officers have advanced degrees, 69.76 percent have master's degrees, 13 percent have professional degrees and
2.87 percent have doctorate degrees

Enlisted academic education
- 71.2 percent have some semester hours towards a college degree
-- 78 percent of Airmen
-- 77 percent of NCOs
-- 26 percent of senior NCOs
- 17.91 percent have an associate's degree or equivalent semester hours
-- 1.6 percent of Airmen
-- 18 percent of NCOs
-- 51 percent of senior NCOs
- 5.22 percent have a bachelor's degree
-- 1.7 percent of Airmen
-- 3.9 percent of NCOs
-- 18 percent of senior NCOs
- 0.83 percent have a master's degree
-- .02 percent of Airmen
-- .39 percent of NCOs
-- 4.4 percent of senior NCOs
- .01 percent have a professional or doctorate degree

Component
- 99.28 percent of the officers have a regular commission
-- 99.53 percent of the line officers have a regular commission

Developmental education
- 61.83 percent of the officers have completed one or more professional military education or developmental education courses either in residence or by correspondence.
-- 9,668 have completed at least one senior service school or senior developmental education course, 12,431have completed an intermediate level course while 17,972 have completed Squadron Officer School.

Source of commission
- 20.57 percent of the officers were commissioned through the Air Force Academy, 42.88 percent through Reserve Officer Training Corps and 19.38 percent through Officer Training School.
-- The remaining 17.17 percent were commissioned through other sources (direct appointment, etc.).

Civilian employee demographics

Total civilian strength
- There are 141,937 civilian employees
-- 77.4 percent are "white collar" and 22.6 percent are "blue collar"

Citizenship
- 132,665 are U.S. citizens including U.S. nationals (10,134 are Air Force Reserve technicians)
- 9,270 are foreign national employees
- Two are other non-U.S. employees in the United States or a U.S.
territory

Age
- The average age is 46.6 years

Length of service
- The average length of service is 15.3 years

Retirement eligibility
- 25.3 percent become eligible in more than 20 years
- 29.5 percent become eligible in 11-20 years
- 17.6 percent become eligible in 6-10 years
- 17.3 percent become eligible in 1-5 years
- 8.5 percent became eligible 0-5 years ago
- 1.9 percent became eligible more than 5 years ago

Gender
- 33.4 percent are female and 66.9 percent are male

Race
The following percentages cover self-reported Air Force civilian members' racial information.
- 1.1 percent reported their race to be American Indian or native Alaskan
- 5 percent reported their race to be Asian
- 11.9 percent reported their race to be black or African American
- 0.3 percent reported their race to be native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
- 70.3 percent reported their race to be white
- 0.5 percent reported their race to be more than one of the categories
- 10.9 percent declined to report their race

Ethnicity
"Hispanic or Latino" is now considered an ethnic, not a racial, category that is registered separately and in addition to the above racial categories.
- 7 percent of airmen call themselves "Hispanic/Latino"
- 92.9 percent "not Hispanic/Latino"

Overseas
- 10.9 percent of the total civilian work force is assigned overseas
- 40.3 percent are U.S. citizens including U.S. Nationals.
- 59.7 percent are local nationals

Military service
- 3.1 percent of the civilian work force are retired officers
- 16.2 percent of the civilian work force are retired enlisted
- 29.5 percent of the civilian work force have some military service (not retired)
- 51.2 percent have no military service

Education (white collar)
- 25.3 percent have a bachelor's degree
-- 18 percent have a master's degree and 2 percent have a doctorate or professional degree
- 23 percent have an associate's degree or have accumulated hours toward a bachelor's degree
- 28.4 percent have at least a high school education
- 1.5 percent have less than a high school diploma

Education (blue collar)
- 3.9 percent have a bachelor's degree
-- 0.3 percent have a master's degree
- 26.2 percent have an associate's degree or have accumulated hours toward a bachelor's degree
- 67.9 percent have at least a high school education or equivalent
- 1.4 percent have less than a high school diploma

Developmental education
- 6,684 civilian employees have completed one or more military schools
-- 3,764 have completed Squadron Officer School
-- 3,544 have completed intermediate developmental education
-- 2,067 have completed senior developmental education

Executive-level training
- 323 employees have completed executive-level training
-- 25 Congressional fellowship programs
-- 270 executive and senior executive leadership
-- 24 public administration graduate school
-- 10 management graduate school

For more information, go to Air Force Personnel Statistics on AFPC's "Ask" Web site.


