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Sheriff John S. Wilson, Karen his wife, and their two sons Ross and Evan are proud to announce that John will be running for Re-Election in the 2012 run for Sheriff.  We have come a long way at the Department since I was elected Sheriff in 2008.  I feel we have made a big impact in the County of Clare in solving crime and getting the community more involved with the Department with programs like the Neighborhood Watch.  There is no better asset then the public itself when it comes to helping law enforcement in their duties.  Your Deputies are working closer with the public, getting involved in Neighborhood Watch and Township meetings.  We also have created a system for Deputies to email key people in different areas of the county to keep the public aware of things going on in their perspective areas and things to watch out for.

Sheriff Wilson with the help of Jess Loudenslager, has created one of the most professional and trained volunteer Mounted Divisions in Central and Northern Michigan.

Since becoming Sheriff of Clare County, Sheriff Wilson has made several departmental improvements from moving Law Enforcement and Corrections Officers to 12-hour shifts to better the information sharing at shift change, roll call and training purposes which creates team building techniques and moved personnel around to fit the work load need in the front office.  We utilize a purchase policy where all bills and purchases must be reviewed ensuring the best price to save the tax payers dollars.  We have reduced incoming illegal contraband in the jail by simply changing to post card mail only for inmates.

We have utilized several Federal, State and Local grants for purchasing equipment for the Department.  This includes revamping the jail camera system with a new server and placing cameras throughout the Court House for added security.  Also, we integrated a paperless booking system and added a Live Scan finger print palm scanner.  We obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in military equipment including a Humvee, John Deere front end loader for snow removal, 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe and multiple pieces of equipment for use by Road Patrol, Correction Officers and Reserves.  This equipment was obtained at little or no cost to the County.

I have added to our K-9 division, we now have 3 dogs within the department.  Toula works specifically with children in the schools or for court cases involving abuse.  Rocky and Remi are highly trained in search and rescue or drug seizure.

Sheriff Wilson is on the board for the United way of Clare County, and the Clare County Community Foundation.  He is a member of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

Sheriff Wilson feels that law enforcement and the community should work closely together, that the public should be constantly informed of what is going on in the communities they live in.  I encourage my staff to have professionalism at all times and to strive for excellence.  as a Sheriff for all people, I am committed to the community and dedicated to progress with protecting your family, your property, your future and protecting your tax dollars.  Leadership, honesty, experience and values mean a secure future.

Alex MerkedMs. Serenita ENG111-40N8 September   2010 InkedWhat is considered art? To some it’s the paintings on a wall in a gallery, or the artsy black and white photograph of a tree, for others art can be right on their body; this art form is a tattoo. Tattoos can be traced back all the way to 12,000 BC, they were used to tell stories and show ranking among tribes. Tattoos in this generation still share some of the same purposes, people get them to tell stories, or to honor passed family members, or perhaps just to show off some of their individuality. however these examples of body art are not always accepted in the business world; this is something that needs to change. It’s obvious that in our generation things change rather rapidly than previous generations, by this I mean our ability to adapt to change at an exponential rate. so how is it that with the rapid change in times we are still unable to change how the business world views body piercing’s and tattoos?

In 2006 a study was done by the American Academy of Dermatology to find out about how many people had at least one tattoo. It turns out that about 24% of Americans between 18 and 50 are tatted up. (Sayer pg. 1) This just shows that more and more people are getting tattoos so eventually businesses will have to change their dress codes in order to employ people. Although most credible jobs are very strict about dress code and tattoos and such, there are some jobs that have begun to adapt with the change in times. for instance the Army; at one point people in the military were not allowed to have any type of body piercing’s or tattoos it was strictly prohibited.   however as of January 25th, 2006 the army passed a new regulation stating that tattoos are now acceptable (Sayer p.1). This is a great start towards accepting tattoos amongst credible people but it still isn’t enough. Previous generations associate tattoos with social deviance, people who violate laws, and go against social “norms.”…

Aeroflex Inc. has launched a portfolio of three broadband signal analyzers (BSA) that can locate, record and analyze complex communications signals for commercial, military and aerospace applications. according to the company, the Scout, Hunter and Explorer signal analyzers offer outstanding performance at a low cost.

