Top Air Force Stories for Feb. 14, 2012

Today's stories include:

Cope North 2012 combines forces, efforts 
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123290093

Air Force kicks off ESOH Symposium 
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123290061

OSI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service catch cyber criminal 
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123289904

Mildenhall Airmen honored during CSAF visit 
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123289977

Star Trek fan becomes first African-American female to fly U-2 
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123289936



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Cope North 2012 combines forces, efforts

by Senior Airman Veronica McMahon
36th Wing Public Affairs

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFNS) -- Joint operations kicked off between the U.S. Air Force, the Japan Air Self Defense Force and the Royal Australian Air Force as the first day of exercise Cope North 2012 began here Feb. 13.

Whether it was the JASDF's F-2s flying alongside the RAAF's F-18s, or RAAF troops joining 36th Contingency Response Group Airmen in building a tent city, the three services worked together to ensure a successful start to the next two weeks.

Throughout the exercise, participating forces will demonstrate their ability to effectively deploy and train together. Participants will also have the opportunity to improve their ability to employ both tactical air power in the skies, and humanitarian and disaster relief efforts on the ground.

During the aerial portion, F-2s, F-15s, F-16s, F-18s and B-52s were among the first aircraft to take to the skies during morning operations on day one of training.

While sorties multiplied in the skies, troops on the ground began training for humanitarian and disaster relief efforts at Andersen's Northwest Field. The RAAF worked with Andersen Airmen to conduct a heavy equipment drop and also combined forces to set up a tent city, where they will spend five days simulating possible conditions during real-world relief efforts.

The day's events culminated in a field training exercise. The field training portion focused on coordination and evaluation between RAAF and U.S. Air Force personnel. Throughout the simulation, different roles are played out, such as security, emergency response, medical and evaluation.

"The reason why we are here is because we all need each other," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Mull, the 36th CRG deputy commander. "The camaraderie we have developed with the Australians is awesome."

The exercise has also provided an opportunity to cultivate common bonds and foster goodwill between the multinational partners.

"We are part of the group providing security for the Cope North exercise with our Australian counterparts," said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Clint Seal, of the 736th Security Forces Squadron. "It's pretty neat to work with a foreign military. Because we work in the same theater, we might cross each other's path again."

The U.S. military is always seeking opportunities to strengthen its relationship with other nations through activities such as subject matter expert exchanges, host nation visits, trilateral engagements, exercises and operations such as those experienced during Cope North, officials said.

"It's good to work together and see what each nation brings to the actual mission, especially in this area where humanitarian assistance and disaster relief is very important," said RAAF Wing Commander Lee de Winton, the 381st Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron commanding officer.

"It's been great to meet our sister squadron," de Winton continued. "All of this is built on relationships that will endure throughout what we do in this region."

Air Force kicks off ESOH Symposium

by Michael Briggs
Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment Public Affairs

DENVER (AFNS) -- The Air Force kicked off its 20th annual Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Symposium at the Colorado Convention Center here Feb. 13.

The largest military training event of its kind features 525 course offerings for more than 1,200 attendees and runs through Feb. 17.

Air Force senior leaders addressed attendees at a morning plenary session Feb. 13, encouraging them to get the most out of the courses and networking sessions taking place during a critical juncture in the service's history.

"Today, as we open a week-long training event, I encourage each of you, civilian and military, to take advantage of the opportunity to receive the latest information, valuable education and training on ESOH management," said Maj. Gen. Timothy Byers, the civil engineer for the Air Force. "I am certain everyone will leave here at the end of the week armed with the knowledge to succeed."

Operating with smaller budgets and increasingly limited training opportunities, the ESOH Symposium continues to provide value while delivering significant program training and certification, officials here said. Each student attends at least 26 hours of training during the week, estimated to have a value of $15,000 to $20,000 per student compared to similar commercial training courses. Yet the only cost to the unit is funding the temporary duty trip for attendees.

Sponsoring major commands have kept the production cost to less than $200 a student, which they fund. For example, more than 300 attendees will receive Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety certification this week. The cost for doing it at the symposium is about $1,500 for a week-long TDY versus around $60,000 for the same training if accomplished at a major command base, symposium organizers said.

The training not only provides value up front, but it also pays dividends in the long run, the general said.

