looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful and
so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to
walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting
sun's rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and
discovered a shiny dime. Never before had any anyone felt
so wealthy as Bobby felt at that mo-ment. As he held his new found trea-sure,
a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into
the first store he saw. His excitement quickly turned cold when salesper-son
after salesperson told him that he could not buy anything with only 10
cents. He saw a flower shop and went
inside to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help him,
Bobby presented his dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his
mother's Christmas present. The store owner looked at Bobby and his 10
cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him:
"You just wait here son and I'll see what I can do for you."
As Bobby waited, he looked at all the beautiful flowers and even
though he was a boy, he could see why girls and mothers loved flowers.
The sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby
back to reality. All alone in the store, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.
Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There,
before Bobby's eyes lay 12 long stem red roses with leaves of green and
tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart
sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long
white box. "That will be 10 cents young
man," the store owner said reaching
out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the
man his dime. Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing
for his dime. Sensing the boy's reluctance, the store owner added, "I
just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would
you like them? This time Bobby did not hesitate,
and when the man placed the long box into his hands, he knew it was
true. Walking out the door that was held open by the store owner, Bobby
heard him say, "Merry Christmas son." Just then the store owner's wife
walked out. "Who were you talking to back there and where are the roses
you were fixing?" Still staring out the window and
blinking back the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A strange thing
happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things to open the
store, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my very
best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time whether I had lost
my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just ten minutes
ago, a little boy came into the store and wanted to buy a flower for his
mother's Christmas gift with one small dime.
"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too was a
poor boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas present. A
bearded man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me
that he wanted to give me ten dol-lars. When I saw that little boy to-night,
I knew who the voice was, and I put together a dozen of my very
best roses." The shop owner and his wife
hugged each other tightly and as they stepped out into the bitter air, they
somehow didn't feel cold at all.
Roses, ten cents a dozen
B
Editor's Note: With
the holiday season upon
us, the Spokesman staff thought
readers might enjoy the following fic-tion
article written by retired Chief Mas-ter
Sgt. Thomas Pucci.
he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he
wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out
the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard
for about an hour already. And, try as he might, he could not come up
with an idea for his mother's Christ-mas gift. He shook his head as he
thought: "This is useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have
any money to spend." Ever since his dad died three
years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't because Barbara
Scott didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough. She
worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning
could only be stretched so far. What the Scotts lacked in money
and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity.
Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the house-hold
in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had al-ready
made beautiful gifts for their mother. Somehow it just wasn't fair.
Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk
down the street to where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being
six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.
Bobby walked from shop to shop,
features
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December 1997 16
ith both feet planted on the ground and both hands in the
There's no "freeze" in this sport by Airman 1st Class Jennifer Gregoire HQ AIA/ PA
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
Wair, the gunman watches for the slightest movement. The moving tar-get appears and within six seconds, the gunman has fired all six shots
from his 38 millimeter. Action pistol shooting may not
be for everyone, but for Tech. Sgt. Edward Spate, Air Intelligence
Agency Logistics antenna systems equipment maintenance manager, it
was easy to get drawn into the sport when he started working at the local
shooting range in 1985. Three years later, he started competing.
"Each shooter must be safety con-scious around firearms, not only for
their safety, but for the safety of oth-ers around who may not know the
first thing about safe handling of guns," said Spate.
"Each competitor must shoot a designated course prior to competing
in sanctioned matches. This course is
designed so that range officers and safety officials can view each of the
competitors' ability to safely handle and shoot," said Spate.
Because action pistol shooting is a growing sport, there are a number
of "extras" that can help the shooter with accuracy.
"There are numerous gadgets to align the red dot scope with the tar-get
so you don't have to lead the target in the moving target event.
This device removes all the guess work, all the shooter has to do is
concentrate on aligning the sight on target and squeezing the trigger,"
said Spate. "Holes called ports or vents are
drilled or cut into the top front of the gun barrel. These ports allow gases
produced by the burning gun pow-der to vent out the top of the pistol
barrel just prior to the bullet exiting. This reduces the actual rise of the
muzzle or muzzle flip. When you
reduce the flip, you can find and shoot your next target that much
faster," said Spate. "Many shooters believe in past
luck, if it still shoots, I don't need to clean it. I personally like to clean my
guns after I have taken them to the range and fired them. Usually the
night before a match, I will strip it down and give it a good cleaning
and inspection, and I always remem-ber to carry an extra set of batteries
for that red dot scope, as they always seem to fail at the wrong time," said
Spate. Spate hopes to one day open his
own firing range somewhere in Colo-rado.