“Customers can reduce the cost of their signal analysis capability by at least 55 percent,” indicated Sue Guzman, GM of Aeroflex test solutions. “Unlike other analyzers that only tell you what happened, Aeroflex analyzers tell you why it happened.”

The signal analyzer product family consists of a portable signal analyzer, the Aeroflex Scout CS1104, and two rack-mountable signal analyzers, the Aeroflex Hunter CS1207 and the Aeroflex Explorer CS1247. Common applications include radar, communications, broadband RF test, satellites, electronic warfare (EW)/electronic countermeasures (ECM), spectrum monitoring, propagation measurement, electromagnetic environments (EME) analysis, wireless and chip test. all products have an intuitive UI based on the Aeroflex BSA software, noted the company.

The Scout, Hunter and Explorer analyzers locate, record and analyze complex communications signals for commercial, military and aerospace applications.

The Scout CS1104 is designed for the user who wants to go out in the field and to find signals of interest. whether the task is collecting RF signals on the move, or analyzing them in the lab. Scout’s RF coverage extends from 20MHz to 3GHz with 40MHz instantaneous bandwidth, an 8GB signal capture RAM, and 1TB removable data storage disk. Scout is targeted to provide data analysis and recording for portable applications.

The Hunter CS1207 is ideal for users who wish to search for a specific signal, hone in on a narrower frequency range around that signal of interest, and to analyze it. Hunter’s RF coverage extends from 10MHz to 6GHz with 70MHz instantaneous bandwidth, a 32GB signal capture RAM, and 8TB removable data storage disk. It is designed for applications that need greater RF bandwidth than Scout and adequate memory for longer signal recordings.

The Explorer CS1247 combines Hunter’s existing narrowband capability with additional wideband capability. The Explorer is designed for the user who needs to explore, record and analyze across a wide frequency range. its RF coverage extends from 10MHz to 6GHz with operator-selectable 70MHz or 400MHz instantaneous bandwidths, a 32GB signal capture RAM, and 8TB removable data storage disk. Similar to Hunter, Explorer can zero in on a narrow spectrum range to look at a specific signal, record it and analyze it. Explorer excels in all of the Hunter applications as well as adding capability for wideband signals such as radar, communications and EW, said Aeroflex.

The family of Aeroflex BSAs incorporates a longer contiguous record time and solves difficult problems more quickly than competitive products, the company claimed. Aeroflex BSA software has been used to collect and analyze RF signals, and is continually updated to solve emerging problems and new signal standards, as well as modifications to current signals. Scout, Hunter and Explorer include three BSA software modules—BSA Basic, BSA Modulation Domain and BSA Scanning Spectrum Analyzer. Many other BSA software module options are also available for Scout, Hunter and Explorer, added the company.

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The U.S. Navy has commissioned a 1.3-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) system at its Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) complex in San Diego. the system features 5,376 SolarWorld PV panels, and is the Navy’s largest rooftop solar array. The SPAWAR facility is headquarters for the Navy’s high-tech military command, communications and surveillance activities. the installation, which was designed and constructed in 2011 by Stronghold Engineering, will now feed power into the San Diego grid.

SolarWorld has made headlines recently as the face of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), which is embroiled in a trade dispute against Chinese solar panel manufacturers.  The company manufactures its crystalline silicon PV modules at its factory in Hillsboro, Ore., a fact which has helped it win contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

According to SolarWorld, the company and its predecessors have been supplying solar panels to the military for more than 30 years to power tens of thousands of navigational buoys on intercoastal waterways and along both coasts. More recently, SolarWorld panels have powered installations at U.S. military bases at home and overseas, including the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twenty nine Palms, Calif., Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., and Apra Harbor Naval Base in Guam.

“For many years, the Department of Defense has been on the leading edge of the federal government’s efforts to tap solar technology to reduce energy consumption, promote sustainability and lower the cost of doing business,” said Kevin Kilkelly, president of SolarWorld Americas. “By selecting high-quality American manufacturers and installers to supply, design and construct DOD solar projects, the U.S. military is making even greater strides to increase its sustainable energy independence.”

