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F r i d a y , A u g u s t 2 9 , 2 0 1 4 T H E R E D 7 . n E T
Army warns: Soldiers beware of predatory lenders
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aLSO INSIDe
Briefs...............................7
Philpott............................6
Choctaw grad’s unit pays respects
in AfghanistanPage 4
Staff.Sgt..Bryan.HenSon...| U.S. Army
Members of the Bud Day Flight, Order of the Daedalians pause for a photo outside the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) headquarters. The Daedalians, composed of retired military aviators and pilots, visited the compound Aug 21 to learn more about the group, its mission and Soldiers.
Daedalians visit 7th Group
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Page 2 | THE RED 7 | Friday, August 29, 2014
Year No. 4 edition No. 35
The Red 7 is published by the Northwest Florida Daily News, a pri-vate firm in no way connected with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) or the U.S. Army.
This publication’s content is not necessarily the official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. govern-ment, the Department of Defense, the Depart-ment of the Army or 7th Special Forc-es Group (Airborne). The official news source for 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is http://www.soc.mil/.
The appearance of advertising in this publication does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. govern-ment, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) or the Northwest Florida Daily News for products or services advertised. Ev-erything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national ori-gin, age, marital status, physical handi-cap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or patron. Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the North-west Florida Daily News.
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WaSHIngton.(Army News Service) — “Need money fast? Need a new car? No problem! Instant approval for members of the military!”
While advertisements for immediate cash and merchandise are appealing, service members can land in hot water if they are not careful.
Soldiers, especially ju-nior-enlisted members, are targets for high-interest car loans, or payday loans with exorbitant rates, said Maj. Emma Parsons, Depart-ment of the Army banking officer.
“There are a lot of pred-atory lenders out there,” she said.
Soldiers should proceed with caution, she said, not-ing that the Consumer Fi-nancial Protection Bureau says a small-dollar payday loan could equate to an annual percentage rate of nearly 400 percent.
Unaffordable debt cou-pled with service charges and late fees can quickly spin out of control, putting unsuspecting service mem-bers under a mountain of debt, she said.
That is why it is so im-portant for Soldiers to have a plan for their money.
Part of the mandatory services that on-post finan-cial institutions provide are counseling and education partnered with Army-trained personal financial managers, Parsons said.
Trained financial coun-selors are present on ev-ery installation, she said. Soldiers are urged to meet with a counselor and utilize these free services, to help avoid the pitfalls that would put them in financial straits.
Talking to the financial expert can put the situation in perspective and help the service member navigate away from avoidable prob-lems such as spending beyond one’s means and signing on to a quick loan loaded with fees and a high interest rate, she said.
While emergencies do arise, counseling can guide a service member on how to manage money and what are the best options when those situations do occur, she said.
fInanCIaL.reaDIneSS
Falling into debt impacts readiness and morale, and directly affects the work performance of the Soldier, Parsons said.
Soldiers who become delinquent on their debts could have their wages garnished, and risk losing a promotion or a high-level security clearance.
For the most junior Soldiers, this might be the first time they are receiv-ing a paycheck, said Maj. Helen Thomas, the banking liaison officer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
It’s important they spend wisely and not fall in-to the trap for quick money or gleaming new merchan-dise they don’t need and can’t afford.
“I see it all the time. Young Soldiers come to us for counseling after they’re in a financial bind; we want to help them before the problem happens,” she said.
“Let’s catch them before they make those decisions,” she said.
Dave.vergun.| U.S. Army
Soldiers are urged to take advantage of free financial counseling available at all installa-tions, to help avoid the pitfalls that could put them under a mountain of debt.
Army warns: Soldiers beware of predatory lendersBy.JennIe.MCKeon
Northwest Florida Daily News
vaLParaISo.— The F-105 holds a lot of memories for Vietnam vet-eran Stan Lockley.
“Of all the airplanes I flew, this was the best and the most modern,” said the Niceville man.
As a belated birthday surprise Lockley’s best friend, Paul Hoop-er, and wife, Lydia, arranged for a special photo shoot with the F-105 located at the Air Force Armament Museum Tuesday morning. The re-tired U.S. Air Force Colonel turned 85 on August 1.
Next to the museum’s F-105 was a photo Hooper had enlarged of Lock-ley in 1966 at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand, just after he finished his 100th mission over North Vietnam.
“I set this up because Stan prob-ably wouldn’t have done it himself,” Hooper said.
Hooper, who is a pilot for South-ern Airways Express in Destin, met the Lockleys on a few of his flights.