"I enjoy the thrill of competition. I also have a good time meeting and
talking with different people who I have something in common with and
trying out other people's guns and gadgets and seeing what's new and
improved in the sport."
Tech. Sgt. Edward Spate fires at a moving target at Blackhawk
Shooting Range, San Antonio, Texas.
photos by Gloria Trevino
Ready ... Aim ...
Fire ...
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17
sir and always, if you're in a position to, help those in need. For 24 years
they have lived by those values, and found out that for every action, there's
a reaction. What started out as a require-ment
to be accepted in a college so-cial club is now an event they look
forward to every six weeks. Jason and Yahari participate in the Chan-dler
Senior Center's Meals on Wheels program.
The Meals on Wheels program is a non- profit, volunteer- based service
that delivers nutritious, low- salt dia-betic meals to people who are elderly
or disabled, homebound, and unable to prepare their own meals.
Priority is given to people age 60 or older who have a permanent
or temporary illness, injury, or dis-ability, according to a MOW fact
sheet. The CSC, a nursing and retire-ment
community in San Antonio, has participated in the program at least
17 years and the military has been a prominent contributor since its be-ginning,
according to Melissa Velasquez, CSC program assistant.
Velasquez has been with the CSC for five years and thinks the MOW's
program helps the community's se-nior citizens tremendously. "Some-times
we are their only contact with people," she said.
Organizations throughout AIA participate in the program and Jason
and Yahari were quick to volunteer. While in college, they volunteered
and became involved in the MOW program they learned about while
potential members of a college social club.
The Alabama- born twins at first participated because community ser-vice
involvement was stressed and the club's "big brothers" were mem-bers,
so they followed suit. However, once members, the vol-unteer
work for the local MOW pro-gram became addicting and their en-thusiasm
carried on to other hopeful club newcomers.
They maintained their commit-ment to helping those in need for the
remaining three and one- half years of school.
"We love it. We get to meet new, interesting people every time we de-liver,"
said Jason and Yahari. One of their favorite stops is at a small apart-ment
building set in a serene, tree-lined street with lamp posts.
by Staff Sgt. Kimberley Young
HQ AIA/ PA
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
Double the
pleasure
From left, Jason and Yahari Butler deliver lunch to a Meals on Wheels participant.
K" Afternoon, how are you doing today?, Afternoon, how are you do-ing today?" No, it's not deja vu and it's not a misprint, it's what participants of the
Meals on Wheels program hear when they open their doors Thursdays be-tween
11: 30 a. m. and 1 p. m — at least once every six weeks.
What's seen is not one person to deliver food to Meals on Wheels cli-ents,
but two. Meet Jason and Yahari Butler.
Jason, a communications com-puter systems specialist, 690th CCS/
Applications Division, Kelly Air Force Base and Yahari, also a communica-tions
computer systems specialist, Medina Annex, Lackland Air Force
Base, Texas, are Palace Acquire in-terns who were hired by AIA after
college to participate in its fast- track management program.
These brothers not only share the same last name, they share the same
mirror image. As much as they look alike, they
think alike. They were brought up with old, traditional values, such as
respect your elders, use ma'am and
nock, knock ...
photo by Gloria Trevino
Double the
pleasure
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December 1997 18
ative children of Belarus, a re-public of the former Soviet N
Union, visited Monterey Bay Aquarium this past summer as part
of their stay with host families in Petaluma and Marin County, Calif.,
for six weeks. Members of the Defense Lan-guage
Institute Foreign Language Center, Presidio of Monterey, Calif.,
hosted the children as part of the Chernobyl Children's Project.
The Chernobyl Children's Project
Russian youth explore new waters by Petty Officer 1st Class T. E. Hansen DLIFLC
Presidio of Monterey, Calif.
Behind one of the doors sits a vibrant, petite lady, whose demeanor
is as pleasant as a summer breeze, patiently awaiting her daily visitors.
"These two are great people, they're dependable and they always
wear a smile," the retired school teacher said.
She remembers hearing of the
program as a teenager. "I appreciate the center, especially Thursdays when
the military helps out. I think it's a wonderful situation," she said.