The SPAWAR facility, which is a prominent building bounded by Interstate 5 and Pacific Highway in San Diego’s old Town district, serves as a very visible reminder of the Navy’s dedication to renewable energy—especially solar power. the Navy continues to push ahead with more high-profile solar projects. SunPower recently broke ground on a 13.78-megawatt PV system at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake in California. this system, the Navy’s largest yet, could be a bellwether for the direction the Navy would like to take installing solar power at its California bases.

The trend is consistent with the DOD’s recent study proposing the development of solar power plants over at least 50,000 acres of land at four Southern California military bases. the study found that the land could support up to 7,000 MW of solar power capacity, worth about $100 million annually in rental fees and energy savings.

WASHINGTON — The Kennedy assassination was one of the most heart-wrenching and chaotic events in modern American history — and one still replete with mysteries.

But now a little more light has been shed on one of them: what was edited out of the flight deck recording from Air Force One as it carried John F. Kennedy’s body and the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, from Dallas to Washington.

The National Archives and Records Administration today released a newly discovered recording – running about 2 hours and 20 minutes — that is nearly 40 minutes longer than the only version previously known to exist.

The more complete recording was discovered last year by the Raab Collection, a manuscript collector in Pennsylvania, after one of its agents purchased at auction a box of personal effects from the estate of General Chester Clifton, who was Kennedy’s military aide.

The whereabouts of the complete Air Force One radio transmissions from Nov. 22, 1963, still remain a mystery. But what makes this a historically significant find is that it is an earlier version of the raw transmissions than the one housed at the LBJ Library, which was more heavily edited and runs only about an hour and 40 minutes.

Clifton, who died in 1991, left the White House in 1965, while the LBJ Library version was made public in 1971.

“This is the earliest that likely exists,” said Nathan Raab, vice president of the Raab Collection in Ardmore, Pa.

The newly found tape, a copy of which was donated to the Archives, includes never-before-heard transmissions between the White House Situation Room and another plane taking Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other Cabinet members to Tokyo at the time of Kennedy’s shooting and was turned back. it also contains an urgent request to locate the head of the Air Force, General Curtis LeMay, whose whereabouts in the immediate aftermath of the assassination have remained an obsession for generations of conspiracy theorists.

Some of the newly discovered radio traffic is raw and uncensored, such as when Rusk and his party are informed of the shooting while flying over the Pacific.

“Kennedy apparently shot in head,” the male radio operator in the Situation Room reports. “He fell face down in back seat of his car, blood was on his head, mrs. Kennedy cried ‘oh, no’ and tried to hold up his head.”

Also heard are more mundane things, such as the pilots of Air Force One discussing how to avoid tornados in Arkansas and Mississippi along the flight path from Dallas to Washington, D.C.

Raab said he was most intrigued by the portion involving LeMay. Kennedy and the hawkish Air Force chief were widely known to mistrust each other and all references to LeMay were deleted in the Johnson Library version of the recording.

In the longer version, one of LeMay’s aides, a Colonel Dorman, contacts the White House Situation Room seeking to reach the general, who he tells them is flying in a C-140 aircraft with the last three numbers 497 and whose code name is “Grandson.”

“And I want to talk to him,” the colonel says. any delay, he adds, “would be too late.”

But he is told they will have to interrupt transmissions with Air Force One to do so. The Situation Room reports that they are using both frequencies available to communicate with the presidential aircraft.

Summarizing the portions of the tape not made public before, the National Archives cited “references to new code names and incidents; a private conversation between Jerry Behn, the head of the Secret Service, and an unidentified individual about the disposition of the president’s body; an urgent effort by an aide to Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay to reach [him]; and attempts to locate various members of Congress from the Texas delegation.”

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero said the recording “provides additional documentation concerning the immediate response of the US Government on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination.”

The tape, added, Raab, “will allow the public a more complete view of the chaotic circumstances following the assassination of President Kennedy.”

But the recording only goes so far. several hours of raw tape are still missing. The transmissions heard on Air Force One that day should cover more than four hours — from before 2 p.m. Eastern time to after 6 p.m., when the new president and the casket bearing JFK arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland.