"Sound ESOH practices are incredibly beneficial," Byers said. "They reduce environmental, safety and health risks, and make our practices safer. They minimize waste, prevent mistakes and make our processes leaner. With this recognition, suddenly ESOH practices become about more than just compliance and regulation. They become about organizational improvement and doing what is right for the Air Force.

"For these reasons, ESOH solutions -- and the mindset it takes to make them a reality -- are exactly the kinds of things the Air Force is encouraging going forward."

During his remarks at the kickoff session, Terry Yonkers, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, called on attendees to use their ESOH training to help make the Air Force smarter, leaner and greener as it moves forward in a constrained budget environment.

"I can't remember a time when the Air Force was faced with so much change, so many challenges and imperatives to do less with less," Yonkers said. "I want to ... challenge you to redouble your efforts to find and help others find opportunities for increased efficiency to support the mission. Be an active participant in the change that's happening all around you."

Tech. Sgt. Daniel Mueller, a bioenvironmental engineer assigned to the 15th Aeromedical Dental Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is back at the ESOH for the first time in several years. He said the courses and networking with others in his career field helps his professional development in a way emails and teleconferences can't.

"Each time I attend, I get to see where our career field is at and to learn about our new and changing ESOH role," he said. "Hearing from senior leaders gives us the 30,000-foot view of the way ahead. At my level, I can take that back to my Airmen and inform them about the direction of the career field. It makes me a better leader."

The ESOH Symposium is sponsored by Air Combat Command, Air Force Space Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Mobility Command, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command. Instructors are provided through partnerships with the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, Air Force Institute of Technology, Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, Department of Labor's OSHA Training Institute, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

OSI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service catch cyber criminal

by James C. Dillard
Office of Special Investigations Public Affairs

QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va. (AFNS) -- Criminals work their mischief where there is money to be gained, and in a world that relies heavily on the Internet, identity thieves are working overtime to find new and creative ways to steal.

That was the case with Rene Quimby, who was able to get his virtual hands on the identities of more than 16,000 people. For a while, his dishonest venture was extremely profitable ... until the Air Force Office of Special Investigations began investigating his online activities.

Thanks in part to their efforts, Quimby was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge to 75 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $210,119 in restitution to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service for his cybercrimes.

This case was a joint effort between OSI Detachment 118, AAFES, Dallas, Tex.; OSI?Detachment 810, Los Angeles Air?Force Base, Calif.; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Identity Theft Economic Crimes Task Force. Two Army Criminal Investigation Command detachments and four local police departments were also involved.

Quimby found vulnerability on the AAFES?website and was also able to illegally obtain credit card financial information, along with other personally identifiable information via peer-to-peer software. His victims were from all over the world.

His victims were primarily people who allowed "all" files to be shared via the file-sharing programs. Quimby conducted keyword searches for "passwords," locating text files and Word documents his victims had saved on their computers. He was also able to download and extract copies of check images, photo copies of driver's licenses, Social Security cards, passports and recall rosters from military bases that were also on the computers.

The investigative team learned that Quimby had fraudulently-ordered merchandise sent to vacant, dead-drop and other locations controlled by the Mexican Mafia in southern California.

The AAFES merchandise, including computers, washing machines, iPods, pools, books, stereos, etc., was fenced by members of the Mexican Mafia.

Special Agent Keith Ide took the lead on this investigation the first day he arrived at Det. 118 in July 2007. In the autumn of 2007, he flew to California to discuss the case with Det. 810 and helped set up the task force to assist in the investigation. He also worked to get the U.S. Attorney's Office in Central California, and later the U.S. Attorney's Office in the northern district of Texas, on board with the investigation.

During their investigation, they discovered that Quimby logged onto retail websites, primarily AAFES, using the personally identifiable information from his victims. He manipulated existing accounts and opened new lines of credit using 647 of the 16,000 identities to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent orders on the AAFES website.

When he reached credit limits, he simply used the routing and account numbers on the copies of checks he downloaded to place fraudulent Automatic Clearing House payments to "pay off" the Military STAR Card accounts, allowing him to free up credit and continue his scheme until the payments bounced.

Ide said when someone runs a credit card/identity theft investigation, that person is effectively running two cases simultaneously.

First, the investigator looks into the source of the compromise of victims' personally identifiable information: Was it a technical exploit such as someone hacking into an ATM or was it a human exploit where someone obtained the personally identifiable information and conducted account take overs and opened new lines of credit? Secondly, the investigator must find what the subject did with the personally identifiable information once her or she got it.

