Command Information

“If we don’t get the people right, the rest of it won’t matter.”

- General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>By Staff Sgt. Lealan C. Buehrer</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><FONT face=Arial>182nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></I></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Senior Airman Alexander Corwin of Charleston, a traditional Guardsman with the 182nd Maintenance Squadron, 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria was announced as the 2013 Illinois National Guard Outstanding Airman of Year</FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Corwin was presented the award Jan. 6 by Col. William Robertson, wing commander; Lt. Col. Robert Hart, vice commander; and Chief Master Sgt. Stephen Eakle, wing command chief master sergeant. </FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Eakle was proud to say the Outstanding Airman of the Year was one of his own.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>“That was very stiff competition,” he said. “And what this means is we have here at the 182nd the outstanding Airman for the entire Illinois Air National Guard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>More than 3,400 members and he is the leading E-1 through E-4 in the Air Guard…It just clarifies and is another example of how we do things correctly here.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>The command chief was quick to recognize what Corwin’s recognition means to the current peer group of Airmen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“It also dispels any of these things that say that this generation of young people is any less than the generations before…He’s a fine young man, truly an example of what we expect here,” said Eakel. “He honors the core values and honors all of us that we had that kind of a quality Airman representing us.” <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Corwin’s supervisors note one thing that sets him apart from his peers is that while he is one of the newest members in his shop, he approaches the job with the attitude of a seasoned technician.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>As an illustration of how seriously he takes his position, Corwin successfully completed all six volumes of his 5-Skill Level Career Development Course in just one month and has demonstrated a propensity to stay past normal duty hours to complete aircraft work. Corwin serves as an airlift instrument flight control systems craftsman. </FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>In an effort to diversify his experience, he volunteered for several deployments to include Bagram Air Field in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center and Operation Coronet Oak. </FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Additionally, Corwin volunteers at Methodist Medical Center as a patient care advocate and participates in charity triathlons and marathons with his family.</FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Corwin was quite humbled and astonished at how his actions escalated to the receipt of the award.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>“It’s amazing that the things I’ve done in the past few years led to Airman of the Year,” said Corwin. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“I think it’s fantastic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I mean, it’s a great award for someone or myself to win.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial>Corwin has advice for other Airmen on work ethic.</FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“I think you should just do as much as you possibly can when it comes to you,” he said. “I really do the things that I love and just do the best that I can at them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>It leads to great things if you can accomplish them.”</FONT></P>
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Outstanding Airmen Of The Year Leads The Way From The 182nd

PEORIA - Senior Airman Alexander Corwin of Charleston, a traditional Guardsman with the 182nd Maintenance Squadron, 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria was announced as the 2013 Illinois National Guard Outstanding Airman of Year

<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=4><STRONG>SPRINGFIELD</STRONG> - The Illinois Guard Running Team teamed up with Medals for Mettle and Mid America Advertising to compete in the Treadmill Marathon Event at Scheels in Springfield Oct. 27.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4 face=Arial>Four teams competed against Sgt. 1st Class Trent Sinnett of Homewood, who ran the entire 26.2 miles by himself on a treadmill. The Illinois Guard Running Team placed first of the four teams, finishing with a combined time of 2:55:40 just seconds behind Sinnett, the overall winner and lone runner, with a time of 2:55:10.</FONT></P>
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Illinois Guard Running Team Competes In Treadmill Marathon
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Guard Running Team teamed up with Medals for Mettle and Mid America Advertising to compete in the Treadmill Marathon Event at Scheels in Springfield on Oct. 27.

