Nevada Air Guard unit finalist for national honor

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003 | 8:41 a.m.

Members of the Reno-based 152nd Security Forces Squadron learned recently they are one of only two Air National Guard security unit finalists for the Air Force Outstanding Security Forces Squadron of the Year award. More than 80 Air National Guard units were originally in competition for the award.

The 152nd Security Forces Squadron has been activated since October 2001 and has faced numerous stateside and overseas deployments in support of Operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom.

The criteria used to select the finalists include unit accomplishments, individual troop accomplishments and higher headquarters inspections. The other remaining unit competing for the honor is the 103rd Security Forces Squadron of East Granby, Conn. The winner will be announced this spring.

"It's an honor that the hard work of all the men and women in the squadron and the men and women who have augmented us over the past year is being formally recognized," said Capt. Mark Hall, the commander of the squadron. "Our airmen have faced tremendous sacrifice of their family time and their civilian careers to serve over this past year."

Better vision benefit

Military recruits may soon be able to take advantage of an additional benefit of serving their country, tossing out their old contact lenses and glasses. The Air Force Warfighter Photorefractive Keratectomy Program now provides PRK surgery to all Air Force service members who qualify. It is a surgery that in most cases eliminates the need for glasses or contact lenses, said the program's director. The Army and Navy both have a similar program.

"Nearly 100 percent of our patients do not need glasses to see after this procedure," Lt. Col. Robert E. Smith, chief of cornea and refractive surgery at Wilford Hall Medical Center, said. Smith is also the Air Force surgeon general's refractive surgery consultant. In some cases, Smith said, the surgery can improve a person's vision enough to get them off corrective lenses only most of the time. Since the program began, the Air Force has eliminated the need for or reduced the dependence on glasses for more than 4,000 service members.

The purpose for the program is to increase the readiness of warfighters by eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses. Smith said corrective lenses can be a hindrance in the field or in the cockpit. "Glasses and contacts, we learned in Desert Storm, don't do well out in the desert," Smith said.

In brief