Special Agent Ryan Himes came on the case at Det. 118 in August 2007 and began working with Ide on the investigation.

"The case was very challenging from the get-go," Himes said. "I have never dealt with a financial crimes case in the past, and the numbers associated with this case were a little overwhelming to begin with. As the case went on, I got more comfortable with the numbers. I got to the point where I could tell if the IP address was in the same location, if the credit card number was Visa/MasterCard/Discover/STAR Card, and if the address was near any of the original addresses without even looking the information up."

In May 2010, Himes, Special Agent David Gilmer, and agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service interviewed Quimby, who not only confessed but gave permission to seize his computers.

Quimby had 132 gigabytes of victim data on his computer and OSI agents had to figure out a way to organize and identify chargeable conduct within the vast amount of data. They sent Quimby's hard drive to the 3rd Field Investigations Squadron cyber office, where Tech. Sgt. Richard Shepard worked for more than four months organizing data from Quimby's hard drive. Stacey Patterson at OSI Headquarters was also involved with organizing the hard drive.

"Once we had the data/victim (personally identifiable information) organized, we sent the organized hard drive to Icon (Investigations and Security, Inc.) to identify victims, financial accounts, credit cards, Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, etc., in order to determine levels for sentencing purposes," Ide said. "Icon also had to research all of the victims and compile a list of primary victims in order to notify all of them."

Icon coordinated with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, because it is the only agency that has automated access to the victim notification system that the U.S. Attorney's Office uses.

"In this way, all 647 primary victims could be automatically notified," Ide said. "This was crucial because we could not indict Quimby without first identifying and notifying all of the victims."

Ide said the process of analyzing, organizing, identifying, researching and uploading took an entire year.

U.S. Postal Inspector Noah Thompson worked closely with OSI throughout this investigation. He is assigned to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-sponsored Identity Theft Economic Crimes Task Force. Thompson worked directly with all of the OSI agents in developing leads to identify the perpetrator of the AAFES scheme by doing things such as subject interviews, surveillance, law enforcement liaison, probation searches and various other investigative techniques.

"At the beginning of the case, there was a lot of data that we had to sift through from AAFES," Thompson said. "Special Agent Ide and Special Agent Himes particularly did a great job on getting their arms around the data and being able to organize it so everyone could get a clear picture of what was happening."

Special Agent David Gilmer, who works with Det. 810, worked with Thompson on developing leads targeting the California connection, identifying the subject, conducting the subject interview, and coordinating the search where the key evidence was seized.

Finally, in February 2011, after Quimby was indicted, Ide said he worked with Det. 810, (the U.S. Postal Inspection Service) and the Secret Service to arrest Quimby in Southern California.

"I believe this case was truly a team event," Gilmer said. "A lot of parts came together because we kept going in the face of adversity and picking each other up until we finally locked the right target."

Mildenhall Airmen honored during CSAF visit

by Master Sgt. Kevin Wallace
100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENHALL, England -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz helped honor Team Mildenhall's annual award winners during a banquet here Feb. 10.

Those recognized as the Team Mildenhall 2011 Annual Award winners were:

- Capt. Nathaniel Smith, Company Grade Officer of the Year
- Senior Master Sgt. Emilio Hernandez, Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year
- Master Sgt. Thomas Wagner, First Sergeant of the Year
- Staff Sgt. Byron Washington, NCO of the Year
- Senior Airman Patrick Flynn, Airman of the Year
- Senior Airman Leroy Jackson, Honor Guard Member of the Year
- Airman 1st Class Orson Lyttle, Volunteer of the Year
- Danielle Poyant, Supervisory Civilian of the Year
- Mia Tobitt, Non-supervisory Civilian of the Year

Schwartz was joined by Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, the 3rd Air Force commander; Maj. Gen Mark Zamzow, the 3rd AF vice commander; Col. Christopher Kulas, the 100th ARW commander; Chief Master Sgt. Craig Adams, the 3rd AF command chief; and Chief Master Sgt. Chris Powell, the 100th ARW command chief, in celebrating the honorees' accomplishments.

"U.S. Air Forces in Europe links us all to America's greatest generation," Schwartz said. "From World War II airfields across Great Britain, our forebears helped bring victory to a weary and waiting world."

