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7UDLQWKHZRUOG·VJUHDWHVW)DQG)ÀJKWHUSLORWV                                                                                                                   May 29, 2015
                                                                                                                                                                         Vol. 15, No. 20

 INSIDE                                                  56th FW has new mission
                                                         by Senior Airman
STORIES                                                      GRACE LEE
„ Military mom, 3
„ ALS grads, 4                                                 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs                                                                                                                                    Senior Airman Devante Williams
„ Snakes on a plane, 5
„ CAF, 7                                                    Luke Air Force Base’s 56th           Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, left, 56th Fighter Wing commander, and Charles Lilly, right, lithograph
„ Fraud alert, 10                                        Fighter Wing conducted a                artist, present the new 56th Fighter Wing lithograph May 21 during the 56th FW change of mis-
FEATURE                                                  change-of-mission ceremony              sion ceremony at Luke Air Force Base. The change is historical for Luke as the wing’s mission
                                                         May 21, formally including the          statement last changed 25 years ago.
                                      Airman Pedro Mota  F-35 Lightning II as part of the
                                                         wing’s new mission statement.           of the F-35 Lightning II pro-          The 56th FW is one of the        toward the future for Airmen
           POLICE WEEK                                                                           gram with Lockheed Martin,          most highly decorated avia-         at Luke. Additionally, the
                                                            The ceremony included the            to the stage.                       tion units in history and has       wing successfully completed
                                       See Page 12       military tradition of unveiling                                             DOHJDF\WUDFLQJEDFNWR     DÀUVWHYHUODUJHVFDOHWUDLQ-
                                                         56th FW commander, Brig.                   “I want you to know that         Since then, the 56th has moved      ing deployment of 10 F-35s to
INDEX                                                    Gen. Scott Pleus’ name on the           Lockheed Martin and our en-         DQXPEHURIWLPHVDQGKDVXQ-       Nellis AFB, Nevada, show-
                                                         ÁDJVKLS ) VLJQLI\LQJ WKH        tire team are proud to stand        dergone a few name changes          FDVLQJ WKH DLUFUDIW·V DELOLWLHV
Action line ............................. 2              mission change.                         EHVLGH \RX LQ HYHU\ VWHS RI   EHIRUH DUULYLQJ DW /XNH $LU    Recently, a Royal Australian
Briefs..................................... 3                                                    your journey,” Martin said.         )RUFH %DVH $SULO   Á\-  $LU)RUFHSLORWÁHZWKHEDVH·V
Spotlight ................................ 4                7KHUHDIWHU 3OHXV EHJDQ KLV      “We have every expectation          ing F-16s and F-15E Strike          ÀUVW SDUWQHU ) VRUWLH 0D\
Diversions ........................... 20                remarks to the hangar-full of           that Team Luke will set the         Eagles. A year later the F-15E      14 at Luke.
Sports.................................. 23              Airmen and community lead-              standard for F-35 training, as      training mission moved to Sey-
                                                         HUV E\ ORRNLQJ EDFN DW /XNH·V     you have done with the F-16,        mour Johnson Air Force Base,           Pleus wrapped up his com-
QUOTE OF THE WEEK                                        history.                                the most successful fourth          North Carolina. Since then, the     PHQWV E\ WDONLQJ DERXW WKH
                                                                                                 generation pilots the world has     ZLQJ·VFRUHPLVVLRQKDVEHHQWR    UHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQWKHEDVH
   “One mark of strong leadership at any                    ´,I \RX JR EDFN WR )HEUXDU\    ever known.”                        train the world’s greatest F-16     and the local community.
level is how well you develop potential                  of 1941 the city of Phoenix au-                                             pilots. It wasn’t until March 10,
replacements. Likewise, how well does                    thorized the War Department,               0DUWLQ FORVHG E\ WKDQNLQJ    2014, when the wing received           “The state of Arizona and
\RXU VTXDGURQ VKRS RU RIÀFH IXQFWLRQ              DVLWZDVFDOOHGEDFNWKHQWKH        the surrounding community,          its first F-35A aircraft that       particularly the West Valley
without your hand constantly controlling                 DELOLW\WREXLOGDWUDLQLQJEDVH       Air Force partners and allies,      FKDQJHVEHJDQWRDSSHDU            has always welcomed us with
the rudder? The typical type-A military                  out in the West side of Phoe-           for their support and service.                                          open arms and we deeply ap-
SHUVRQDOLW\KDVGLIÀFXOW\OHWWLQJJRRIWKH             nix,” Pleus said. “The state of                                                Some of the recent changes       preciate all the efforts you had
hands-on details at work. “If you want                   $UL]RQDVDZWKHDELOLW\WREULQJ          The change in the mission        include the opening of the          WR EULQJ WKH ) WR /XNHµ
something done right, do it yourself,” is                the military into the Arizona           statement is historical for Luke    F-35 Academic Training Cen-         3OHXV VDLG ´:H ZRXOG QRW EH
VLPSO\ÁDZHGORJLFXQOHVV\RXZDQWWREH                community, just like they do            EHFDXVH WKH EDVH KDV EHHQ DQ  ter Oct. 9, 2014. On Jan. 23,       where we are today if we didn’t
WKHRQHFRPSOHWLQJWKDWWDVNLQGHÀQLWHO\µ              WRGD\7KHLUXQEHOLHYDEO\JHQ-          F-16 Fighting Falcon-only           3OHXV ÁHZ KLV ODVW VRUWLH LQ  have the support of some great
                                                         erous opportunity resulted in           installation for 19 years. The      an F-16, representing a step        people that have put us where
                Lt. Col. Charles Jones                   leasing this land to the United         56th FW last changed its mis-                                           we are.”
       607th Air Control Squadron                        States Air Force for one dollar         sion 25 years ago.
                                                         a year and that still holds true
WEATHER                                                  today.”

                 Today                                      Luke AFB currently has 23
                                                         )V DQG E\  /XNH LV
            100°/68°                                     VFKHGXOHG WR KDYH VL[ ÀJKWHU
                                                         squadrons and 144 F-35s. In
                   Hot & Sunny                           the next few years, 10 other
                                                         countries are planning to con-
                                                         duct F-35 training at Luke,
                                                         including Norway, Italy, Tur-
                                                         key, Netherlands, Denmark,
                                                         Canada, Israel, Japan and
                                                         South Korea. Australia has al-
                                                         UHDG\DUULYHGDQGLVÁ\LQJZLWK
                                                         the 61st Fighter Squadron.

                                                            “Today we take another step
                                                         forward for the U.S. Air Force
                                                         DQG RXU SDUWQHU QDWLRQV E\
                                                         formally updating our mission
                                                         statement. Beginning today the
                                                         mission of Luke Air Force Base
                                                         is simple – train the world’s
                                                         JUHDWHVW)DQG)ÀJKWHU
                                                         pilots.”

                                                            Pleus then welcomed Lor-
                                                         raine Martin, executive vice
                                                         president and general manager

                                                         Go to luke.af.mil for Luke Facebook link                                    8VH\RXUVPDUWSKRQHWR
                                                                                                                                     connect to our website!
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