“The raw tapes never resurfaced after 1965-66, and the very existence of the first Air Force One assassination tape [found among Clifton’s papers] was forgotten,” said the Raab Collection. “Over the years all the efforts to find the raw tapes or any other original version proved fruitless. they are no longer with the White House Communications Agency, where they were created.”

The Raab Collection is selling the original copy of the reel-to-reel recording for $500,000, along with other items found among Clifton’s estate, including an autographed photograph of President Kennedy.

Bryan Bender can be reached at

RFID (radio frequency identification) chips or tags as they are better known are the size of the smallest coin in your purse, but they can hold huge amounts of information that can be manipulated in methods that can do fantastic things.

For example, RFID tags are in most office identity tags and in a few passports, allowing the holder to pass through security quickly while keeping the building or the country safe.

They are a modern version of the bar code. Remember before bar codes and bar code readers? when a shop keeper had to type prices into the cash register, correct mistakes and look up prices that they could not remember? People do not have any time for that anymore.

It is OK at the newsagents, but imagine a teenager typing in your two trolleys of weekly shopping at the supermarket every Saturday. you would still be there on Sunday! Superstores have thousands of articles and dozens of special offers – no-one could remember that lot.

No-one can, but bar codes make it straightforward and so do RFID tags. Bar codes work well, but they have to be seen to be read. RFID tags emit their information on a unique frequency which can be read out of line of sight. In other words, an RFID scanner does not need to be able to see the tag to read it.

The scanner can see what is in your trolley without you having to unload it and as you pass by that scanner and pay for your things, they are deducted from stock straight away so that the warehouse manger can see what people are buying and what nobody wants to buy. So, if one brand of cat food is selling better than another, the manager will see that on the computer print-out and buy more of that make, thus keeping more people happy.

This use of RFID in stock control or asset management to give it its more official title, can translate itself into other uses as well. an RFID tag can be placed under your cat’s fur or in its collar so that you can find him if he gets lost. the police and the wardens scan stray animals for a tag as part of their routine these days. Zoologists have been doing this with wild elephants, tigers and other endangered animals for years. Now you can have it done with your pets too.

Company vehicles, as assets of the business, often carry RFID tags and you can have one placed in your car to aid recovery if it is stolen. Baggage handlers at airports or bus terminals can (and do) use them to avoid lost luggage.

The US government insists that RFID tags be placed on all vehicles carrying ammunition or hazardous substances and have done for nearly ten years. the US military is in fact the principal user of these tags in the world. RFID tags are used to track military assets such as armaments, battle tanks, fuel, containers, artillery, you name it.

Some people worry about RFID technology. where is the line between their convenience and their personal information? For example, they do not like getting junk emails from people that have been able to trace the purchases they made with their credit cards.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently concerned with the RFID asset tracking. if you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

Posted by David Cenciotti in Airspace violations.Tags: Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, Emergency frequency, Iran, Iran Air Flight 655, Persian Gulf, shot down, US Navy, USS Sides, USS Vincennes trackback

Previous episodes: Archive

The following episode took place about 24 years ago. However, it occurred  in the Strait of Hormuz, saw the direct involvement of U.S. warships operating in the 5th Fleet Area of Operations amid heightened tensions, and involved also an Iranian F-14 (one of those has recently crashed during a mysterious night scramble).

Hence it is also quite topical since it gives an idea of what the above mentioned contributing factors can produce.

On Jul. 3, 1988, an Airbus A-300 (registration EP-IBU) operating as Iran Air Flight 655 from Tehran Bandar Abbas to Dubai was shot down by two ground-to-air missiles fired by the USS Vincennes, a Ticonderoga-class warship that was cruising in the Persian Gulf waters to keep a closer eye on the bloody and consuming war that involved Iraqi and Iranian armed forces.

Both missiles struck the fuselage, breaking off part of the tail and one wing and causing the death of all 290 people on board.

Background

During the Iran-Iraq war in the ’80s, the U.S. presence in the region was significant in order to protect oil tankers threatened by both countries. Just one year before this incident, in may 1987, the guided missile frigate USS Stark was attacked by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 jet and 37 American sailors perished during the clash. Further  investigation led Captain Glenn Brindel to be blamed not to have defended its frigate against the attack.

Therefore, the U.S. Navy agreed that new and more strict rules of engagement (ROE) were needed in order to allow Captains to get a more powerful right to defend themselves and “fire before being fired upon”.