"Ever since my second operation last spring, I utilize the service the
Chandler Senior Center offers on a daily basis," she added as she ad-justed
her posture- perfect frame in
the chair. She and a fellow teacher volunteered in the program for a
couple of months after their retire-ment, but stopped after her friend
became sick. "I didn't want to go into that part of town by myself," she
said shaking her head. Both Jason and Yahari are in-volved
in recruiting volunteers to participate in the program because
they feel it's a rewarding experience to help. "It makes us feel good to be
allowed the opportunity to deliver meals to people who wouldn't be
able to get it themselves," said Jason and Yahari.
"This helps us out in the sense that having our grandmother in Ala-bama,
it feels as if we are taking care of her through the people we see,"
said Yahari. "It's a hard feeling to describe, a good feeling, but hard to
describe," Jason and Yahari said grinning.
Although the twins were recently promoted to GS- 11, the two do not
have any plans to leave San Antonio, AIA, or the people relying on them
for meals any time soon. "It's just so easy to do, it's almost
too easy," Yahari concluded.
is a charity organization that assists children exposed to radiation result-ing
from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The organization sends the chil-dren
throughout Europe and the United States for medical care.
Although the children appear healthy and unaffected by the
Chernobyl accident, they are still at risk from exposure to radiation.
"It's contamination in the air they breathe and much of the food such as
vegetables they eat," said Navy Lt.
Elizabeth Hooks, coordinator of the event and operations officer at Euro-pean
II School. "The main thing is getting them
away from the contaminated area for a period of 30 days, which is sup-posed
to allow their immune systems a chance to recover. They seem to
enjoy California and the United States."
Thirty- two Russian language stu-dents went as escorts and interpreters
for the 38 children, ages seven to 16.
A Meals on Wheels participant receives food from Jason and Yahari Butler, MOW volunteers.
photo by Gloria Trevino
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Left, Army Foreign Area Officer Capt. Jeffrey Oppenheim and Pvt. Jason
Garneau, along with their two Russian guests, look at starfish while a
Monterey Bay Aquarium volunteer provides information.
photo by Petty Officer 1st Class T. E. Hansen
"Our students enjoyed themselves very much because they were able to
practice their Russian in a real- world situation.
"The children speak limited En-glish and the aquarium stimulated
their conversation allowing our stu-dents to increase their vocabulary,"
said Hooks. "The children all seemed very
excited about visiting the aquarium, and I know our students have been
looking forward to this event for sometime," continued Hooks. "Our
students were all brushing up on their Russian prior to the visit using a spe-cial
vocabulary list gener-ated for the event."
"The children seem ex-cited and surprised at how
much there is to see," said Army Pfc. Michael
Vintoniv of Foxtrot Com-pany, 229th MI Bn.
"The way their eyes light up in awe of this
magnificent attraction and the way they are talking
to one another in their native language quickly
and have their faces all over the windows is some-thing
to behold." "I think they are ec-static
to be here," said Marine Corps Pfc.
Jonathan Reid, who just re-cently began his course of
Russian instruction. "I was one of the drivers who
picked them up in San Francisco and the entire
way down to Monterey, they seemed very happy
as they chattered away. It is nice to see these
children with their ear- to-ear smiles! This has also
been a great experience for me and helped me out in
my language learning." Army Capts. Frank
Zachar and Jim Lampton, both Russian students
with Echo Company, escorted 11- year- old Irina Runets. When Irina
was asked questions about the aquarium and California, the two
captains took turns translating the questions and her answers.
With a smile on her face, the little girl said she liked the jellyfish
and sunfish best and that her escorts were good guides. Although she was
enjoying the day and California, she was homesick and missed her par-ents.
"Irina is still warming up to us and is kind of shy, but she has been
asking more questions as the day
progresses," Zachar mentioned. "We are doing our best to explain an-swers
to her questions. I'm learning new things as well. I didn't know
how to say sea otter until today. The fact that we as Russian students have
somewhat of a knowledge of the lan-guage has made the children feel
more secure. This really is a great opportunity for us to use the lan-guage
we are learning." Navy Seaman Miles Vukelic of
the Naval Security Group Detach-ment, said the day was a lot of fun.
"I've found today that I know the language better than I thought I
would, and it is helping with the continuation of
my learning process. The one thing that sticks with
me in talking Russian with them, is that they
are normal everyday kids — just being kids like
American children." Air Force Staff Sgt.
