TalkoftheTown: USAF proposed supersonic low-altitude training over the Gila Wilderness is illegal

Supersonic training flights over the Gila are illegal

The pack horses were nearly loaded with the last throw of the diamond hitch when, instantly, a formation of four F-16 U.S. Air Force jets appeared a few hundred feet over our heads. Our campsite was the very eastern end of Whitewater Creek Park, just below Hummingbird Saddle deep in the Gila Wilderness.

The F-16 formation, as soon as they appeared, pulled back on their joysticks and engaged their afterburners and stood these aircraft on a vertical climb just a few hundred feet above us. The earth-shattering noise and heat from the exhaust of the thrust literally put my partner and me on the ground as well as the gear from the pack horses. Those pack horses scattered, completely traumatized, as were we.

The memory is still fixed in my brain some 30 years later.

The Wilderness Act passed into law by the 88th Congress in 1964 Wilderness Area Management. “An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence.” The proposal put forth by the Air Force, 2024 SUA Optimization, is in direct conflict with the provisions of law as defined in the Wilderness Act and therefore this proposal for supersonic, low-altitude training over the Gila Wilderness is illegal.

The noise pollution and spent canisters of chaff and flares in the forest to be caused by this proposed activity violates the conditions of the act.

STANLEY KING

Glenwood

Low-level jet aircraft will destroy the Gila Wilderness

Morris Air National Guard Base, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Luke Air Force Base are proposing to add the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico as training for low-level supersonic combat flights.

These flights will generate sonic booms that are gut-wrenching to wild animals, domestic animals and humans. I have personally experienced the explosion of noise and concussion of fighter jets flying over a box canyon in the Gila Wilderness, it dropped me to the ground and caused rockfall.

As wilderness trail technicians for the Forest Service, we do not use chainsaws or even a wheel in wilderness work. By definition wilderness is a place untrammeled by man. It is a place of solitude, peace and serenity. Jet aircraft will absolutely destroy the sanctity of the wilderness with noise pollution and chemical pollution from chaff and flares.

Veterans, first responders and civilians with PTSD seek solitude in wilderness areas, as well as working folks escaping the city life.

As a U.S. Navy SEAL Team 5 veteran, I swore an oath to protect our country from foreign and domestic threats. This Air Force proposal is a direct threat on the purity of one of America’s great congressional enacted acts, The Wilderness Act of 1964. I will defend the wilderness with my voice, pen and paper until the day I die.

I thank you for reading these words, and thank you in advance for submitting your comments to the website: www.arizonaregionalairspaceeis.com/comments/

BRETT MYRICK

Gila

Top-quality care offered by Sandoval medical center

I am Bishop Mark J. Schwarz, presiding bishop of the North American Catholic Ecumenical Church. I recently had the distinct pleasure of being a patient at UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, first in the ER, and then up on the fifth floor where I was cared for over the course of three days.

It is difficult for me to choose how to begin this letter of praise, as there was so much to be thankful for.

Let me start by saying that I choose SRMC over and over again due to the incredible staff they have assembled. They are, to a person, amazing. No matter the job being done, each person performs the task with integrity, competence, discretion, and exudes a sense of pride and satisfaction.

SRMC has assembled the perfect team. Every department, from environmental services right through to nursing, dietary, pharmacy and rehab, demonstrates a dedication to top-notch patient care.

I must also say that the fifth-floor staff demonstrated a level of care, compassion, dedication, dignity and trust turning a cold clinical environment into a place that felt more like home, soothing and safe — the staff seemed more like family than anything else.

If asked, I will always recommend SRMC to anyone needing medical care.

In gratitude, I am.

MARK J. SCHWARZ

Corrales