Scott Air Force Base news: Airman survives refugee camp; AMC takes part in training

Here is news involving Scott Air Force Base.

Airman survives refugee camp, sets goal as immigration lawyer

By Airman 1st Class Shelby Rapert

375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE

Until the age of 11, Airman 1st Class Salat Ali awoke each day believing he wouldn’t live to be 18.

His family had fled the civil war in Somalia in the 1990s, and he was born and raised in a Kenyan refugee camp, along with another 250,000 people — all clinging to the hope that they would be resettled into another country soon.

“I wasn’t in the position to think about the future,” said Ali, a technician assigned to the 375th Force Support Squadron. “It was more of ‘how can I survive day-to-day?’ and ‘how do I avoid injury?’ There was this huge board in the middle of the camp and the people who could read would see whose names were picked to start the interview process. It was like winning the lottery.”

Ali, along with his father and brother, was eventually chosen to move to the U.S. after a long vetting and medical screening process in 2006. Sadly, they were forced to leave his mother and two other siblings behind.

“That was the day I realized that I wanted to be someone who helps people,” he said. “I didn’t know how yet, but I just knew I wanted to do something meaningful.”

11-year-old Ali arrived in Syracuse, New York, and immediately began to learn a new culture and language. Despite growing up in a poor section of the city, he said his family has always “made bread out of breadcrumbs” and that they became more resilient because of their hardships.

Ali earned a full-ride scholarship to Cazenovia College and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology. In 2022, he decided he wanted to become an immigration lawyer and soon joined the Air Force to help him reach his goal. Using his military tuition assistance, he is currently working on his Master’s of Business Administration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and plans to begin law school following his enlistment.

For the past 10 years, Ali has been doing what he can to reunite with his mother. He said that as an immigration lawyer, he will be able to help others navigate the barriers of reuniting with their loved ones as well.

“I don’t know if I can change any systems or policies,” said Ali. “But, I know that if there is anybody going through what I had to go through, at least I can be there to help show them the way.”

Rather than letting his struggles define him, Ali uses them as fuel to better himself and help others and encourages everyone to do the same.

“For anyone reading this right now, don’t feel bad for me. I struggled but I’ve survived. From the position that life has put you in, ask yourself how you can help those in need — no good deed is too small.”

177th Fighter Wing hosts Air Mobility Command units for Integrated Combat Turnaround training

By Senior Airman Hunter Hires

177th Fighter Wing

ATLANTIC CITY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, NJ

The 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, part of Air Combat Command, hosted a Integrated Combat Turnaround training for members of Air Mobility Command from Feb. 9-17.

An ICT is a process by which an aircraft is recovered and relaunched in a minimum amount of time, through the simultaneous fueling, loading of munitions, aircraft reconfiguration and aircraft inspections.

“The 177th Fighter Wing had always practiced hot-pits when the need presented itself,” said Tech. Sgt. Charles A. Zingrone, Jr., 177th Logistics Readiness Squadron (177th LRS) Fuels Management Flight, the fuels information service center section chief. “Hot Pitting is a technique used to refuel aircraft without the need to shut down engines, resulting in a very rapid turnaround time for the assigned fighter aircraft.”

The 177th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (177th AMXS) collaborated with the 177th LRS, accompanying the hot-pit refueling with the loading of munitions, aircraft reconfiguration and aircraft inspections. The combined process is what makes up the true purpose of an ICT.

Once the ICT training was scheduled, Zingrone reached out to his counterparts at other bases and offered them the opportunity to attend. He realized that cross-training Airmen from other Major Commands ensured that his career field would better fit the Agile Combat Employment model.

Airmen from three AMC bases attended the ICT training at the 177th FW including Scott Air Force Base; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Pease Air National Guard Base, New Hampshire.

Agile Combat Employment, is a proactive and reactive operational maneuver, executed within threat timelines to increase survivability by quickly generating combat power.

“They’re (177th members) providing all of their lesson plans and checklists so that I can bring them back and develop our own at Scott Air Force Base,” said Staff Sgt. Johnathan King, 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron, fuels management flight training non-commissioned officer in charge at Scott AFB.

“Scott AFB has hot-pit capabilities on U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets, E-2 Hawkeyes, C-2 Greyhounds, CH53 Sea Stallions, USAF F-22 Raptors, and U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawks,” said Craig Reis, a Scott AFB transient alert contractor. “We’re currently looking to expand its repertoire of aircraft for hot-pit capabilities, including the USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon, the aircraft that the 177th flies.”

“We jumped on the opportunity, because the U.S. Air Force is striving to be multi-capable, and this extends our multi-capable assets,” said Chief Master Sgt. Lonnie J. Major, 157th LRS Fuels Management Flight chief enlisted manager at Pease ANG Base.

This training offered the experience of hot-pit refueling the F-16C Fighting Falcon, training that isn’t possible to obtain at JB M-D-L, Pease or Scott.

“The importance of this training is the experience and knowledge of the operation,” said Airman 1st Class Nolan Taylor, 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels service center controller at JB M-D-L. “Learning different operations gives you the knowledge of what to do when these situations come to you.”

ICT training at the 177th FW provided exigent total force training scenarios, and the experience that Airmen from Pease ANG Base, JB M-D-L and Scott AFB garnered will help strengthen relationships between Mobility Air Forces and Combat Air Forces. To be trained and current in the Integrated Combat Turnaround is a mark of an Airman who is actively engaged in the Agile Combat Employment of Air Combat Command and the U.S. Air Force.

This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 11:55 PM.