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GaryRobinson

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    Altus or Altos Lamp?

    in C-130 Technical

    Posted

    From some time in late 1966 when they broke up OMS and assigned us to different squadrons. While at Lockbourne, I crew 56-0523 for a long time then was a Flight line controler, Assist Flight Chief and Flight Chief. I left there in Oct 1967. Went to the 79 ARRS @ Andersen AFB, Guam.

    What did you do while you were @ Lockbourne?

    56-523 was one of our E-Flight birds at Naha. The crew chief was SSgt. Mike Dittleman (I think the name is correct, time has taken its toll) and it was one of the cleanest and best flying birds at Naha.

    Gary Robinson

    SSgt Stallworth

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    "The suspects range in age from 16 to 56. Several were day laborers who knew each other through a pressure washing business and an auto detailer they worked for. One, Donnie Ray Stallworth, was with the Air Force Special Operations Command with an aircraft maintenance squadron at Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach. It wasn’t clear how he knew the others.

    Stallworth had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times since 2002, an Air Force spokesman said."

    ********************************************************************************************

    From the Air Force Times website. I am afraid he was Bob.

    Gary Robinson

    AC-27 Cut

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    Air Force Special Operations Command will stick with the C-130 to fill its gunship gap after its plan to acquire and convert light cargo planes fell apart in the sweeping budget changes announced last month.

    AFSOC flies two dozen AC-130 gunships and will grow the force by converting an unknown number of MC-130W Combat Spears, a night-flying Special Operations Command support plane outfitted with aerial refueling tanks.

    The MC-130W was instituted in 2006 to replace combat losses of the MC-130E/H Combat Talon, which was used mainly for snake-eater air drops.

    AC-130s are in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan, and finding more gunship capability is a top priority for Special Operations Command, Defense Department Comptroller Robert Hale told reporters May 7.

    AFSOC had all but sealed a deal to acquire 16 C-27s as part of the Joint Cargo Aircraft program until Army funding for the program was stripped from the fiscal 2010 budget.

    But the MC-130W has important advantages over the JCA, according to Vice Adm. Steve Stanley, director for force structure, resources and assessment.

    “They’re aircraft that exist,†Stanley said at the same budget briefing. “They’re already plumbed for the refueling capability, which will provide them the time on station that, in this case, SOCOM requires.â€

    According to data from the Air Force, AFSOC plans to acquire 12 of the non-gunship MC-130Ws.

    AFSOC has confirmed the gunship plan but did not give specifics as to what the weapon configuration would be on the Combat Spear or the number of gunships AFSOC will convert.

    Time to write your Congressman Again!

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    The article below is from the Air Force Times web site. The URL is at the bottom if you want to check it out. The push behind raising the TRICARE rates has always been DOD. DOD has been behind the push from the beginnning. It is not really Congress or the CBO pushing for the increases, it is DOD.

    Gary

    Retirees under 65 should pay more for Tricare, QRMC says

    By William H. McMichael - Staff writer

    The idea that military retirees under age 65 should pay more for their Tricare benefits has become a familiar Pentagon refrain, voiced in a 2006 report on military compensation and by the 2007 Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care.

    The Pentagon has tried for three years running to convince Congress to boost those rates, without success.

    Critics say the hardships and sacrifices that go hand in hand with a career in the military represent a form of in-kind premium payments, and argue that any increases should be proportional to increases in retired pay.

    Now another study — the Pentagon’s 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation — has added its voice to the calls for a boost in payments.

    The QRMC recommended that “working-age†retirees — those under age 65 — pay more for Tricare Prime, “reflecting their ability to do so,†the study said.

    Such a move would make their premiums more equitable with those paid by older retirees, who must pay Medicare Part B premiums in order to qualify for Tricare for Life coverage.

    “There needs to be some parity between our older and our younger retirees,†said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Denny Eakle, QRMC executive director. “It’s not fair to ask the oldest retirees, who make the least, to pay far more for a benefit that is just somewhat more generous.â€

    The concerns of those urging a fee hike stem from the Pentagon’s rapidly growing health care costs, which stood at $19 billion in 2001 and are projected to reach $42.9 billion next year.

