Last Update
September 2, 2010

Safe practices for Linden Oaks intersection
By Amber Avalona-Butler
Paraglide

	Photo by Amber Avalona-Butler/Paraglide Numerous “no crossing” signs are posted at the intersection of North Carolina 87 and the entrance to Linden Oaks military housing community. Pedestrians would have to cross six lanes of traffic, including turn lanes, to reach the shopping complex opposite the community, making it unsuitable to navigate on foot. Aug. 30.

Linden Oaks raises the standard of privatized military housing. Home to more than 1,200 Fort Bragg Families, the community caters to senior noncommissioned officers, company grade officers, field grade officers and a select number of junior enlisted Families who meet the requirements.

The gated, tree-lined entrance sits at a stoplight on North Carolina Highway 87. Across the way, a shopping area features Family-friendly establishments like Food Lion and McDonalds. But at the landscaped entrance to Fort Bragg’s premier off-post community, looks can be deceiving.

“You get a sense of complacency (about safety), but eventually the odds are going to catch up to you,” said Rich Eppler, garrison safety manager with the Installation Safety Office. “When there’s a contest between a vehicle and a pedestrian ? the vehicle will win every time,” he added.

On Monday he talked about pedestrian safety around the installation, more specifically the intersection leading to Linden Oaks where a resident, fifteen-year old Derrick Brown, stepped in front of moving traffic. Struck by a Honda, Brown suffered a host of injuries including broken legs, a dislocated hip and head injuries. Surrounding the intersection, numerous signs warn pedestrians not to cross the highway, but foot traffic continues. And so it raises a question — why not create a crosswalk with official crossing signals?
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Pope NCO helps fuel the fight in Kyrgyzstan
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
AMC PAO

Photo by Staff Sgt. Nathan Bevier/376th AEW PAO Staff Sgt. Benjamin Lowers, fuels distribution craftsman deployed to the 376th Logistics Readiness Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, tests fuel after it has gone through a booster pump that pushes it through filter separators to clean the Russian-grade petroleum fuel and is then diluted with three additives to make it compatible with U.S. aircraft. Sergeant Lowers is deployed from the 43rd LRS at Pope Air Force Base.

Staff Sgt. Benjamin Lowers is a fuels distribution craftsman deployed with the 376th Logistics Readiness Squadron, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

Lowers is deployed from the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, 43rd Airlift Wing, at Pope Air Force Base. “We are the backbone and heart beat of this base,” said Lowers. “Without us receiving the amount of fuel that we do and maintaining the bladders, hoses, and pumps, our drivers wouldn’t be able to put fuel on aircraft. Those aircraft wouldn’t be able to take troops and cargo down range, and the KC-135’s wouldn’t be able to refuel the bombers and fighters over the skies of Afghanistan.

Fuels Airmen like Lowers operate mobility fuels equipment such as the R-11 and R-12 fuels trucks to refuel aircraft. They also maintain and operate petroleum-related facilities and equipment and perform quality analysis on products. Additionally, they perform operator maintenance on fuels handling equipment and facilities and prepare receipt, inventory and issue documents for fuels products accounting.

The job also requires maintaining storage and dispensing facilities, rotating stocks to prevent product quality degradation, and ensuring an effective operator maintenance program is carried out.

Fuels Airmen like Lowers also operate a fuels control center to monitor all product movements and ensure timely response to mission requirements. They coordinate refueling requirements with supported agencies and ensure appropriate prioritization of support requirements.

Furthermore, as a fuels distribution Airman, Lowers has to maintain mandatory job knowledge in numerous areas such as composition, properties, and haracteristics of petroleum products and cryogenics fluids.
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Pathfinders prepare for the call during hurricane season
By Staff Sgt. Thaddius S. Dawkins II
49th PAD

Photo by Staff Sgt. Thaddius S. Dawkins II/49th PAD Soldiers, from Company F, 2nd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, float aboard a Zodiac boat as they prepare to storm the beach at Mott Lake during their waterborne operations training last week. The primary purpose of the training at Mott Lake was to ensure all the waterborne operations equipment was operational in case of a natural disaster event, where the unit is called upon for assistance.