-- 30 --


The Air Force Personnel Center -- putting the Right People in the Right Place at the Right Time.
For more AFPC news and information, log on to our Web site at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil.
________________________________________________________________________
_________

You can now manage all your Air Force subscriptions from one location.
Go to http://www.af.mil/subscribe/

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You are currently subscribed to afpcns as: david.witt@X.mil If you wish to cancel your subscription at anytime, simply send a blank e-mail to leave-1996568-3494590.016c4ee232d47c87f6bde1ff4d544ea1@mercury.afnews.af
.mil.

~~~
published 26 oct 08

The official release on the new non-rated UAV pilot program. See previous entries 1 and 2.

-----Original Message-----
From: Air Force Personnel Center News Service [mailto:AFPC.News@randolph.af.mil]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 11:34 AM
To: Witt, David
Subject: AFPC News Service Oct. 6, 2008: Officer volunteers wanted for UAS

Welcome to the Air Force Personnel Center News Service

Oct. 6, 2008

Release No. 121

Officer volunteers wanted for UAS

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas - Air Force officers are currently being sought to volunteer for unmanned aircraft system operators. Applications are due to Air Force Personnel Center no later than Nov. 3.

The first ten officers selected will start UAS operator training in January 2009, and another ten will begin training in April 2009.

The UAS is a big part of the future of the Air Force, said Air Force officials. First-hand knowledge of its capabilities and operations will be critical to future combat effectiveness as well as future Air Force leadership. Pilots flying operational missions or working in the Predator Operations Center get a unique perspective on world events, typically while such events are in progress.

In order to volunteer, officers must complete the test of basic aviation skills (TBAS) by Oct. 31. Testing locations that administer the TBAS can be found on the Pilot Candidate Selection Method Web site (Common Access Card is required to access this site).

In addition to the TBAS, officers must meet the following requirements:

-- Captains with 4-6 years total active federal commissioned service as of Jan. 5, 2009
-- Pilots are not eligible for this program
-- Combat System Officers, Panel Navigators, Electronic Warfare Officers, Weapons System
-- Officers, and Air Battle Managers are eligible to compete if they are not currently in training, awaiting training, or previously eliminated from UPT
-- Non-rated line officers are eligible
-- Be less than 30 years old Jan. 5, 2009
-- Air Force Officer Qualification Test minimum scores of pilot greater than twenty-five, combined pilot and navigator composites greater than fifty (if no AFOQT on file, complete the AFOQT by Oct. 31, 2008)
-- Two years time on station by July 1, 2009
-- No previous military pilot training experience

Volunteers meeting the criteria above and wanting to apply must complete the Aircrew Training Candidate Data Summery, Air Force Form 215, and electronically forward the completed form to Pipeline and Training Assignment Branch at specialflyingprogram@randolph.af.mil by 4 p.m. CST, Nov. 3, 2008. Group or squadron commanders (do not use a higher level) must provide their recommendations on the form. No other documentation will be accepted as part of the application process.

Interested officers that have questions about the application process, or the qualifications, can contact AFPC's Pipeline and Training Assignment Branch at (210) 565-2330, DSN 665-2330.

More information about this program can be found on the AFPC "Ask" site by entering "UAS" in the search engine. Individuals can also contact the 24-hour Air Force Contact Center at (800) 616-3775.


-- 30 --




The Air Force Personnel Center -- putting the Right People in the Right Place at the Right Time.
For more AFPC news and information, log on to our Web site at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil.
________________________________________________________________________
_________

You can now manage all your Air Force subscriptions from one location.
Go to http://www.af.mil/subscribe/

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.mil.

~~~
published 26 oct 08

Blood from a stone

We recently increased our workdays here due to the massive increase in ops tempo we (the UAV world) have gone through. I'm afraid our leadership is going to learn the wrong lesson from this, the wrong lesson being, "They're UAVs, every time we push them harder, we get more back."
This would lead them to believe that they can just keep pushing and just keep getting more back. I watched same thing happen in the desert: They asked for massive increase in ops and got it, then they asked for more, until finally we were all flying 12 hour days praying no one went DNIF or crashed one because it would mean a reduction in ops.

We already don't have any training lines, which is already bad enough. For those with no AF flying experience, most of the flying (60%? 75%?) a squadron does is training, even during a war. In the UAV world, the operational squadrons have zero dedicated training flights in a given day.