“We’re the best of friends — BFFs,” Lockley said with a laugh.
Lockley had an impressive mili-tary career that spanned 31 years. He was the first F-105 pilot to fin-ish 100 combat missions over North Vietnam and deployed to Southeast Asia three times during the Vietnam War.
The F-105 can be a lonely plane to fly, with only one seat.
“You pray a lot,” Lockley said. Lockley’s squadron was the first
to deploy to Southeast Asia. He re-members the date: August 6, 1964. The squadron deployed again in May 1965. By Thanksgiving, only seven of the original 28 pilots were left. The others had been killed or captured.
“I learned a lot about life,” Lock-ley said of his military career. “There
was a lot I wish I didn’t remember.”As a retired Air Force pilot, Hoop-
er understands the sacrifice veter-ans like Lockley made.
“That’s why I contacted the mu-seum,” he said. “By honoring Stan, we’re honoring all of the other vet-erans too.”
Honoring Stan
SPeCIaL.to.tHe.DaILy.neWS
This photo of Stan Lockley was taken January 23, 1966, at Takhli Royal Air Force Base in Thailand, just after he finished his 100th mis-sion over North Vietnam.
niceville man’s military career celebrated by best friend
SPeCIaL.to.tHe.DaILy.neWS
Stan Lockley, who just celebrated his 85th birthday August 1, was treated to a surprise photo shoot with the F-105 at the Air Force Arma-ment Museum Tuesday morning, Aug. 26.
By.WenDy.vICtora
Northwest Florida Daily News
vaLParaISo. — An auxiliary squadron that is part of AMVETS Post 78 has received national recognition.
The Sons of AMVETS Squadron was named Squadron of the Year at a national convention earlier this month. The squadron was also honored for its programs that in-spire a sense of patriotism in youth and the surrounding community.
“Out of all the posts and all the
squadrons, they were the best,” said Post Commander Meredith McQuagge. “That is out of every squadron of the United States.”
The squadron is made up of
about 50 individuals whose fathers are veterans. The parent organiza-tion – Post 78 – is one of the largest in the state of Florida with more than 700 veterans.
“The biggest misconception is that it’s a lot of elderly individuals sitting around reminiscing about the good old days,” McQuagge said. “That’s not what the veterans organizations are about.
“Our core mission is to help the veterans and the community at large,” she added.
The local Sons of AMVETS Squadron also received national
recognition for its programs pro-viding for the health and welfare of the membership and the com-munity at large. This year marks the fifth time in six years it has received that recognition.
The squadron supports a pro-gram called Heroes on the Water, which provides wounded veterans and active duty military personnel experiencing hardship with the op-portunity to go kayaking and fish-ing. Among other outreaches, the squadron bought five kayaks for the program.
Want to join?
AMVETS Post 78 will be holding a membership drive at the October Festival in Bluewater Bay on Sept.
25-28. The post is at 910 Valastics Avenue in Valparaiso. Call 678-
3828 for more information
Valparaiso AMVETS group named No. 1 in nation
Page 4 | THE RED 7 | Friday, August 29, 2014 Friday, August 29, 2014 | THE RED 7 | Page 5
By.SPC..erIK.Warren.
U.S. Army
PaKtya.ProvInCe,.afghanistan.– Friends and family in Shalimar, Flor-ida, honored Sgt. 1st Class Samuel C. Hairston, during his funeral Aug. 21.
In Afghanistan, his fellow Soldiers at For-ward Operating Base Ghazni paid their re-spects to Hairston during a memorial, Aug. 19.
Hairston, who was a platoon sergeant as-signed to Company A, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne
Division, currently attached to 3d Cavalry Regiment, died as a result of small-arms fire during an air assault mission in the vicinity of FOB Ghazni Aug. 12.
Col. Cameron Cantlon, 3d Cav. Regt. com-mander, along with the regimental command team flew to FOB Ghazni to pay their respects to Hairston.
“I am grateful to Sgt. 1st Class Hairston for his service to the Army and the 1-504th Parachute Infantry Regiment,” said Cantlon. “The 3d Cav. Regt., as a whole, expresses its condolences to the family of this fallen warrior and are sorry for their loss.”
During the ceremony, Hairston’s Soldiers spoke of how he always brought a positive at-titude, even in stressful and dire situations.
Hairston’s Platoon Leader, 2nd Lt. Cody Chick, said the Army lost a Soldier who was driven to be the best leader he could and guided his junior enlisted Soldiers to the same. Hairston joined the Army after earning a bachelor’s of science degree in economics from the University of Houston where he also played football.
