Recognizing and finding ways to accommodate the changing needs of servicemembers and their families with regard to the military workplace should be a priority for leaders, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here Nov. 29.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen spoke as part of a panel on work and life balance at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Focus on Workplace Flexibility Conference.
More than 100 government, military and business leaders attended the conference.
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At most bases, only American forces patrol the base and keep the community safe.
But the 39th Security Forces Squadron has a unique way of doing things.
Members of the 39th SFS and the Turkish air force (also referred to as THX) partner to patrol the base to ensure it's kept safe and assets are protected.
The joint patrol usually consists of one security forces Airman and one THX member. They wear different uniforms, speak different languages and sometimes have a very different way of doing business, but their partnership works, and their shared mission proves to be vital for the security of the base.
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A steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center arrived here Nov. 19 to be built into a memorial to commemorate the people who died Sept. 11, 2001.
About 100 servicemembers and civilians gathered for the arrival of the beam, which was released by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials to the National Homeland Defense Foundation and then presented to officials at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station.
A 9/11 memorial, which is set to include a base for the steel beam, is being designed now by a four-member student team from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and is expected to be officially unveiled at Cheyenne Mountain AFS in September 2011 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the attack.
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A member of Air Force Global Strike Command from here received the maximum payout of $10,000 for his submission of the Launch Control Center NetLink System to the Innovated Development through Employees Awareness program.
Douglas Angell, a technical engineer from the 526th Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems Group, submitted his idea to the program in 2006, while he was a master sergeant working as a facility manager.
Mr. Angell said this new system was needed because crewmembers could not access the Internet from their workstations while on duty in the LCC.
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A remotely-piloted aircraft completed a 32-hour flight test using an alternative fuel mixture here Nov. 23.
The 412th Test Wing's Global Vigilance Combined Test Force's Block 20 RQ-4 Global Hawk took off Nov. 22 and became the first RPA to fly using the Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene fuel blended with regular JP-8 jet fuel.
The Fischer-Tropsch process is a set of chemical reactions that converts carbon-based materials into liquid hydrocarbons. Typically utilizing coal, natural gas or biomass as a feedstock, the resulting synthetic liquid is utilized as a petroleum substitute.
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Two security forces member's knowledge of first aid and a willingness to help others became critical when they encountered a gunshot victim Nov. 15.
Airman 1st Class Tyler Chason and Airman Emmanuel Valenzuela, both from the 50th Security Forces Squadron, were dropping a friend off at an apartment complex in Colorado Springs, Colo., when they heard gunshots. Airman Chason immediately called 911. While he was on the phone with the dispatcher, he saw two men run past him, jump into a waiting car and drive off. Seconds later, the Airmen saw a man stumbling down the street.
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Members of the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron prep an RQ-4 Global Hawk for a mission here Nov. 23.
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The transition of common communication and information workloads from major commands to the Air Force Network Integration Center is complete, enabling MAJCOM communications and information staffs to further focus on core warfighting missions and information needs.
The transfer centralized 10 services originally performed by each MAJCOM and the Air National Guard including common core training, long haul communications (circuit management functions), certification validation, publications and forms management, command records management, information assurance management, maintenance and sustainment, information technology asset management, video teleconference management, and high frequency global communications systems.
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Government officials condemned the publication of hundreds of thousands of sensitive, classified State Department cables by WikiLeaks Nov. 28.
The website published the documents that detail private U.S. diplomatic discussions with foreign governments. The cables are candid reports by diplomats, and seen by themselves, can give an incomplete picture of the relationship between the U.S. and the foreign governments, White House officials said.
The cables are not expressions of policy, nor do they always shape final policy decisions, officials said.
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The U.S. is "very committed" to begin drawing down its forces in Afghanistan in July, but large numbers will remain, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on a televised broadcast Nov. 28.
"We will start drawing down troops next July," Navy Admiral Mike Mullen told Fareed Zacharia, host of the CNN program, GPS.
Any drawdown will be based on conditions on the ground and via a recommendation from commanders on the ground. It is too soon to know the numbers of troops and locations the drawdown will affect first, he said.
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