These premises constitute the roots which gave birth to the root causes of the tragedy.

The event

On Jul. 3, 1988, three U.S. ships were patrolling the Persian Gulf: USS Vincennes, USS Montgomery and USS Sides. Suddenly, the second one reported enemy fire coming from small boats belonging of theIRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps).

Responding the request of support from the USS Montgomery, the Captain of USS Vincennes ordered to step in the battlescene and engaged some IRGC boats for half an hour.

In a few minutes, some missiles were also launched and shortly after an Iranian F-14 was shot down in a great ball of fire.

In the meantime, in the more peaceful but busy environment of the Bandar Abbas airport, the doomed Airbus A-300 was ready for a short flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

After take-off, flight 655 was instructed by the ATC to activate the transponder (on the Airbus, the transponder ‘squawks Mode III’ identified the aircraft as neutral and civilian) and was requested to reach an altitude from 7,000 to 12,000 feet.At the same time the USS naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz got another warning signal on their radar devices and identified it as a possible and serious threat.

During the seven minutes between take-off of of flight 655 and the launch of missiles, the U.S. naval units made several attempts to get in contact with the Iran Air A300: USS Vincennes tried to use the military radio channel of frequency 243.00 MHz used for emergency purposes and four other attempts on the civil channel at 121.5 MHz.

So how this incident occurred if many attempts to communicate were made?

First of all ICAO final investigation report proved that the A-300 was not able to receive communication on the military emergency frequency 243MHz with onboard radio equipment.

Instead, dealing with the attempts made on the civilian radio frequency 121.5MHz, the board of inquiry ascertained that the Iran Air crew did not pay the due attention during the first phases of the flight or did not realize to be a possible target of naval units.

The crew was in continuous communication with ATC and was therefore unable to hear the warnings issued on the civil aviation distress radio frequency. ICAO also determined that of the four warnings issued on this distress frequency, only one was considered clear enough to be recognizable by the flight crew as directed to them.

Forty seconds past this last recognizable transmission, the USS Vincennes crew fired the missile.

More in details ICAO stated that:

1. The aircraft weather radar was probably not operating during the flight nor would normal procedures have required its operation in the prevailing weather conditions.
2. The radio altimeters were probably functioning throughout the flight;
3. Apart from the capability to communicate on the emergency frequency 121.5MHz, United States warships were not equipped to monitor civil ATC frequencies for flight identification purposes.
4. Four challenges addressed to an unidentified aircraft (IR655) were transmitted by United States ships on frequency 121.5MHz.
5. There was no response to the four challenges made on 121.5MHz, either by radio or by a change of course. this indicated that the flight crew of IR655 either was not monitoring 121.5MHz in the early stages of flight, or did not identify their flight as being challenged.
6.  The aircraft was not equipped to receive communications on the military air distress frequency 243MHz. there was not coordination between United States warships and the civil ATS units responsible for the provision of air traffic services within the various flight information regions in the Gulf area.

Final statement summarised that: “The aircraft was perceived as a military aircraft with hostile intentions and was destroyed by two surface-to-air missiles.”

After stating that the environment on board the civilian plane contributed to the incident, the ICAO inquiry led to a more bewildering truth on the chaos and strain that reigned onboard the US naval units.

During the seven minutes between the take-off and the shot down of flight 655, excited communcation were made among the Captains of US naval units in the area, clearly stating the doubtfulness of identifying the approaching aircraft.

The US Department of Defense admitted that “…there was growing excitement and shouting in the Combat Information Centre of the USS Sides about a commercial flight.”

In the very first moments the radar operator of USS Vincennes identified the radar track as “unknown-assumed enemy” as the “Combat Information Center” of the same unit identified it as an enemy F-14 fighter jet.

Two minutes later the Captain of USS Sides, assumed the non-threating nature of the aircraft but a minute later USS Vincennes Captain ordered the shot down.

The Aftermath

The US Navy never blamed its crew for the incident and excused it with the need of defending the crew itself and their ships from any possible threats.  on the same day of the incident, US President Ronald Reagan stated that USS Vincennes followed all the requirements for the interception of foreign aircraft and that the Captain on duty ordered the launch of missiles only for defense purposes.