Imagine being stranded on the roof of your house as the flood waters continue to rise around you.

You’ve tried making repeated phone calls to the emergency services to no avail. The local authorities are swamped with millions of other people making the same call. Just when it feels that all hope is lost, help is spotted off in the distance, moving towards you in inflatable boats.

This help could be the Pathfinders from Company F, 2nd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

“The primary purpose of our training here at Mott Lake is to make sure all of our waterborne operations equipment is operational in case of a natural disaster, such as a Hurricane Katrina type event, where we get called,” said Capt. Kevin J. Stein, the company commander.

Nearly five years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the Pathfinders set out to train on personnel extraction during their waterborne operations training at Mott Lake last week.
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Fort Bragg holds all inclusive Heritage Day
By Tina Ray
Paraglide

	Photos by Eve Meinhardt/Paraglide Ladies pose in the traditional dress of Panama before taking the stage to dance during the Fort Bragg Heritage Day celebration Saturday.

Servicemembers hail from different cultures and ethnicities to serve alongside each other in the armed forces. On Saturday, those cultures and ethnicities met in the inaugural Heritage Day celebration held in the Mini Mall parking lot on Reilly Road.
Fort Bragg’s Equal Opportunity Office sponsored the all-inclusive Heritage Day. According to a press release, the idea was conceived by Lt. Col. Rafael Boyd, program manager for the Fort Bragg Equal Opportunity and Human Relations Directorate.

“Throughout the year, we recognize minorities,” Boyd said. “We needed a format to recognize everybody in unity and this is the format.”
Sergeant 1st Class Dean Puzon and his wife, Stacy; and sons, Nicholas and Andrew spent the day taking in the celebration’s sights and tastes.
Puzon, of the 1st Theater Support Command, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, shared a bite of pupusas with Andrew, 10. Pupusas is a traditional Salvadoran dish similar to a corn tortilla.
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Kettlebell 101 promotes strength, better healthBy Amber Avalona-Butler
Paraglide

	Photo by Amber Avalona-Butler/Paraglide Lance Stucky, a civilian conditioning coach at Tucker Performance Enhancement Center teaches Soldiers kettlebell exercises, Aug. 26. Soldiers who participate in kettlebell training could potentially score higher on their physical fitness tests.

“People come in here and get a 20 to 30 minute workout that’ll take you an hour or an hour and a half over at Ritz-Epps,” said Lance Stucky, a civilian strength and conditioning coach at Tucker Physical Fitness Center. Stucky partners with the Soldier Performance Enhancement Program to properly train Soldiers in a number of functional training programs.

One of these programs, his Kettlebell 101 class (Thursdays, noon to 1 p.m.) is designed to introduce Soldiers to basic kettlebell technique, progression and training concepts.

Stucky, who attended strength and conditioning programs at Florida State and the University of Maine, considers the kettlebell a versatile and mobile piece of equipment.

The kettlebell resembles an iron ball with a handle, and trainees use a variety of exercises ranging from squats to swinging to steadying the weight at arms length.

“A lot of guys are using these down range,” said Stucky. That’s good news according to the website Kettlebell Training, an authority on kettlebell exercises and routines. It lists a university study that monitored the effects of different training programs. The first group of students trained on a physical fitness program similar to military standards, which emphasizes running and isolated body strength. The second set of students worked exclusively with kettlebells. The kettlebell group scored higher on every physical fitness test.

Here at Fort Bragg, Tucker Gym houses about 30 sets of kettlebells, ranging in size and weight from 8.8 pounds to 70 pounds. Kettlebell 101 participants typically start within the 24 to 33-pound range and increase weight depending on workout goals.

“We’ve had to design programs to make these guys more athletic because, believe it or not, they’re professional athletes but they’re fighting for their lives not for a paycheck,” said Stucky.
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