The following are a couple of articles referenced in an email from a friend who asked me about it.

Article 2, Air Force Times

-----Original Message-----
From: David Witt
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 15:43
To: X
Subject: FW: Fly opportunity


Yeah, we got a slightly early heads up on this. Big picture, I have no problem with lower level experience folks showing up here.

Small picture, what this means is that they OUGHT to get a lot more training than I got...but they probably won't, which means the already low average level of our experience will get even lower, and we will see a lot sloppier ops. This is your typical AF knee jerk reactions, all about quantity, quality goes straight out the window.

How's things?

-----Original Message-----
From: X
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2008 1:14 AM
To: Witt, David
Subject: FW: Fly opportunity

Interesting... not that I'd want to fly (or rather: to be responsible for that much $$ with my Murphy's law luck), but some dad's just won't let their dreams die. But it made me think - what are your thought on this, since you've seen two of the three sides first hand? Forgive me if you've addressed this in your blog, its been a few days since I've taken a peak.

-X

~~~
Up and Away: The Air Fo rce envisions building a force of 1,100 unmanned aircraft operators-up from today's pool of about 450-by Fiscal 2012 to support 50 continuous MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper combat air patrols under two new initiatives announced Tuesday at AFA's Air & Space Conference. The initiatives will develop a new cadre of UAV operators that do not have experience operating other combat aircraft, and in some cases, have no real previous flying experience at all, service officials said. "This will certainly be a cultural change," Brig. Gen. Lyn Sherlock , director of air operations on the Air Staff, told reporters during a press briefing.
Previously, the service has drawn its UAV operators from the ranks of more experienced pilots. But with the insatiable demand for UAVs, not only for overhead surveillance, but also for strike and additional roles, the Air Force is taking this new approach. Under the first initiative, the Air Force will select about 10 percent of its next batch of graduates from undergraduate pilot training in October-about 100 airmen-for training in UAV operations at Creech AFB, Nev. The second, more radical concept entails creating a new career field for UAV operators by choosing active-duty officers from various technical and non-technical backgrounds to teach to teach them to fly the UAVs. These officers will get some introductory flight training at Pueblo, Colo, and then go straight into Predator training "to bring them up to fully qualified mission status," said Brig. Gen. Darrell Jones , director of force management policy on the Air Staff. To see if this idea has long-term legs, there will be a two-part "beta test" program, he said. An initial class of 10 officers will start training in January until next fall. A second class of 10 will start next summer and finish before the end of 2009, Sherlock said. If those two test runs prove successful, the Air Force would then start accepting larger classes, Jones said.

~
published 8oct08

I'm blogging this.

A friend at the squadron here said there was some good stuff at thinkgeek.com. A piece of apparel that is sure to scare the insecure male:


