We’d anticipate the yearly defense budget to see what kind of money was earmarked for its development. Sometimes we lost faith, worried it might be put on the back burner. After all, a lot hinged on replacing the aging EA-6B Prowler at NAS Whidbey Island with a more sophisticated and powerful aircraft, one with a huge leap in capability for the warfighter.

BOB PAPADAKIS is a civilian now, having retired a few years ago as a Navy Captain and long-time member of the EA-6B community. Who better for Boeing to hire as their EA-18G Integration Lead? When you want to know about the Growler, he’s one of a handful of experts to ask.

“G-4 means it’s the fourth production EA-18G,” he said. “The others are in testing and will eventually go to VAQ-129.

BLAINE BAHR will be Boeing’s field service representative manager. He will manage a team of field service representatives who will provide technical support for the aircraft at home and while deployed.

“With the Growler’s Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, digital data links and air-to-air missiles, it will have self-protection capability and be effective for target identification and prosecution. It will counter enemy air defenses using both reactive and pre-emptive jamming techniques, and with the speed and agility of a Super Hornet, it will also be effective in the escort role.”

The Growler Support Center will open by mid-May, in time for the official welcome for G4 on June 3. VAQ-129 training will begin immediately and the squadron is scheduled to be declared “Ready for Training” in February 2009.

The Growler Support Center will also serve as the home for other government and industry representatives. Members of the Hornet Industry Team (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Electric, in addition to Boeing) will reside in the GSC, as will an engineer from the Naval Air Systems Command, and a technician from Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Command.

Deliveries of the aircraft will continue until 2013. The Navy will purchase a total of 85 EA-18Gs, so the “Sound of Freedom” will continue to ring loud and clear from NAS Whidbey Island for many years to come, although possibly a little softer once the transition is complete. According to the Environmental Assessment signed out in 2005, in a side-by-side comparison, the Growler is slightly quieter than the Prowler in most flight regimens.

One can feel the energy and pride in his voice. “It’s been exciting,” Papadakis said.

The Growler’s coming, all right, and it’ll grow on you.

Greetings from Swasiland

JEAN SALLS of Oak Harbor and now of Swasiland recently wrote to MARCIA VAN DYKE, publisher of the Whidbey News-Times. She provided this update on her current adventure where it is fall in the capital city of Mbabane.

“HIV/AIDS is an overwhelming problem affecting the lives of many people of all ages. As a result, 31.3 percent of all children in Swaziland are classified as OVC’s (orphans and vulnerable children). Life expectancy is 31 years and that is the lowest anywhere in the world,” she wrote.

Salls arrived there on March 28 to spend six months working with Young Heroes, a non-profit organization that is partially funded by the Young Heroes Foundation in the U.S. It was started three years ago by a Peace Corps volunteer working with a local organization called NERCHA (National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS).

“Young Heroes serves AIDS orphans whose parents have both died, known in Swaziland as “double orphans.” The service strives to keep the children in their own villages and on their family homestead. They are supervised by a caregiver who may be a relative, or in some cases, a person unrelated to the children but known by village residents to be a responsible caring adult.

The caregiver goes to the local post office each month to pick up the equivalent of $20 and oversees the purchase of food for the family for the month. Some of the children are also given $10 per month to purchase school uniforms and other items of clothing. The food and clothing assistance is provided by sponsors from around the world.

“I am here to help Young Heroes start two new programs: one to test the children for HIV/AIDS and to refer them for treatment, the second is to pay school tuition in the amount that exceeds the government aid to orphans and other vulnerable children.

“My work is both challenging and rewarding. I am very happy to be here and hope that in some small way, I can make a contribution in the effort to combat this emergency.”