Joint Base Charleston
Patriot Vol. 3, No. 1
Team Charleston – One Family, One Mission, One Fight!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Metal technology keeps C-17s flying Master Sgt. George Greene enters information into the Computer Numeric Control milling machine at Joint Base Charleston - Air Base Dec. 15. The CNC milling machine uses the data to create a fixture to hold aircraft parts. Greene is the aircraft metals technology section chief with the 437th Maintenance Squadron, 437th Airlift Wing. See more photos on Page 5.
U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Katie Gieratz
INSIDE 315th MINI C-17
Travels to Military Bowl See page 11
NHCC Achieves Level 3 recognition See page 4
SECOND ROUND VERA/VSIP begins Jan. 9 See page 4
628 CONS Award winners See page 6
Charleston, SC Friday, January 6 Sunny (0% precip)
High 67º Low 42º
Saturday, January 7 Partly Cloudy (10% precip)
High 71º Low 48º
Sunday, January 8 A Few Showers (30% precip)
High 71º Low 51º
Updated DBIDS provides added security By Bob Trout 628th Security Forces Squadron, J5 section chief Access to Joint Base Charleston Air Base and Weapons Station is going high tech. The Defense Biometrics Identification System has been in use in other Department of Defense locations in the United States and abroad since 2001. DBIDS was installed on Charleston Air Force Base in December 2008 and on JB Charleston - Weapons Station in February 2010. Since then, a new high tech version of DBIDS has been created, tested and is currently being implemented throughout all DoD installations. Installation for DBIDS 4.0 on Joint Base Charleston - Air Base and Weapons Station was completed Dec. 14. Gate guards currently use handheld scanners to electronically scan Identification Cards instead of relying on a visual inspection. The scanners are wirelessly connected to a DoD database where identity data is stored. The database includes biometric data such as eye color, weight and other physical identifying information from the Defense Enrollment Eligibility System. With DBIDS 4.0, your ID card will be scanned by the gate guard as usual and if you
have not previously registered your card at the Pass & Registration office, it will automatically register your card in the database. This will save you time from having to go to Pass & Registration to have your card registered. The electronic scan should take about the same amount of time as a visual inspection but will be much more accurate. Another benefit of DBIDS is easier control of an individual's access to the base, to include varying access rules based on the threat condition. If a member is barred from the base, on a driving revocation or suspension, that information will come up immediately on the scanner to alert the gate guard. DBIDS ID cards or DBIDS access passes will be issued to individuals such as contractors who meet the requirements, vendors who require access to a DoD installation but do not qualify for a Common Access Card and long term guests, etc. The DBIDS cards and access passes will have an expiration date embedded in their data. All CAC holders, dependents, retirees and other cards that are DoD compliant are registered in DBIDS. Retirees who have the old retiree card that does not have a bar code will need to go to their Military Personnel Section, to receive a new retiree card. Those cards that are
not DoD compliant will not be authorized entry to the installation. Personnel will have until Feb. 1, 2012 to update their cards. After that time, if your card is not compliant with DBIDS, your card alone will not grant you entry to Joint Base Charleston. Retiree's with the old retiree card will be given a pass at the Visitor Control Center during duty hours, Monday thru Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by the gate guard after duty hours to go to the Military Personnel Section to obtain a new retiree card. The JB Charleston - Air Base MPS is located in Bldg. 503 and is open Monday and Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The MPS on JB Charleston - Weapons Station is located in Bldg. 302, and is open Monday thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To speed the process of getting a new I.D. card, log onto https://rapids-appointments. dmdc.osd.mil to schedule an appointment. From January to July, 2011, DBIDS scanned more than four million CACs stateside. Of those, DBIDS identified more than 92,000 personnel trying to enter bases without proper authorization, to include members using expired, suspended or duplicate CACs.
Defense bill limits retiree health care increases By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 31 which contains a critical initiative to help control spiraling health-care costs within the Defense Department. Section 701 limits annual TRICARE enrollment fee increases for retirees and their family members to an amount equal to the percentage by which retired pay increases that year. The act also contains critical initiatives to develop counterterrorism initiatives abroad, build the security capacity of key partners, modernize the force and boost the efficiency and effectiveness of military operations worldwide. The NDAA also includes: Section 347 requires DoD to finance an independent assessment of overseas troop basing, advising retention, closure, realignment or establishment of U.S. military facilities outside the United States “in light of potential fiscal constraints on [DoD] and emerging national security requirements in coming years.” Section 402 reduces authorized Army minimum end strength from 562,000 to 547,000. The other services’ authorized minimum
strengths are unchanged, with 325,700 for the Navy, 202,100 for the Marine Corps and 332,800 for the Air Force. Section 512 of the act creates a new member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which currently includes the Army and Air Force chiefs of staff, the chief of naval operations and the Marine Corps commandant. The new member will be the chief of the National Guard Bureau, who will have responsibility for “addressing matters involving non-federalized National Guard forces in support of homeland defense and civil support missions.” Section 526 extends voluntary separation pay and benefits authority, formerly set to expire Dec. 31, to the end of 2018. Section 530 converts the high-deployment allowance from mandatory to authorized. The allowance currently pays $100 a day, in addition to all other pay and allowances, to a deployed service member who has been deployed 401 days or more out of the preceding 730 days. Section 702 sets mental health assessment requirements for service members deployed for contingency operations. The act calls for a series of assessments: one within 120 days before deployment; another during the period between 90 days after a deployment begins and 180 days after it ends; a third within a year after the deployment ends; and a fourth between 18 months and 30 months of redeployment.
The act states assessments are intended to “identify post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal tendencies, and other behavioral health conditions … in order to determine which such members are in need of additional care and treatment for such health conditions.” Assessments are not required for service members “not subjected or exposed to operational risk factors during deployment in the contingency operation concerned,” the act states. Section 954 affirms that DoD “has the capability, and upon direction by the president may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our nation, allies and interests,” subject to the law of armed conflict and the War Powers Resolution. President Barack Obama acknowledges “serious reservations” about parts of the act, particularly provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists. “I have signed the act chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families and vital national security programs that must be renewed,” Obama said in a statement released Dec. 31. For more retiree news and information, please visit www.retirees.af.mil.
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