~~~
original post by email:
~~~
thinkgeek.com

I'll update this post shortly.

email, links, humor

Humor

I highly recommend today's XKCD, gave me a great laugh!

XKCD

RE: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

An interesting first person perspective on the recent comments by SecDef Gates.

tags: opsec, disclaimer, air force, history, letters

-----Original Message-----
From: X Maj 46 ERS/CC
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:18 PM
To: 46 ERS OPS ALL
Cc: X Maj 332 AEW/PA
Subject: FW: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

All,

Here's some clarification from someone who was actually there. We can't always believe what we hear in the media.

-X
________________________________
From: X USAF AETC ACSC/AY08 STUDENT [mailto:X.X@MAXWELL.AF.MIL]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 18:55
To: X USAF AFSOC 3 SOS/CC; X USAF ACC 432 WG/CC; X J6C/J6CS; X USAF ACC 432 OG/CC; X A3/5/AFCSO; X USAF ACC 17 RS/CC
Subject: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

******Click Bar at top of email and switch to DISPLAY AS HTML*********

Sirs,

Did you hear the news today that said "AF Gets Scolding Over War Effort (CNN)" or "Gates says AF Not Doing Enough In Iraq (Associated Press)"?

In case you were wondering . . . that is NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

I was in the room (with about 1000 friends)--and I was awake-- no one left the briefing thinking that the SecDef was upset with the AF.

He did say a few things like:

- The AF did not want UAVs in 1992

- "We can do more" . . . but he said it very casually like we can always do more

- He very very briefly mentioned that he has been working on getting more UAVs/ISR . . . but this was a very small point in his entire brief

- Mainly he challenged us to think outside the box (like Col Boyd w/ the OODA loop)

The CNN article is completely out of context. His brief was very positive, uplifting, and even motivational.

Two theories racing through the school:

-- possibly he pre-released his negative speech and then changed his mind at the last minute

-- or CNN pre-wrote this speech waiting for him to say something close enough to trigger this negative article about the USAF

Sec Gates' theme was to challenge Air Univ (and the students) to think of smarter ways to deal with future conflicts-not to reprimand the AF.

This is an accurate story of what he talked about from the SecDef Website.

This picture was taken from the brief this morning and is indicative of the tone of the brief (in the background is Lt Gen Lorenz - AU CC). It does not look like he is reprimanding the AF to me . . . and he didn't.

"Now you know, and knowing is half the battle"
-- G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero

v/r

X

[minor edit after post to integrate links, erase carriage returns, add tags.]

reindeer, april fools

Some interesting excerpts from a running series of letters with Sharon:

Her:
I really like your new haircut! You look nice in a military style haircut. I used to get my hair cut on base but stopped going.

So tell me a story about your military experiences. Do you ever go crazy being around so many men?

~
I bought some reindeer from him and they pull me to class because there is so much snow and ice that I don't want to drive in the coldest months.

I have a fun idea. Since it is April 1st tomorrow why don't we change our relationship status on fb and pretend we are dating for one week as a joke? Todd will be so baffled, especially because we live so far apart. :) If he asks I can say that I am now pregnant as well. :)

Me:
I'm game on the prank, status changed my end. I'll change it back on 7 Apr. Yes, do tell him the pregnant part, the distance factor will boost my already considerable reputation for virility .

~
Hmmm, military experiences. I don't know about "go" crazy, we pretty much "are" crazy about women. I am working on a blog entry about it, but sometimes the best part of my whole day is hearing a woman's voice on the radio.

I had a female pilot friend deployed with me at one point. She was taxiing out one day and making a radio call to tower and in the background as the tower controller was talking to her you could hear someone in the background with a Russian accent say, "I love you!"
(We were in Kyrgystan, a former Soviet Republic, so the Russian accent made sense.)

For a genuinely crazy story, try this one out. I had never heard of this before getting here, but apparently there is a serious problem with male-male rape in the US army over here. Not that surprising when you compare this place to prison, bunch of dudes all crammed together for 15 months, isolated from the rest of the world they knew, with the added pressure of being shot at quite often.

Her:
Todd has now changed his status update-look at the one before.

Please don't tell anyone we both know that this is a joke until a week from now. ...for one, is sure to be surprised if he notices.

So are you also being shot at all the time? :( I wouldn't be able to sleep if that was me.

~
Just to keep you updated this was the message I just sent Todd:

Yep, Dave and I have kept our illicit relations a secret for a while. We don't see each other very often and sometimes we can't talk that regularly because of his schedule and the time zone differences. So we tried being friends but we are just too attracted to each other when we meet up. The pregnancy wasn't planned...I am normally very careful about these things...it was one of those I drank too much New Years surprises. I always wanted to be married first...oh well. We are talking about setting a date soon.

~
Oh my gosh! My doctor friend just cooked up this ultrasound picture with our twins! Completely wild! It even has my name on it. I even fooled a bunch of other people without meaning to.

In case you are wondering, I haven't lost my marbles. But I think we have taken April Fools to another level!