    But because Tricare fees have not changed since that program’s inception in the mid-1990s, the share of the military’s overall health care costs that are borne by beneficiaries declined from 27 percent in 1995 to just 12 percent in 2006, the QRMC said — which has turned Tricare into one of the lowest-cost health insurance plans in the nation.

    Annual premiums for Tricare Prime have never changed from $230 for single retirees and $460 for families. Tricare Standard and Tricare Extra have never charged annual premiums.

    Meanwhile, retirees over 65 who want to enroll in Tricare for Life are required by law to carry Medicare Part B, which this year charges annual premiums that start at $1,157 and rise for beneficiaries with higher income.

    The QRMC suggested four-year phased increases in premiums for Tricare Prime, Standard and Extra for under-65 retirees.

    After the four-year phase-in, premiums for single retirees under age 65 would be set at 40 percent of Medicare Part B premiums. That means a single under-65 retiree on the lowest rung of Medicare Part B’s income scale — annual income of $82,000 or less — would pay annual premiums of $462.70 for Tricare Prime, double the current rate.

    On the upper end of the scale, a single under-65 retiree with gross income of more than $205,000 would pay $1,485.10 per year — almost 6½ times the current premiums for Tricare Prime.

    In all cases, Tricare Prime premiums for married couples would be double the rates for singles, regardless of family size. Couples on the first income step, earning $164,000 or less per year, would pay $925.40. At the top step, $410,000 or more, annual premiums would be $2,970.20.

    Premiums for Tricare Standard and Extra would be set at 15 percent of the annual Medicare Part B premiums for single retirees under 65, with the family rate again set at twice that.

    While younger retirees might object to having their Tricare premiums tied to Medicare when they are not yet enrolled in that program, Eakle said, defense officials see it as “a matter of proportionality to the older retiree, who have to pay it in order to have Tricare.â€

    The largest coalition of veterans groups rejects Tricare premiums being based on Medicare rates.

    “I don’t like tying premiums to the Part B plan,†said Steve Strobridge, director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America, one of the 35 groups that make up the Military Coalition.

    Medicare Part B costs are “based on care for the elderly and disabled,†he said. “That’s much different than the under-65 population.â€

    He said the proportionality argument doesn’t wash, either.

    “I guess it depends on your perspective,†said Strobridge, a retired Air Force colonel. “People under 65 are paying Medicare premiums for their future coverage.â€

    His biggest objection, however, is that the QRMC’s proposal does not take into account the sacrifices of military life. “We’re getting no credit for paying premiums up front. Most of the premiums paid for Tricare are paid in-kind,†through the years of service given to the military by retirees, he said.

    Any Tricare fee increases, he said, should be proportional to increases in retired pay. “If the cost-of-living allowance goes up 3 percent, the ceiling should be a 3 percent increase in fees,†Strobridge said.

    http://www.airforcetimes.com/benefits/getting_out/military_tricarefees_retirees_081208w/

    Time to write your Congressman Again!

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    Bischoffm is right in stating that the Pentagon tried to raise Tricare rates numerous times during the Bush Administraton and congress would not let it happen. However, there is a new push to raise the fees and just like LowandSlow said now is not the time to let your guard down. The best way to stop this right now to to write your congressman and senators and try to put a stop to any attempt to increase the fees.

    Herkman, hope your not in harms way

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    Col,

    What is the Aussie Base near Williamstown? I hope I have that right. In 1978 we ferried F-5 fighters and their maintenance team back across Australia with two C-130E's from the base, crow hopping across Australia to Indonesia and back to Clark AB, Philippines. Then returned with the C-130's to Yokota. Was quite a trip and only time I ever got to visit Australia.

    Gary

    63-7777

    in C-130 General

    Posted

    I worked 63-7777 along with the other C-130E\'s at Yokota from 1975 to 1980 but I am sorry to say I do not have any pictures. Wish I did. I miss working on the old birds.

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