Nellis sergeant honored for work on Green Flag exercises

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:19 a.m.

Senior Master Sgt. Larry Gaer of Nellis Air Force Base was recently named Airspace and Range Professional of the Year by Air Combat Command headquarters in Langley, Va.

Gaer is the superintendent of the Electronic Warfare Range Division and manages the day-to-day activities of 50 people at the base. The division oversees three major Air Force contracts employing hundreds of personnel.

The mission of the division is to provide airspace targets and electronic threats for air crews training over the Nellis Range.

This month and next Gaer and his team will support what Air Force officials say will be the last Green Flag exercise at Nellis. Green Flag exercises have traditionally pitted opposing air forces against each other in intense electronic combat environments.

"Starting in October, all Red Flag exercises will have some green in them to ensure that air crews can train the way we fight," said Maj. James Hale of the 414th Combat Training Squadron, which manages Nellis-based flag exercises.

Red Flag features air-to-air combat training over the Nellis Range for U.S. and Allied air crews from around the world.

Reserve officers praise Berkley

The Reserve Officers Association of the United States thanked Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., for her support of a bill to provide tax breaks for reserve duty.

Berkley was one of 40 co-sponsors of the House bill, which was in the Ways and Means Committee when Congress took its summer break.

The bill would provide a tax credit for employers of reservists who are called to active duty.

Of more significance to reservists, it would allow reservists to deduct out-of-pocket travel expenses for reserve duty on their federal taxes.

"Many of our reservists spend their own money to attend military training and mandatory reserve drills," Rear Adm. Steve Yusem, ROA president, said.

Out-of-pocket expenses can become particularly burdensome for individual reservists with special skills known as IMAs, local reserve officials said. These reservists do not drill with hometown units, but travel, sometimes to distant bases, to work within active-duty units on a regular basis.