~
I find the thought of you being shot at quite upsetting and I find it hard to believe that you get used to it. But I will try to believe you...

Me:
It's interesting that you say that about getting shot at. There's a Chili's down the street from my house that I eat at a lot, so I've gotten to know a few of the waitresses. I was walking out a couple days before I left and I mentioned it would probably be awhile before I saw her again because I was going to Iraq, and I think I ruined her day. She got all sad looking...I felt bad, but I was really surprised because we didn't even know each other that well.

Well, you do get used to it. Most of the time I sleep through it now.

Her:
Sure, I will send you a postcard. It might have to wait until after final exams in May though. What is your address? Will you send me a postcard too? I have never gotten one from that part of the world.

My undergrad degree was in Psych and I learned how there is a stronger connection between couples who meet when they are young. The divorce rate goes up by 20-30% I think if you marry a person you meet after you are 25. I read about this a long time ago so my figures might be off. There is some kind of connection that forms when people are young which cannot be replicated later in life.

Me:
Interesting info on relationships. I was considering doing psych for my masters. I wonder if the reason for that is physiological (i.e., the brain is younger so the connections are more enduring), or learned (i.e., when you are older, you've met more people so each relationship is less unique.)

Her:
About your hypothesizing-the first reason is correct.

Jeez, your address looks like it is on the moon or something. There isn't even a country!

And when we call it quits don't try any funny stuff. :) You only get one kid and half the reindeer.

mIRC

We use a chat program here called mIRC that allows to talk to all manner of folks for all manner of reasons. I obviously can't talk much about operations, but needless to say, chat rooms allow for all for all kinds of miscommunications, both amusing and rage inducing. Some of the most proficient chat typers in the world are probably the average high school age cell phone owner and a whole bunch of military folks over here. See mirc.com.

Some relevant chat abbreviations, far from a complete list:

c: copy; this means, "I understand what you just said."

ty: thank you

yw: you're welcome

tyvm: thank you very much

rog: roger; means the same as copy

sb: stand by; I heard you but stop talking for now, I will get back to you when I'm done with a more pressing matter.

.: people will often use a period to check if they are still connected to a room and see what their nick name is. Sometimes in moments of boredom, these will become running jokes such as...

~
redhead_42:.
killer-mc:..
oddjob_mcc:...
~

We generally run things in rooms, where multiple people can read and write things to the whole room, but you can also talk one on one via a method called whisper which looks the same as a normal room, but only you can the other person can see what is typed (unless the chat is logged, which it often is). You can also give the room you are in a title, which provides an additional way to communicate. This can be for relevant business, or just a joke, more often the latter on nightshift. A recent room title: Bear Blasting, the sport you'll invent because you'll be too energetic for normal sports! (See entry on Powerthirst.)


[originally started this entry 29 mar 08, added to it 30mar08, 10 apr08, 12apr08.]

random ambiguity measure

I've started using the tag "disclaimer" on posts where I am deliberately altering information (OPSEC, gender anonymity). The trick to this is that while I may omit or alter information, the tag itself is an indicator. It's rather like pleading the 5th: while you can legally avoid incriminating yourself, you have shown the other side where to start investigating.

So it is much more powerful to use a certain element of random ambiguity. John Boyd loved to tell a story about a group of German troops who were retreating from Normandy. Seeking to confuse the Allies, they began reversing every road sign they came across. The Americans following in their path realized after a few such errors that all the signs were reversed and just began to do the opposite of what the signs said. The point of the story is that certain deception is no deception at all. It would have been much more effective, Boyd said, had the Germans only reversed a third or a quarter of the signs. Then the Americans would have had to double check every turn.

Poker offers an interesting analogy to this. What's a bluff in poker? When you play strong even though you think or know you don't have the cards. The trick is that over many hands, your opponents will eventually call many big bets or bold plays. If they call your bluff enough, they will know most of your big plays are bluffs. To introduce uncertainty then, you can't bluff that often, and most of your strong plays have to be based on real cards. Then your opponents will have to allow for the possibility that you are telling the truth.

There is also an element of this in random searches at airports. While you might think it possible to get something past the general inspections, there is always the chance that you will randomly get tagged for the more thorough searches.

