Aircraft maintenance personnel will cringe as they read this story
An Air Force reconnaissance airplane caught fire in April, endangering the lives of 27 airmen aboard the plane — all because a retaining nut connecting oxygen tubing was not tightened properly, accident investigators have determined. The report blamed a private defense contracting company for the accident.
“Failure by L-3 Communications depot maintenance personnel to tighten a retaining nut connecting a metal oxygen tube to a junction fitting above the galley properly caused an oxygen leak. This leak created a highly flammable oxygen-rich environment that ignited,” U.S. Air Force investigators wrote in report published August 3.
Military families and retirees who regularly refill some brand-name medications at retail pharmacies will need to either switch to home delivery, get their drugs at a military treatment facility or start paying for them out of pocket beginning October 1.
Right now, TRICARE subsidizes all covered brand-name medication at in-network, civilian retail pharmacies. Users pay $20 for a 30 day supply, while Tricare covers the remaining cost. But the new rule will force users who buy “maintenance” drugs at those locations to pay the entire cost out pocket.
Special thanks to Gordon Lau for this information. Gordon and his family live in Washington state.
SFC Linda Hesch, part of Team 808, sent the following article for posting.
Linda said, “Just passing along some Team 808 news. Not sure if you already published this already, our Hawaii/Guam table made it into U.S. Army news.”
Check out the article
Team 808 is a group of Hawaii Army and Air National Guard members assigned to the National Guard Bureau and other locations in the Washington DC area.
U.S. Air Force researchers will develop a microgrid demonstration project for renewable fuel sources at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam under a new $20 million agreement announced today by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz.
Under the deal, the Air Force Research Lab and the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies will create a “microgrid testbed” for development and testing of alternative fuel sources – a project Schatz said will strengthen energy resilience for the 154th Wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard and possibly have implications far beyond that.
Like many military things, receiving medication via mail through Tricare confounds me. Once upon a time I somehow managed to get a birth control prescription delivered by mail-order instead of paying for it at Walmart. I’m not even sure how I set it up, honestly. And that’s why when the prescription ran out I couldn’t figure out how to make it happen again.
The Express Scripts website had locked me out for reasons I didn’t really know. My civilian provider seemed completely incapable of getting my renewal called into the Express Scripts system. I gave up, switched the military treatment facility (MTF) and started getting it in-person every three month from the on-base pharmacy.
Aug. 10, 2015
Jackson Yorio “Jack” Hamamura, 86, of Kekaha, Kaua‘i, a veteran of the Army, Air Force and Hawai‘i Air National Guard, passed away in Salem, Oregon on August 10, 2015. He was born in Koloa, Kaua‘i.
He is survived by wife JoAnn; son Carl DiPalma; daughters Michele Cacal, Leslie Boyd and Jaeda Elvenia; brothers Shigeto “Shige,” Bunto and Hiroake “Harry”; sisters Harriet Iseri and Gladys Kobashigawa; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Services and inurnment: 10 a.m. Sept. 5 at Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery, Hanapēpē. Casual attire. No flowers.
David Francis Meyer, 97, of Hilo, formerly of Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, a retired truck driver for the former Hamakua Sugar Plantation and an Army private first class with the 1st Regiment, Hawaii Rifles, died in Pohai Malama Hospice of Hilo. He was born in Waipunalei, Hawaii.
He is survived by wife Lucy; son Lionel; daughters Elvira Publico and Karen Meyer; brother Herman; sisters Agnes Carvalho, Dorothy Lanza, Annie Lum and Mary Ann Meyer; four grandchildren; three hanai grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Visitation: 8 a.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Mass: 10 a.m. Burial: 11 a.m. at Homelani Memorial Park, ilima section. Casual attire.
Taken from the DFAS website http://www.dfas.mil/
BEWARE! Several myPay customers have informed us that fraudulent SmartDocs email messages are being sent that could put your information and finances at risk.
The reported invalid emails contain what appears to be from a valid SmartDocs email address. The originators of these emails have “spoofed” their messages to hide their true origin and placed the SmartDocs address in the “From” line to make the email appear legitimate.
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Becoming a victim is easy. Utilizing a few basic precautions with email handling are critical to protecting your information, finances and identity.
Find other ways to keep yourself safe online.
The 5th Annual Get Ready‘Ewa Beach Emergency Preparedness Fair, presented by the‘Ewa Beach Emergency Preparedness Committee as part of National Preparedness Month.
This FREE event is open to all residents of Oahu to provide disaster readiness awareness and information.
Attend workshops given by subject matter experts on the hazards that threaten Hawaii; learn what you can do now to prepare you, your family and friends; and what you can do during and after a disaster to survive it!Get important tools to prepare your family, home, school, and business for the next natural or manmade disasters.
When: Saturday September 5, 2015
Time: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Where: ‘Ewa Middle School, 91-6291 Kapolei Parkway,‘Ewa Beach, HI, 96706
Participants include: City & County of Honolulu, Department of Emergency Management, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (formerly known as State Civil Defense), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), American Red Cross, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, National Weather Service, Honolulu First Responders, Medical Professionals, Private industry.
For more information, please contact us at:
Email: GetReadyEwaBeach@gmail.com
Tel: 808-682-0111
Gilbert Silva “Papa Gil” Sampaia, 87, of Hilo, a retired Hilo Hospital general maintenance department employee and a retired Hawaii Army National Guard sergeant, passed away on August 23, 2015. He was born in Hilo.
He is survived by wife Priscilla, sons Gilbert and Albert, daughter Brandi, brother Joseph, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Visitation: 8:30-10 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Hilo. Mass: 10:30 a.m. Burial to follow at Hawaii Veterans Cemetery No. 2. Casual attire.
Aleksander Skarlatos, one of three Americans who subdued a heavily armed gunman on a Paris-bound train, will be awarded one of the U.S. Army‘s highest honors.
Senior Army leaders say Skarlatos, a member of the Oregon National Guard, will get the Soldier’s Medal — the Army’s highest award for acts of heroism not involving actual conflict with the enemy.
click on flyer to enlarge
The disaster recovery process is often a gradual one that takes a lot of time and effort. While safety is a primary concern, you should also be mindful of another aspect of disasters – identity theft scams. Scammers use the confusion of disasters to take advantage of those in need.
Though it can be hard to monitor everything that is taking place in the midst of an emergency, Equifax offers a few helpful rules to protect your identity, including:
+ Stop your mail from being delivered! Mail can contain important and personal information. Leaving it in your mailbox for an extended amount of time leaves it vulnerable to thieves;
+ Check your credit report as soon as you can after a disaster to inspect for suspicious activity;
+ Protect your virtual assets. Only use secure, password protected Internet connections to check bank accounts, email, or other potentially sensitive websites; and
+ Make a plan to protect your documents!
You can use the Be Smart. Protect Your Critical Documents and Valuables guide from America’s PrepareAthon! to get started.
Airman is the online magazine of the United States Air Force. The Defense Media Activity produces the magazine for the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs.
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