Hairston, grew up in Shalimar and was sta-tioned at Fort Bragg, N.C. He leaves behind a wife and son.
Choctaw grad’s unit pays respects in Afghanistan
SPC..erIK.Warren.| U.S. Army
above,.Company A Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Chick, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, speaks at Sgt. 1st Class Samuel C. Hairston’s memorial Aug. 19, and told the audience of how he and the rest of their unit liked their fallen brother. Hair-ston was killed in action in supporting operation Enduring Freedom Aug.12.
at.right, the 3d Cavalry Regiment command sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. Roger Heinze renders honors during Sgt. 1st Class Samuel C. Hairston’s memorial service Aug. 19.
at.far.right,.Company A Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Chick, 1-504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the other speakers from Sgt. 1st Class Sam-uel C. Hairston’s memorial say their final words Aug. 19, after the ceremony at FOB Ghazni.
Page 6 | THE RED 7 | Friday, August 29, 2014 Friday, August 29, 2014 | THE RED 7 | Page 7
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Allowing 18.8 million honorably-discharged veter-ans to shop online through military exchange services, which also operate brick-and-mortar department stores and concessions on base, could boost store profits enough to pump more than $100 million back into base quality-of-life programs.
That’s part of the “busi-ness case” made by the Ar-my and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) to the Department of Defense’s Executive Resale Board this month where Navy officials still raised concerns over the idea.
Thomas C. Shull, chief executive officer of AAFES, proposed to Defense officials several months ago that veterans be allowed to shop online through exchange
service websites and, in that way, gain the same discounts on thou-sands of department-store items that on-base shoppers
enjoy.AAFES already is work-
ing with an outside con-tractor to modernize and expand its website for online shopping of current patrons, which include active duty, Reserve and Guard mem-bers, military retirees and families.
Senior policy officials who oversee Navy and Marine Corps exchange services, however, have challenged the idea, fearing “benefit
creep” for veterans beyond online shopping into other military support programs. They also believe hurdles to implementing online shopping for all veterans will be higher than AAFES predicts, particularly in find-ing a foolproof way to verify veteran status and the char-acter of their discharges.
Defense officials, mean-while, have signaled they want unanimous support of service branches before they will embrace such a dramatic expansion of dis-count shopping, even if only online. The Executive Re-sale Board, which resolves disagreements between ele-ments of the military resale system, recently asked Shull to present a business case for opening online shopping to any veteran with an hon-orable discharge.
Board members repre-senting every service are reviewing that report with comments due back Aug. 29. The board’s next scheduled meeting, however, isn’t until Nov. 4. Shull told us earlier he hoped to have his plan approved by Veterans’ Day, November 11, and have the benefit available to all quali-fied veterans a year later.
“Each month veterans are denied the opportu-
nity to shop online through armed services exchanges costs the [Department of Defense] $8 million to $14 million in earnings and [base Morale, Welfare and Recre-ation programs] $5 million to $9 million in dividends,” says the AAFES report.
Here are other points it makes in favor of a veterans online shopping benefit, what Shull’s team now re-fers to as the “VOSB”:
Benefit Deserved: Many service members forced to leave the military in the next 12-to-18 months in a force drawdown will have de-ployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan but won’t have a chance to serve full, 20-year careers, the report notes. The offer of online discount shopping through exchanges “is a modest way to show appreciation.”
Also, offering veterans online discounts would “encourage ongoing involve-ment in the military com-munity and sends a clear message to future recruits that our nation values and appreciates every individu-al’s service.”
Lean Times for Exchang-es: Because of the draw-down and falling exchange patronage, store profits and exchange “dividends” to
support morale, welfare and recreational activities on base “will decrease materi-ally.” Service members and families will feel the impact on support programs.
From 2011 to 2013, AAFES total sales fell 10.1 percent. If AAFES had not taken aggressive steps to cut overhead, earnings would have fallen sharply along with dividends to qual-ity of life programs. Though AAFES expects to come close to its target of $300 million in revenues in 2014, erosion of the customer base continues and could reduce store earnings to less than $100 million by 2017.
“Unlike commercial en-terprises,” bases exchanges “can sell only within a finite and shrinking customer base,” the report says. Ex-changes need to expand patronage to veterans and AAFES is well prepared to do so.
Veterans Would Shop: Given the value that military retirees place on exchange shopping, spending an aver-age of $668 there annually, the 90 percent of non-retiree veterans who can’t shop on base could be expected to take advantage of shopping discounts even if available only online.