I have often wondered at an application of this principle to the spokespeople for companies, organisations, movements, etc. If you always tell the truth, you may sooner or later have to tell an unpleasant truth. This may lead you to try to avoid a question. If this isn't artfully done, you may end up drawing more attention to the very thing you are trying to conceal. If you flat out say you aren't going to answer, you have the same problem as pleading the 5th. On the other hand, if you are willing to lie (as say, most big companies are willing to do), you will use a lie to cover an unpleasant truth. But when the truth comes out, as it often does (Enron anyone? Baseball steroids, Bear Stearns, Savings and Loan scandal, payola, quiz shows, etc.), your reputation for truthfulness is tarnished and now your opponents and concerned citizens will know if there's a suspected wrongdoing and you're reporting all is well, they will start to investigate. In other words, your lie has lost its power. (To return to the poker example, you have to tell the truth the majority of the time, or lying is not just ineffective, but counterproductive.)

In either case (trying to be truthful or willing to lie), the more powerful position is to not answer all questions, but to set aside a small percentage (1 in 10? 1 in 20?) and simply not answer them of the basis of creating ambiguity.

tags: opsec, disclaimer, history

Greetings from Iraq 12 March 08 (zulu+3)(293 words)...

A pretty boring letter, but I put all of my energy into the blog and I just wanted to send it so people would know where I was...

*For those of you getting this for the first time, I try and send out a
*little update about once a month to keep in touch with folks. Please
feel *free to read it, skim it, or ignore it. If you would rather not
get it, let *me know. See x
*for more info.

Greetings from Iraq 12 March 08(zulu+3)(293 words)...

Hello everyone!

I have arrived safely in the combat zone! (oxymoron?) I have been hard at work and already gotten a lot better at the launch and recovery process from constant practice. The upside to UAV ops is that you can predict and schedule operations better, since missions that go longer don't prevent a crew from going home to crew rest, since the plane can be landed by someone else. The downside is, it means you can fly your crews 12 hours a day, every day, and we have been. The squadron here is pretty small here, since all the mission work is done from the states, so I am getting to know the folks here pretty well.

The location here isn't too bad. The chow hall is outstanding, tied for the best chow hall from my entire career. The flying is challenging and fun so far, and there's decent amount to do with our (scant) free time.

On my way over, I was able to briefly meet up with Amy x while stopping in Germany. I also got to hang out with Amanda x when stopping at the Deid, the 40th's rote was over and they are now safely at home. (Interesting note, I deployed the same time as the 39th...I can't get away!) So far here, I have tracked down Scott x, and run into Frank x and Jeff x, all still in the Herc world.

I have been blogging quite a bit, please see the address below. I also included a link to my SIPR blog, for those with the means. I'm out of time for this letter, so I'll send this and write more later.

If you would like a postcard, please send me an address!

fair winds,
d

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handcrafted emails by:
Witt, David-USAF
xxx
xxx
david.witt@xxxxxxxxx.af.mil
DSN 443-6454
blog:
http://iloaktree.blogspot.com
SIPR blog:
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/blogs/david_witt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---,--/O\--,---

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Florida couple, both well into their 80s, go to a sex therapist's office.

The doctor asks, 'What can I do for you?'

The man says, 'Will you watch us have sexual intercourse?'

The doctor raises both eyebrows, but he is so amazed that such an elderly couple is asking for sexual advice that he agrees. When the couple finishes, the doctor says, 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with the way you have intercourse.' He thanks them for coming, he wishes them
good luck, he charges them $50 and he says good bye.

The next week, the couple returns and asks the sex therapist to watch again. The sex therapist is a bit puzzled, but agrees. This happens several weeks in a row. The couple makes an appointment, has intercourse with no problems, pays the doctor, then leave.

Finally, after 3 months of this routine, the doctor says, 'I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Just what are you trying to find out?' The man says, 'We're not trying to find out anything. She's married and we can't go to her house. I'm married and we can't go to my house. The Holiday Inn
charges $98. The Hilton charges $139. We do it here for $50, and I get $43 back from Medicare.

--message ends--

tags: email, deployment, humor, opsec, history

flight suit zipper; towel; gender anonymity

I was going to the bathroom today and I was zipping up my flightsuit afterwards and I suddenly realized that it was the first time I had worn that flightsuit. The zippers on new flightsuits often catch, because they are made of metal and the edges haven't been worn in, like a new key. You have to run the zipper a couple of times to make it run smoothly. This is a little embarrassing the first time if you are wearing it, because you have to stand there struggling to get the zipper down, looking like you don't know how to control your own pants. (Fortunately, I was alone in the cadillac.) (Also, for those of you wondering why I would struggle to get a zipper down, the flightsuit has a full length zipper running from crotch to neck that opens at both ends, so when you go to pee, you pull the bottom zipper up to open your fly and down to close it again.)

I got some new desert flightsuits from my old squadron two years ago after my last deployment. The desert ones can be hard to come by, so I grabbed a few when our resource advisor had some cash to spare. I felt a little guilty about it at the time, since I was planning on that being my last deployment. The Air Force, of course, had other plans for me (or maybe it was karma for getting some gear I didn't think I would need). So despite having it for two years, today was the first time I had worn this particular flightsuit.