<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=CommandArticleText><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Story by Adriana Schroeder<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Illinois National Guard Historian</SPAN></I></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=CommandArticleText><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">     Times are changing and in this new digital age we, too, are forced to evolve.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Twitter, Facebook, Google, e-mail, blogs and the list gets longer every year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Back in 1933, the annual cost of publication and distribution of 12,000 copies per month was $15,000.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The paper flourished until WWII, when circulation of photos and information became forbidden by the War Department.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Today, the Guardian printed quarterly cost approximately $36,000.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=CommandArticleText><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">         </SPAN>Going digital seemed the best answer to combat budget cuts and keep information timely.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This new and improved paper dubbed The Railsplitter, after President and Illinois Guardsman Abraham Lincoln, will be sent directly to each Guardsman’s military e-mail inbox.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Information will be shorter, but distributed faster with monthly delivery.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=CommandArticleText><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">         </SPAN>In 1933, five Illinois Guardsmen created Illinois Guardsman, Inc.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>Delayed by the Great Depression, finally Oct. 6, 1933, the papers from the corporation department, office of the Secretary of State read, “to edit, publish, print, electrotype, bind, sell and distribute a monthly magazine to be called, ‘The Illinois Guardsman.’”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Official papers were signed by Maj. Gen. Roy D. Keehn, Lt. Cols. Cassious Poust and Lawrence V. Regan.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Brig. Gens. Frank B. Schwengel and Thomas S. Hammond also served on the board.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>The board quickly established regimental editors who were tasked with gathering news and promoting the magazine within their regiment.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Lt. Julius Klein from the 33rd Division Headquarters served as editor for <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The</I> <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Illinois Guardsmen</I>, chosen due to his experience as a twice-wounded war correspondent during the World War.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Guardsmen were charged $1 annually for the magazine with non-subscribers paying $2. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>Keehn added, “It must be made a vehicle for the propagation of one policy and only one - Better Guardsmanship and better Citizenship.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Other than that the board struggled with what to include in the magazine. Would the history of the Guard and each regiment be published? Would there be policy concerning drill? Would each regiment get equal time in the magazine?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>What to include or relegate to Facebook?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Wait… they did not have Facebook then, but we do now. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>The information in <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Railsplitter </I>will remind us of the places Illinois Soldiers and Airmen go. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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Guardian To Railsplitter: A New Era
Times are changing and in this new digital age we, too, are forced to evolve. Twitter, Facebook, Google, e-mail, blogs and the list gets longer every year. Back in 1933, the annual cost of publication and distribution of 12,000 copies per month was $15,000. The paper flourished until WWII, when circulation of photos and information became forbidden by the War Department. Today, the Guardian printed quarterly cost approximately $36,000.

<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">by Airman 1st Class Zachary Morgason<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">182nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>PEORIA -</SPAN></B><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> Christopher Schutz, a former crew chief of the C-130E Hercules that stands in the 182nd Airlift Wing Air Park, visited the base on Sept. 26 and he had the rare opportunity to visit the aircraft he helped maintain nearly 50 years ago.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The trip which Schutz made with his wife was emotional for both, and it reminded everyone in attendance of the storied history of the aircraft of our unit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>In 1963, Schutz enlisted in the Air Force as a crew chief, and in 1964 he was assigned to Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taiwan.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>From that assignment, he and the crew of the C-130E, tail number 877, flew frequently into war torn Vietnam for months at a time, earning the group the title of Assault Airlift Airmen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>“From munitions, to fuel and troops, we took everything in and back out of combat to the Army and the Marines who were in country,” said Schutz of his mission. “We would move entire villages, and the plane would be filled with cows, chickens, and other types of livestock.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>Schutz served in the Tactical Air Command for four years before separating.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The aircraft would eventually be moved around the Air Force a number of times, before it finally made its way to Peoria in 1995 where it served as part of our unit’s Airlift mission.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>After its departure from the 182nd, the aircraft went to Little Rock AFB in Arkansas.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>It was flown to Peoria for the final time in the fall of 2009.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Feb. 28, 2010 the plane was set up to be permanently displayed in the Air Park.<A name=_GoBack></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>During his visit to the 182nd Airlift Wing, Schutz signed the interior of the C-130, becoming a permanent part of the aircraft and the legacy of the airlift mission.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>“I knew it would be emotional to go inside,” said Schutz.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>“It was really great to see it again after so many years.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1">            </SPAN>Schutz’s experiences are one unique part of the story of that plane, which was built in 1963, that extends to this day whenever our members see it in the Air Park.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Emphasis on the historical perspective on our mission is a rewarding and vital to know where we’ve been which helps define where we are headed going forward. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>

Former C130 Crew Chief Visits 182nd
PEORIA - Christopher Schutz, a former crew chief of the C-130E Hercules that stands in the 182nd Airlift Wing Air Park, visited the base on Sept. 26 and he had the rare opportunity to visit the aircraft he helped maintain nearly 50 years ago. The trip which Schutz made with his wife was emotional for both, and it reminded everyone in attendance of the storied history of the aircraft of our unit.