As the only permanent U.S. air refueling wing in Europe, the 100th ARW has flown many missions vital to the United States, its NATO allies and regional security, Schwartz said.

"As an Air Force, we can take great pride in our efforts and achievements in Iraq and Afghanistan as we've met countless requirements on the ground, in the air, in space and in cyberspace," Schwartz said.

This decade of war was shaped as much by the Air Force service members on the battlefield as the Airmen above it, Schwartz said.

"The Airmen of Team Mildenhall played no small part in ensuring the success of those operations, and Team Mildenhall partner units rightly deserve credit for shouldering many of those challenges," he said.

Team Mildenhall consists of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and civilians from the 100th ARW, 352nd Special Operations Group, 95th Reconnaissance Squadron, 488th Intelligence Squadron, 727th Air Mobility Squadron and other tenant units.

After taking photos with the general and his fellow award winners, the Airman of the Year honoree reflected on his award.

"I never expected this level of recognition," Flynn said. "This validates not only the hard work I put in, but the commitment of my fellow Airmen, supervisors, first sergeant and commander. This motivates me to work even harder next year."

Flynn is a 100th Civil Engineer Squadron fire inspector and spent much of 2011 deployed to Iraq. His unit took its fair share of Team Mildenhall awards, bringing home the Senior NCO of the Year, NCO of the Year and Airman of the Year awards.

"This is breathtaking," said Washington, a fellow 100th CES member and the 2011 NCO of the Year. "These awards certify what's already known--the Airmen and our families are what have made this wing successful all these years."

Prior to the banquet, Schwartz toured the 100th Force Support Squadron's Gateway Dining Facility, which recently won the 2012 USAFE Food Service Excellence Award in the single facility category.

The general also visited the 488th IS's language and culture learning center, the 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron's fuels processing center, and the 100th Operations Support Squadron's Air Traffic Control Tower.

After his stop at RAF Mildenhall, Schwartz attended RAF Lakenheath's 2011 Annual Awards Banquet on Feb. 11. Schwartz, who was accompanied by his wife Suzie on the trip, said a major reason for visiting the bases was the role both played in Operations Unified Protector and Odyssey Dawn in 2011.

During OUP, the 100th ARW flew about 500 missions to refuel approximately 6,000 receivers from 15 different countries. Like the 100th Bomb Group during World War II, the 100th made its mark in the history books, Kulas said at the banquet.

Hernandez, Wagner, Washington, Flynn, Lyttle and Tobitt were also recognized before the dinner as the 100th ARW 2011 Annual Award Winners in their categories, along with Capt. Steven Brenoskie, CGO of the Year, and Wayne Gordon, Supervisory Civilian of the Year.

Star Trek fan becomes first African-American female to fly U-2

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- By the time Merryl Tengesdal graduated from the Navy's flight aviation program in 1994, the early women aviation pioneers like Bessie Coleman, Janet Bragg, Willa Brown and Mae Jemison had pretty much broken the barriers for race and gender.

But after the Bronx native switched to the Air Force a decade later, she helped rewrite the aviation and Air Force history books by becoming the first African-American to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane.

Inspired as a young girl by the Star Trek movies of the 1970s and '80s, Tengesdal went on to excel in math and science in high school and took that interest into college where she earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Haven, Conn.

After graduating from college, Tengesdal traveled to San Diego where she applied for and was accepted into the Navy's flight aviation program and would spend the next 10 years as a helicopter pilot flying the SH-60B Sea Hawk on missions in the Middle East, South America and throughout the Caribbean.

In 2004 Tengesdal switched to the Air Force where she made a dramatic change from helicopters to flying at altitudes of as much as 70,000 feet for hours at a time flying the U-2 reconnaissance plane. "I was one of five women in my class and the only female that graduated," said Tengesdal. "I just stayed focused as I went through the training process."

Tengesdal said the U-2 is one of the more difficult aircraft to fly, and is designed for high altitude, with a long wingspan and a landing gear with two wheels rather than three. "When you land, you actually have to stall the aircraft at two feet because of the wings." Tengesdal said that some of her best moments as a U-2 pilot have come during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, along with Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa where she was able to provide troops on the ground with information obtained from her flights.

Tengesdal is a senior pilot with more than 3,200 flying hours, with more than 330 of those in combat. She is currently a lieutenant colonel assigned to Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.