MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Misawa’s Jim Fogarty has been named the best anti-terrorism program manager in the Air Force — and will now compete against the best in the Defense Department.

A retired Air Force security forces chief master sergeant, Fogarty said Misawa has also earned top honors in the installation category of the Pacific Air Forces competition.

He thinks several factors helped earn the awards, including the fact that the U.S. Air Force shares the base with its Japanese counterparts and the Misawa City civilian airport shares the runway.

He said the recent addition of the Defense Biometric Identification System at Misawa — and work with the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure new buildings follow the DOD guidelines for anti-terrorism measures — also helped.

Iwakuni youth soccer sign-ups start in JulySign-up for youth soccer camp at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni will be July 1-25, according to Marine Corps Community Services.

The 2009 MCCS Semper Fit and MWSS-171 Youth Soccer Camp is for ages 5-15 and is limited to the first 85 participants who sign up.

Those interested should go to the Iron Works Gym front desk. The camp fee is $25 for the first child, $20 for the second and $15 for all additional children.

The camp will be held July 27-31 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Penny Lake Field No 1.

Indoor pool at Iwakuni to close for workThe Iron Works Gym indoor pool at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni will close from July to October for work, Marine Corps Community Services reported.

The air station will renovate heat exchangers and repair floor tiles, MCCS said.

The air station’s two outdoor pools will remain open.

For more information, call the Aquatics Office at DSN 253-4966.

Post office asks for ‘You’ve Got Mail’ helpMISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Postal officials would like every base resident registered in the “You’ve Got Mail” program, instituted earlier this year to help the mail flow.

About 300 customers are registered, and all incoming personnel arriving as part of the annual summer influx are handed the paperwork when they first visit the post office.

When a box arrives at the post office, it’s scanned as part of a tracking process, and those registered in the database are automatically sent an e-mail.

The result, said customer service representative Senior Airman Freddie Hawkins, is happier customers and more shelf space since “boxes aren’t sitting around for days.”