Roger that: Missouri VFW post preparing ceremony for missing airman
The remains of Air Force Tech. Sgt. Louis J. Clever, a crew member of a C-47 Boeing Skytrain aircraft that disappeared over Laos, in February 1969, will be returning home Thursday. Volunteers are needed to post flags along the route that Clever’s recovered remains will be traveling en route to Arnold, Mo. Volunteers are meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at VFW Post 2593, 2301 Church Rd Arnold, Mo.
In October 1969, the wreckage of Clever’s C-47 was found near Ban Phan, Laos. Several C-47 Skytrain variations were flown during the Vietnam War, including aircraft configured for electronic warfare. A total of 10 crew members’ remains from Clever’s downed C-47 are set to be interred in a communal grave at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Site 347, Section 81, Jefferson Barracks.
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Exemplary work during last year’s Ebola crisis has led to a major award for the U.S. Transportation Command’s Africa Region Intelligence Support Branch, Intelligence Directorate, Operations Division, based at Scott Air Force Base. The team won one of the 2015 Excellence in Government awards given out May 7 at the Orlando Gardens in St. Louis.
“This program is the Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board highlight of Public Service Recognition Week as authorized by Congress, and is our opportunity to salute the very best of the federal workforce,” said Lynn Schulte, of the Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board.
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Missouri U.S. senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt have raised concerns about the latest findings in a review of operations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital system in St. Louis, which includes the John Cochran VA according to a report Wednesday by St. Louis Public Radio.
The review makes 45 recommendations for improvements, ranging from sanitation to management inconsistencies. In a letter to the acting director of the facility, Patricia Ten Haaf, the senators ask to be kept informed of her plans to address the findings and “specific corrective actions. ... Our veterans have earned and deserve the very best in treatment and services,” according to the letter from McCaskill, a Democrat, and Blunt, a Republican.
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A new study of young U.S. veterans shows that the probability of having a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, increased with increasing severity of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. This is important information, as sleep apnea is a risk factor for such serious health problems as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and psychological problems including depression, worsening PTSD and anxiety.
The study involved 195 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who visited a VA outpatient PTSD clinic for evaluation. Results showed that 69.2 percent of participants had a high risk for sleep apnea. This risk increased with PTSD symptom severity. Every clinically significant increase in PTSD symptom severity was associated with a 40 percent increase in the probability of screening as high risk for sleep apnea.
“The implication is that veterans who come to PTSD treatment, even younger veterans, should be screened for obstructive sleep apnea so that they have the opportunity to be diagnosed and treated," said co-principal investigator Sonya Norman, researcher at the San Diego VA.
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Pilots flying the futuristic F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will one day control a small fleet of nearby drones from the cockpit while in flight, according to a new Air Force report on autonomous systems, according to a story at the website Military.com
The Air Force plans to announce a new strategy for unmanned aircraft systems in June. The report will discuss more teaming with manned aircraft such as the F-35, greater levels of automation and a wider scope of missions drones, such as transporting cargo.
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Seven of the KC-135 Stratotankers stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., have received major upgrade intended to move them closer to operational missions and bringing the 59-year-old aircraft new technology, the 22nd Air Refueling Wing has announced.
The upgrade addresses critical aircraft equipment and safety of flight issues, including a new auto pilot, a new radio altimeter and an LCD screen that replaces analog gauges as well as other minor changes. The KC-135 Stratotankers at McConnell are the same vintage as the nine Stratotankers stationed at Scott Air Force Base.
The Air Force announced last year that McConnell will be the main active duty base for the first set of KC-46A Pegasus air tankers, the air refueling jets that will replace the flying service’s aging fleet of KC-135s.
Contact reporter Mike Fitzgerald at mfitzgerald@bnd.com or 618-239-2533.
This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Roger that: Missouri VFW post preparing ceremony for missing airman."