In other embarrassing bathroom stories (and this one is literally bare ass), I recently forgot to bring my towel with me to the shower in the morning (2200L for me). I didn't realize this until I was already done with my shower, of course, so I had to dry off with the only dry piece of cloth with me, the scrub pants I sleep in. The rest of my PT gear would be useless for this purpose, being made completely of nylon.

On gender anonymity. Given the ratio of women to men in the Air Force (~1:6), I will occasionally use a male pronoun falsely when telling a story about female friend if I am trying to hide her identity, because to even say "she" puts her in such a sparse demographic that it would be easy to figure out who she is.

Okay enough for me today, can barely keep my eyes open. Can't wait to find the spelling and grammar errors I've probably missed in this entry.

ash

We were driving home from work yesterday (I'm currently on a midnight to noon-ish shift, so this was midday), and the winds were just right to carry the ash of what looked like paper from one of the local burn pits. On the downwind side of the hangers the ash was eddying and swirling on the ground. Makes me wonder what else they burn there.

Old friends

1Not a long entry today, really doing this while I wait for Facebook to load so I can check messages and play Risk. Interesting note on writing...I can't remember the author of this quote, but it was a writer who was talking about what makes a writer. He had had a mentor tell him once that you are a writer when you are actually writing, so don't worry about whether it's perfect, or the right topic exactly. If you are writing everyday, that makes you a writer.
(Of course, *good* writing is another topic entirely.)

I finally managed to meet up with an old buddy of mine today. Ruger is working in the C-130 squadron, which is fairly close to where I currently work, but he was on days I wasn't so this is the first time I was able to get over there to see him. We went and grabbed some breakfast and talked things over. Scott is a nav and we used to be in the 39th together. We have deployed together a number of times, and have an ongoing series of photos, one a year. The first was in 2003 in Kandahar, '04 was also in Kandahar, '05 was in Little Rock because we were both upgrading, '06 was Las Vegas for a weapon school graduation, '07 was Little Rock again. So this will be the sixth (six years of war!)

Also, one of our other pilots (Steve) is heading home soon. Partly as a result of this, I have moved to "nights," which is midnight to noon.

[Edit 7 Mar 08, OPSEC]

Corduroy, OPSEC, haircut

I hate the AF PT gear. The t-shirt is okay, but the jacket and pants are 100% nylon, which makes them loud as hell when I get up and am trying to get out of my room without waking up my roommate. It's like swinging big plastic bags around the room and zips like corduroy as you walk, too. Also, being nylon, should I get shot or hit with shrapnel, or be in a fire, they would burn and melt to my skin. Not a fan of that. Interesting note, our new utility/camoflage uniform (the airman battle uniform/ABU) has a 100% polyester undershirt that does the same thing. The white in the ABU also tends to glow in white light if washed with detergent containing optical brighteners. Likewise, not a fan.

Until I put my PT gear on at Al Udeid, I didn't really feel like I was deploying.

Clarifying OPSEC: It stands for operational security, and the idea behind it is that it is impossible to classify and control all the information we would want to classify to confound the enemy and still do our jobs, but you still want to limit the spread of that information. So, for example, the day I flew out of Nevada to deploy wasn't classified, but it was OPSEC, since it was a troop movement. Some of the old posters from WWII (e.g., "Loose lips sink ships,") capture the idea.

I have disagreements with certain instances of how this concept is used, but overall, I agree with idea. I certainly wouldn't want anyone out there to get hurt because of me. I bring this up at this time, because some people would object to me even writing this blog, and posting a picture of myself in uniform. So I screen what I write and post pretty carefully...I won't post many pictures, and probably won't use any with anyone else in them unless they okay it. But I do think it is important to put this information out there.

I'll go more in depth on this a some point, but when I watch the news on TV about the war, it's incredibly frustrating how inaccurate it is. I am not even referring to distinct factual errors (which do occur, but rarely). What is more often the problem as I see it is that the news media is reporting on something they know little about themselves (the military and warfare) to people who know even less (the public). While there might not be errors in reporting, it's information in a vacuum that lends itself to misinterpretation. For example, I was when we killed Zarquowi (sp?) in 2006. For three days, there was nothing but coverage of this on the news. Again, there were no factual errors that I saw (bearing in mind that I had no first hand knowledge of the operation myself). But to watch the coverage, you would think that an operation like this (airplane working with ground troops) was a rare event. It isn't. Operations like the one that got Zarquowi happen every day in Iraq. The only thing that was out of the ordinary about that op was the target.

I planned on getting a haircut before coming to the cyber cafe to write this. I deliberately let my hair get long before I deployed so I would be a little less conspicuous flying commercial and then on the rotator. (I was wearing civvies.) But when I got to the barbershop, there were about 25 guys there and 2 barbers, and I hadn't brought a book, so I skipped it for today. Maybe tomorrow.

[edit 6 mar 08] I may or may not note omissions for OPSEC with a label