Clarence Powell, a Rus-sian Military Language
Instructor with 11 years of service to his credit,
said the event was good for both the children and
students as well. "Obviously it is great
for our students to be able to practice their language
skills while bringing some happiness into the lives
of these children," he ex-plained.
"When you stop and think about Chernobyl
and the radiation that has affected these children,
well, it really makes you sad.
"It is nice to see them walking around the
aquarium in fascination with smiles on their faces.
Additionally, it is nice be-ing able to practice U. S./
Russia relations in an am-bassador type of way."
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December 1997 20
family news
three- month- plus hospital stay was the last thing Bruce and
by Capt. Amber Cargile
HQ AIA/ PA
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
cause her lungs weren't fully devel-oped, she experienced apnea, or epi-sodes
where her body forgot to breathe. After a short stay on a respi-rator,
doctors gave her a nasal canula, a tube inserted into her nasal passage
that administered a continuous supply of air.
Doctors told the Wilkes to pre-pare for a lengthy hospital stay.
Michelle was due to be discharged from the hospital and wasn't sure
how she would be able to juggle nurs-ing and caring for Courtney while
commuting from their home. Luckily, the Wilkes were able to
take advantage of Wilford Hall's Ma-ternal Boarder/ Bonder program. The
program provides a four- bed hospi-tal room with bath and telephones to
Maternal Boarder/ Bonder program Allows moms to stay with their babies in critical care
A Michelle Wilkes, a retired Air Force couple living in San Antonio, ex-pected for their first baby. Michelle was enjoying a preg-nancy
free of complications. But in August, 11 weeks before her due date,
Michelle went into unexpected pre-term labor and was rushed to Wilford
Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Little Courtney
was born weighing only 2 pounds, 6 ounces.
Immediately after birth, Courtney was taken to Wilford Hall's neonatal
intensive care unit, or NICU. She was placed in an incubator and
hooked up to a machine that moni-tored respiration and heartbeat. Be-Top,
Mom, Michelle, cuddling her daughter Courtney. Bottom, Courtney in her incubator.
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21
mothers of infants receiving in- pa-tient care in the hospital's NICU or
intermediate nursery. The program gives moms the chance to stay in the
hospital, bonding with and nursing their babies even after they have been
discharged themselves. Mothers from outside San Anto-nio
usually have priority for one of the beds, as do moms whose babies
are critically ill. A mother whose infant is at high risk for death, for
example, would have first priority for using the room.
Since the program was started in September 1996, over 150 mothers
from military bases around the world have utilized the room.
"We've had mothers come in from Panama, Okinawa, Fort Hood
and Sheppard Air Force Base," said Army Maj. Patricia A. Wilhelm, NICU
clinical nurse specialist and Boarder/ Bonder program manager.
Many are obstetrics patients at high- risk for pre- term labor who come
to Wilford Hall from other locations
to use the hospital's state- of- the- art neonatal facility after birth.
According to Wilhelm, the pro-gram is an important part of the ba-bies'
care. "You can't quantify it, but it decreases the mother's sense of
anxiety and makes for a much better relationship between parents and the
staff," she said. Wilhelm also said that breast-feeding
rates of the patients have sig-nificantly increased because of the
close proximity of mother and baby. "Breast milk is incredibly important
for premies. It decreases the chance of infection and helps with the im-munity
they didn't get in utero," she said.
As for Michelle Wilkes, the pro-gram made all the difference in the
world those first few scary weeks. "It's more of a security for me," she
said. "I don't live on base and this helps since I'm right here. I can
check on how Courtney's doing. "One morning at 6 a. m., the doc-tors
thought she might have an infec-
tion. I had to sign consent papers for a spinal tap for tests. It was better
that I was here than at home," she said. Today Courtney is doing much
better. At press time she had moved from the NICU to the intermediate
level nursery. She now weighs six pounds.
Scholarship fund assists military families
NEW YORK (AFNS) — The Board of Trustees of the
Cdr. William S. Stuhr Scholarship Fund recently an-nounced the availability of 1998 scholarships for the
sons or daughters of U. S. armed services members. The fund, established in 1965, provides five schol-arships
in the amount of $4,500 each, payable over a four- year period.