On Jul. 13, 1988, Vice-Secretary Williamson declared before the ICAO Counsel how high the level of danger was during the event. He noted that on Jul. 3 all the US naval units were engaged on a large operation of pursuit against Iranian vessels and it could have been considered a real war theatre.

On the extraordinary session of ICAO Counsel (Jul. 13-14, 1988), the ICAO President stated that: “…fundamental principle that States must refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft must be respected by each State”.

Representatives agreed to blame the U.S. act and some pushed for a rapid approval of Article 3bis of Chicago Convention – at that time not yet ratified. In particular, USSR and Nigeria blamed the US to lead a barbaric and brutal campaign against free and innocent people.

At the end of the technical investigation, on Mar. 17, 1989 the ICAO Counsel adopted the following Resolution:

“THE COUNCIL…Having considered the report of the fact-finding investigation instituted by the Secretary General…and the subsequent study by the Air Navigation Commission of the safety recommendations presented in that report;Recalling that the 25th Session (Extraordinary) of the Assembly in 1984 unanimously recognized the duty of States to refrain from the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight;Reaffirming its policy to condemn the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight without prejudice to the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations;Deeply deplores the tragic incident which occurred as a consequence of events and errors in identification of the aircraft which resulted in the accidental destruction of an Iran airliner and the loss of 290 lives;Notes the report of the fact-finding investigation instituted by the Secretary General and endorses the conclusions of the Air Navigation Commission on the safety recommendations contained therein;Urges States to take all necessary measures to safeguard the safety of air navigation, particularly by assuring effective co-ordination of civil and military activities and the proper identification of civil aircraft.”

“Deplores”, “Notes”, “Urges”: nothing really effective to avoid repeating the incident.

24 years later the tension between US and Iran is at its highest peak ever. Let’s hope we are not going to witness another similar episode in the Persian Gulf. for sure, we would not feel very comfortable flying across the Strait of Hormuz these days.

© David Cenciotti & Simone Bovi

Above image credit: Irandefense.net

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23. January 2012 | Applications & Installations | By:  Cheryl Kaften

The U.S. military has found a way to go off-grid for weeks or months, and to produce revenues of as much as US$100 million annually, by opening land on western military bases to private solar development.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) could generate a total of seven gigawatts (GW) of solar energy at four installations in the California desert, according to the findings of a feasibility study released this month by the agency’s Office of Installations and Environment. That’s as much as the combined production of seven nuclear power plants, or two-thirds of the electricity that the military uses nationwide each year.

The comprehensive 12-month study, requested by the U.S. Congress and conducted by the Fairfax, Virginia-based environmental consultancy, ICF International, determined the "solar compatibility" of seven DoD bases in California’s Mojave and Colorado deserts, as well as two command centers in Nevada.

ICF found tremendous energy potential, despite the fact that fully 96 percent of the DoD property was deemed unsuitable for solar development for a number of reasons, including:

• Security required for military drills and missions, as well protection of radio frequencies and other communications or surveillance technologies;
• Topographic issues (such as steep slopes and flash -flood hazards);
• Biological resource conflicts (for example, protected species); and
• Cultural constraints (among them, the Native American property rights to the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation).

Taking all of this into consideration, about 25,000 acres in the Mojave Desert are "suitable" for solar development and another 100,000 acres are "likely" or "questionably suitable". none of the property in the Colorado Desert, part of which extends into California, or in Nevada was found to be solar-compatible.

The largest amount of appropriate acreage is located at Edwards Air Force Base (24,327 acres), a site that is familiar to worldwide television audiences as the field where NASA’s Space Shuttles land. Property also is available for development at the Fort Irwin U.S. Army installation (18,728 acres), Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (6,777 acres) and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms (553 acres).

The Department of Defense is seeking to develop distributed energy sources on its bases both to reduce its $4 billion-a-year energy bill and to make DoD less dependent on the commercial electricity grid. On-site energy generation, together with energy storage and smart-microgrid technology, would enable a military base to maintain its critical operations "off-grid" for weeks or months, if the grid is disrupted.

