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In a small, unremarkable room on the edge of a military airstrip somewhere in the world, you can get a Hostess Zinger for $1.25. You can wash it down with a Mountain Dew or a Cherry Coke for an equal amount. If all you happen to have on you is a presidential coin, no worries. The machines take them, too.

While you’re waiting for the plane carrying that special someone you love, you either can stare at the plain white walls, accented by an occasional “Keep the Passenger Lounge Clean” sign, stare out the finger-smudged windows at the abandoned construction across the street, or catch up on your reading.

Your choices are varied.

There’s the Jan. 16, 2006 copy of The New Yorker magazine or the two-year-old tattered gossip magazine. There are multiple copies of a camouflaged Bible and Nuevo Testamento. Or you can choose from a pamphlet on “Domestic Violence and It’s Effect on Children,” a gently-loved copy of The Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Guide or outdated guidebooks.

If your stay in the small room will be a longer length of time, you can delve into one of the 200 or so uniformly lined up paperback novels from the bookcase. Whether your preference is mystery, drama, or spy-thriller, you’re sure to find one you haven’t read. If romance is more up your alley, you’re out of luck.

If your restless mind can’t focus on words, there’s always a movie. You can watch an old VHS tape on the well-worn TV, on whose screen you now see and hear endless snow.
Or you can also take a nap on any one of the mismatched pieces of quartermaster furniture way past their prime.

After a short while, the novelty of the room’s amenities wears off and you just wish you would hear the hum of an approaching plane. Sooner or later (generally later) you do, thinking only about the one who will be exiting the plane shortly and how good it will feel to hold him once again.

About the Author: Janet Farley is the author of The Military Spouse’s Complete Guide to Career Success (Impact Publications, 2008) and writes the career advice column JobTalk for the Stars and Stripes newspapers.

Video courtesy of ABC news

Myth: Smokeless tobacco products are a safe alternative to tobacco smoking.

Fact: Mouth cancer, cancer of the pancreas, and tooth loss are only a few of the serious conditions connected to the use of smokeless tobacco.

The Department of Defense (DoD) and TRICARE are deploying on-line weapons in their arsenals to promote the “Great American Spit Out” (GASpO) on Feb 19, and “Through With Chew Week,” Feb. 15-21. Military installations are also invited to participate in the attack on smokeless, but far from harmless, spit or chewing tobacco, often simply referred to as “dip.”

Campaign headquarters is located at DoD’s tobacco cessation Web site, http://www.ucanquit2.org, online headquarters of the multi-year campaign, “Quit Tobacco – Make Everyone Proud.”

Military installations can now register their GASpO event at http://www.ucanquit2.org/facts/gaspo to promote it to the military community and those in the local area of their participation in the Great American Spit Out.

Did you live or work at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune 1987 or before? If so, please register with the Marine Corps by visiting www.marines.mil/clsurvey or by calling the Camp Lejeune Historic Drinking Water Call Center at (877) 261-9782, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.

In the early 1980’s, two solvents, trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), both unregulated at the time, were found in two water systems serving the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point areas. Certain drinking water wells were identified as the source of the chemicals and were taken out of service in 1984 and 1985.

The Department of the Navy is funding two independent research initiatives. The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is determining if there is an association between exposure to the water and certain adverse health effects. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is evaluating specific health risks associated with exposure.

Upon completion of the research, the Marine Corps will directly notify those on the registry through direct mail and email.

Camp Lejeune water meets or exceeds all environmental standards today.

Drinking water wells at Camp Lejeune are tested four times a year for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in addition to monthly drinking water sampling. The base is in compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations to ensure safe drinking water.

By Michelle Archer, Special for USA Today

‘Marketplace Money,’ produced by American Public Media, Feb. 21 or 22 (check marketplace.org for listings or to listen to podcast).

Marketplace Money, the entertaining weekend radio program that says it looks at stories that affect the average listener’s wallet, plans to devote an entire show to the personal-finance problems of soldiers and sailors.

Among topics host Tess Vigeland will cover: the financial impact on families of wounded soldiers, the negative effect constant relocation has on the salaries of military spouses, the challenges faced by reservists who run small businesses, a counseling program that assigns an onboard command finance specialist for every 75 sailors, and an essay by Jarhead author Anthony Swofford.

Military personnel face some of the same problems in the current economy as civilians, Vigeland says. The one thing they don’t have to worry about is losing their jobs.

“The economy actually has sparked an increase in people who are signing up for service as a job,” Vigeland says. “The likelihood of getting laid off is not very high in the military.”

Getting air-dropped supplies onto a target has its challenges. Drop from too low and you risk enemy fire; drop from too high and the supplies can go astray.

But a technology solution is in sight. Four military agencies are exploring the use of a GPS and guidance, navigation, and control system to precisely deliver air-dropped supplies.

The Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) has shown it can accurately guide itself to a designated ground point, using a ram-air parachute, a navigation and control system, and GPS guidance.

JPADS is under the control of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, the U.S. Army Soldier Systems, the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command, and the U.S. Army Project Manager Force Sustainment and Support.

The system has been used successfully in combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

By using computerized mission planner equipment, the aircrew releases a load at either a computed air release point or a launch acceptance region. In either case, the load is guided to a landing with an accuracy of between 50 and 75 meters.

JPADS hardware includes a high-pressure-tolerant laptop, dropsondes, and a man-portable interface processor. Mission planning can be done on the ground or in the air. Once aloft, the JPADS system software models the aircraft’s course, airspeed, position, altitude, and ground speed as well as load exit time, decelerator opening time, trajectory, and rate of descent.

The load is independent of the aircraft once it’s dropped, using an airborne guidance unit to acquire its position and steer along the planned trajectory while making corrections, if needed, during the drop. Wind speeds are monitored during the drop using hand-launched dropsondes that give a set of corrections to the airborne guidance unit.

Loads from 100 pounds to a ton have been dropped using JPADS.

About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the historical mystery, Full Moon.