The report projects total exchange sales increasing across of wide range of pos-sibility, from a low of $226 million annually to a high of $1.13 billion. This would generate $60 million to $108
million annually in added dividends to support MWR and quality of life programs, without any increase in taxpayer support of base stores, according to AAFES’ analysis.
The report discusses pos-sible pros and cons of online shopping for veterans and finds only one “true” con – inaction by the department.
“Any delay in addressing this critical population only weakens the entire military community,” the report boldly states. It adds some movie-reel rhetoric that “speed and cooperation are of the essence.”
Meanwhile AAFES is more than doubling its selection of goods sold on-line to include about half of all items sold in larger exchanges, up from 20 per-cent today. It also promises to speed processing and shipment of orders and to expand call center opera-tions so shoppers see a vast improvement.
Veterans should learn by November whether the business case AAFES made was strong enough to win the unanimous support of services and, therefore, of Defense officials. AAFES believes expanding online shopping to veterans would require only a change in regulation, not law.
TRICARE GENETIC TEST COVERAGE – A month later than expected, the Defense Health Agency has published online its list of genetic or laboratory-de-signed tests TRICARE now covers under a three-year demonstration that will end on July 18, 2017, if not extended.
Here’s the link: http://www.tricare.mil/ldt.
Beneficiaries who had to pay for any of these 35 tests since coverage first was denied back to Jan. 1, 2013, might be eligible for reimbursement.
AAFES makes ‘business case’ for all vets to shop online
Tom Philpott
2105
799
from.staff.reports
Operation Kid FitAre you the parent of a
child between the ages of 4-11? Want to help your child live a healthy life? Operation Kid Fit is a new and free par-enting program that gives parents the tips and tools needed to promote healthy behaviors they can incor-porate into their family’s everyday lives. Parents re-ceive practical information and strategies to encourage healthy eating, limit seden-tary activity, and increase children’s physical activity. If you’d like to encourage your family to enjoy healthi-er eating and be more active, Operation Kid Fit can help! Enrolling now for fall classes with an on-line version avail-able in September. For in-formation or to register for a class, contact Ms. Harris at 883-9818 or [email protected].
CDC Caregivers needed
Looking for a reward-ing job opportunity? The Hurlburt Field Child Devel-opment Center is seeking qualified caregivers to join our team! Provide care for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. Hours needed: 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Softball Tournament
The 33 Fighter Wing MPOY banquet committee will host a one-pitch softball tournament starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13 in support of the 2015 Main-tenance Professional of the Year banquet. The tourna-ment will be held at Mur-phy’s Field on the 33 Fighter Wing side of the base. There is an eight-team maximum with three games guaran-teed. Overall winner of the tournament will receive a
first-place trophy. Entrance fee for the tournament is $75 per team, plus two Worth Gold Dot Classic softballs. There will be hot food avail-able, along with a cash snack bar. POCs: SMSgt Warren McCullough, 883-4276; MSgt Bryan McLaughlin, 885-5888; TSgt Karl Stenske, 885-3969
Ladies 9 and Wine golf series
Ladies 9 and Wine golf series is now through Sept. 16 from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. Ses-sions are $25 each. Tuesday sessions are Aug. 26 and Sept. 16.
A summer series includes instruction, wine and cheese and golf. Receive 30 minutes of instruction each session; enjoy beverages and light snacks plus the opportunity to play nine holes of golf in a fun format. Sign-up for each event by at least the day before a scheduled session. Participants must be 21 or over to consume wine. Gator Lakes Golf Course, 881-2251 or at myhurlburt.com/golf.php
University of Oklahoma
Open enrollment is now for 7 day onsite classes. Fall classes are still available. University of Oklahoma on Hurlburt Field offers two on-site Master’s degrees: Mas-ter of Arts with an emphasis in International Relations, and Master of Human Rela-tions. For information, call 581-3000 or email [email protected]. Website www.goou.ou.edu
eRaURegister for your on-
line courses today…new courses begin every month. Embry-Riddle offers Asso-ciate, Bachelor and Master Degrees in Aeronautics and Management in-residence and online. POC: Ms. Ad-ams/Mrs. Hitt, ERAU Eglin Campus, 678-3137.
to.submit.an.item.for.the.briefs,[email protected]’s.edition.is.noon.Monday..
RED 7 BRiEfs
Page 8 | THE RED 7 | Friday, August 29, 2014
SERVING THEEmerald CoastAS YOUR
1News& information
SOURCE.
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