The study suggests that only private investors would find it attractive to invest in these projects, because they have access to U.S. federal and state tax-based incentives. The most important federal solar tax incentive – the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) created by Congress in 2005 – is expected to be available through the end of 2016; but it is possible that legislative action in the interim could phase out or eliminate this incentive, which would make private investment less appealing.

The research identified crystalline-silicon photovoltaics with single-axis tracking as the solar technology with the highest projected investment returns, due to its combination of low-cost installation and high electricity output. The other photovoltaic technology packages analyzed also would generate attractive financial returns on many large sites.

Assuming private development and ownership of economically-feasible solar capacity on the four California installations, the federal government could expect to receive more than $100 million annually, in the form of rental payments, discounted power, in-kind considerations, or some combination thereof. full development also would help the United States to avoid emissions of millions of tons of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

While complete development of all of the identified solar energy potential is unlikely, enabling full solar development on approximately six percent of the identified, economically-feasible lands would generate enough electricity to meet all of the DoD’s EPAct 2005 renewable energy goals. Solar development on less than half of the identified lands would be sufficient to meet all of the DoD’s NDAA 2010 renewable energy goals – that is, 25 percent of facility energy produced by renewable energy sources as of 2025.

What’s next? in order to expedite the development of solar energy on military bases, DoD must confront and solve two major issues. First, DoD must work with the Department of the Interior to clarify the status of "withdrawn lands" – that is, lands that are not available for public use. Withdrawn lands comprise the majority of the property considered in this study, and resolving their status and potential use in third-party financed projects is critical, if the DoD intends to develop utility-scale solar energy projects.

Second, the lack of transmission capacity is the single largest barrier to large-scale solar development on the four California installations. The DoD and the many other stakeholders affected by this constraint could increase their efforts to encourage transmission owners and planners to expand capacity on existing transmission lines and hasten the necessary transmission build-out.

In related news, most of the installations considered in this study already have one to two megawatts (MW) of solar energy systems in operation, and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is host to the largest photovoltaic system sited on a military facility in the United States – a 14.2 MW photovoltaic facility completed in 2007.

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — Air Force officials announced Jan. 10, the fiscal 2012 career job reservation program with 16 Air Force Specialty Codes placed on the constrained list.

Career job reservations allow the Air Force to control the number of first-term Airmen re-enlisting in career fields where projected manning levels exceed the needs of the Air Force. This is the first time since 2007 the Air Force is using a constrained listing.

The AFSCs and career fields on the constrained list are the following:

– 2A6X1, Aerospace Propulsion

– 2A6X4, Aircraft Fuel Systems

– 2A7X3, Aircraft Structural Maintenance

– 2T0X1, Traffic Management

– 2T1X1, Vehicle Operations

– 3D1X1, Client Systems Technician

–3D1X3, Radio Frequency Transmission Systems

– 3E7X1, Fire Protection

– 3E9X1, Emergency Management

– 3N0X4, still Photography

– 3P0X1, Security Forces

– 4A1X1, Medical Materiel

– 4A2X1, Biomedical Equipment

First-term Airmen in these AFSCs who entered their CJR window as of Jan. 1 are affected, said Chief Master Sgt. Shannon Parker, the Air Force Personnel Center chief of Air Force skills management branch.

“All first-term Airmen must have an approved CJR to re-enlist,” she said.

The Selective Reenlistment Program automatically requests a CJR for first-term Airmen when they enter their first month of eligibility. Airmen serving in a constrained AFSC will be added to a waiting list and compete for monthly quotas based on a rank-order process.

Airmen and their supervisors will receive CJR notification reflecting their status monthly starting in February. the virtual Military Personnel Flight will also be updated to reflect the Airman’s CJR status.

First-term Airmen in constrained AFSCs are prohibited from extending for any reason while pending a CJR or while on the CJR wait-list. the exception is for Airmen overseas who are required to obtain additional retainability to become eligible for their continental United States return assignment.

All first-term Airmen, including those on the CJR waiting list may apply for retraining or a special duty.

Airmen not approved for a CJR and not selected for retraining may reapply for retraining or special duty, provided they are not within 120 days of their date of separation.

Quotas for constrained AFSCs will be posted on the Air Force Personnel Services website when available.

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