To be eligible, an applicant must:
— Be a high school senior
— Be academically ranked in top 10 percent of junior and first half of senior year
— Be active in extracurricular activities
— Show strong leadership potential
— Be a bona fide active- duty or retired U. S. military family member
— Be planning to attend a four- year, accredited col-lege or university
Scholarship recipients and their parents will be guests of the fund at the Gala Awards luncheon or
dinner scheduled for spring 1998, according to Joseph LaRiviere, the scholarship fund's executive director.
Information about the scholarship fund and appli-cation procedures can be obtained by sending a self-addressed
envelope no later than Jan. 5, 1998 to:
Cdr. Stuhr Scholarship Fund, Attn: Executive Director,
1200 Fifth Ave., Suite 9- D, New York, N. Y., 10029- 5208.
The fund cannot respond to telephone inquiries. Completed applications must be received in the
scholarship fund office by Feb. 10.
Courtney gets a bath.
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December 1997 22
wo members of the 6985th Elec-tronic Security Squadron and broke the news of the crash, includ-ing the dead and missing. The reac-tion
of the unit was, "severe emo-tional shock, especially since people
were still missing," said Wilhelmsen. "The biggest thing that stands out
[in my mind] is that I wasn't on it, but I was supposed to be. The guy
who was in the chair I was supposed to be in was killed. If I would have
finished my tests I would have gone because it was my rotation," said
Wilhelmsen. He was shocked to find out his
name was included in the list of the missing because his name was still
on the flight orders. The 6985th had been contacted for verification of his
name and service number. "The 6985th was a tightly knit
unit. Everybody lived in the hangar and the plane was always there. It
was close enough you could run from the shower onto the plane," said
Wilhelmsen. "The 24th SRS guys you knew by
sight to talk to, the enlisted guys worked with ESC crews. Parsons was
a unit member and was a friendly guy," said Wilhelmsen.
Not a lot of operational work got done in the next few days. The squad-ron
commander told them to call home to let their families know they
were okay. Nobody went out to see the
wreckage, except for the Cobra Ball
program manager who went to re-cover any classified material.
In May, Wilhelmsen went to the crash site. "They still had colored
flags stuck in the ground denoting bodies and material. There were 18
people who survived, this is why you do emergency training," said
Wilhelmsen. The crash affected some people
more than others. Three members didn't fly again.
On his next Cobra Ball flight, Wilhelmsen described everyone be-ing
a little tense. Shemya's weather wasn't good and landings were al-ways
a little "sporty." To land, they had to fly through
a windshear. Their nosegear hit the ground first. This shook the plane
hard. "I was excited. I looked around,
everybody else had their flight hel-mets on too. It was right in front of
our thinking process," said Wilhelmsen. In the end, Wilhelmsen is proud
of his unit. "We kept on doing the mission. It was a little bump in the
road operationally, and a big bump personally, but we kept on doing it."
The experience is a reminder to Wilhelmsen that "freedom isn't free."
"I always carry around the Code of Conduct now. It reminds me why
we do what we do. The wording may change a little over time, but the
meaning is the same."
Editor's Note: When the 6985th
was deactivated in 1992, its members
were assigned to the 6949th Electronic
Security Squadron which later became
the 97th Intelligence Squadron, Offutt
Air Force Base, Neb.
Since the interview, Wilhelmsen has
retired.
AIA 50th anniversary countdown
"I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard
my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give
my life in their defense." - Article One of the Code of Conduct
1981 Cobra Ball crash kills six 1st Lt. Breton Lewellen AIA/ PA
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
Tfour members of the 24th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron became ca-sualties of the Cold War when their RC- 135S Cobra Ball aircraft crashed
at Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska, March 15, 1981.
Master Sgt. Stephen Wilhelmsen, with the 97th Intelligence Squadron,
Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., was sup-posed to be on that flight. By a quirk
of fate, another man, Staff Sgt. Harry L. Parsons III took his place and was
killed. "Harry had completed all his
ground testing that Friday morning, and I still had one or two tests to go.
The standardization and evaluation section chief came to me and asked if
I would switch with Harry so he could go and complete his evaluation
with an airborne check- ride," said Wilhelmsen.
Wilhelmsen agreed. After all, he could fly the following Wednesday.
When the crash happened, only a few people in the unit knew. Mon-day
morning the day shift members came in, and the communications
watch personnel were "tight lipped and very solemn- faced." The rest of
the unit could tell something wasn't right; however, the communications
watch people weren't talking. Once everyone had assembled for
the day, the squadron commander
8