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Intramural softball season begins at Nellis
By Senior Airman Jake Carter
99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. —
On March 14, Nellis AFB kicked off
the intramural softball season where
14 teams from around the base will
compete to see who can call themselves
the champions.
Softball games, which are held Mon-
day through Thursday from 5:30 to
7:30 p.m., are meant to build goodwill
between the units.
“It’s all about comradery, having fun
and having a little bit of competition,”
said Kent Terrillion, 99th Force Support
Squadron Warrior Fitness Center sports
director. “Sometimes seeing someone
who is a part of your squadron that you
don’t work with on a day to day basis
will bring that comradery together.”
With the Warrior Fitness Center hop-
ing that Airmen can have fun playing
softball, the intramural league is also
used as a way to build on the four pillars
of comprehensive fitness.
“The main point is to provide a
feasible outlet for Airmen and their
families to strengthen their four pillars
of comprehensive fitness,” said Staff
Sgt. Troy Lee, 99th FSS Warrior Fitness
Center NCO in charge of intramural
sports. “Airmen hope to take away a
healthier atmosphere, both physically
and mentally. The dynamic of teams al-
lows for a fun, competitive environment
that gets teams interacting within and
outside their units.”
While some units can fully man a
softball team, members of smaller units
who can’t man a full roster, are able to
Road to readiness:
UDMs prepare Airmen for deployment
By Airman 1st Class Kristan Campbell
432nd Wing/ 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs status current to ensuring Airmen are
CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. —
Protecting the nation’s freedom is more
than a job—it’s a way of life. For Airmen
slated to travel downrange, their lifeline
to safeguarding this freedom lies with
the unit deployment manager (UDM).
“Every unit has a unit deployment
manager,” said Tech. Sgt. Jeremiah, 43nd
Wing/ 432nd Group UDM. “UDMs will
coordinate with their leadership to fill
deployment requirements, and keep up
with readiness of the members within
their unit.”
Ensuring Airmen and cargo are ready
to go at a moment’s notice, UDMs are
the men and women in the background
News
enter a player’s pool where they can
also participate in the softball season,
but will need to work with their unit’s
sports representative.
“I think that one of our important
contributors to a successful intramural
league is the unit’s sports representa-
tive,” said Terrillion. “They are the
contact from the Warrior Fitness Center
to the unit to get information out about
the league and will request coaches and
players from their units.”
With the season underway, Terrillion
says that there are incentives for finish- teams where they will compete in
ing first, as well as finishing runner-up. downtown Las Vegas and they also play
“When the season ends, we will do
that produce deployment-ready person-
nel. From keeping individual mobility
trained for the duty at hand, they are the ficult to coordinate with units located
experts who allow Airmen to be ready
to go any time, any place.
According to Jeremiah, a UDM is
invaluable to the unit. Resources avail-
able for deployment are measured and
managed using different databases and
show factors such as personnel readi-
ness, cargo data and, if any, discrepan-
cies of personnel or assigned materials.
UDMs also report the status of
manning and readiness to leadership,
schedule annual medical and dental
exams for members within the unit, and
arrange additional training specific to
the deployment needs.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jake Carter A ball and glove lay
a single elimination tournament at
the end of the season and we will have
trophies for the championship team as
well as for the runner-ups,” said Ter-
rillion. “Also, we will have t-shirts for pass along the word so we can have a
both teams as well.”
Outside of an intramural sports
league, Nellis AFB is pushing to have a
varsity softball team, in hopes of play-
ing with other military installations
and teams in downtown Las Vegas.
“We work with Nellis intramural
sports, and we have varsity sports
against other military installations,”
“There’s a lot more that goes into
deployment readiness than you might
think,” said Jeremiah. “It can be dif-
downrange because they are on a dif-
ferent time zone, so I have to come
into work earlier to communicate with
them.”
Since getting deployment-ready
Airmen out the door is no easy task,
UDMs are usually selected for the
duty based on individual merits and
qualifications. Some units assign UDM
responsibilities as a full-time UDM,
while others, such as Jeremiah, are
assigned the responsibilities as an ad-
ditional duty.
“While leaning on your UDM is ex-
pected, Airmen should try to keep up-
5March 25, 2016
Facebook.com/NellisBullseye
ready on a softball
field at Nellis Air
Force Base, Nev.,
March 22. On March
14, Nellis AFB kicked
off the intramural
softball season
where 14 teams
from around the
base will compete
to see who can call
themselves the
champions. Airmen
who are interested
in playing during
the intramural
season, contact
the unit sports
representative or
the Warrior Fitness
Center at 702-652-
4891.
said Terrillion. “We have a varsity
softball head coach right now who is
looking for players, so we are hoping
the units sports representatives will
varsity team.”
With the season beginning in the
middle of March, the league is planned
to be finished during May before the
summer temperatures get to hot to play.
For more information about the
varsity softball team or for Airmen
who are interested in playing during
the intramural season, contact the unit
sports representative or the Warrior
Fitness Center at 702-652-4891.
to-date on their fitness and training,”
Jeremiah said. “I can’t stress enough
how important it is to be up to date
on computer based training and basic
deployment-readiness training. It’s my
responsibility to make sure Airmen are
prepared to be sent downrange.”
Jeremiah added that although it can
be hard work, he is able to go home
after a long work day and feel rewarded
for in knowing he enabled the wing to
be deployment ready.
“If I could, I would do this job for
the rest of my time in the Air Force,”
said Jeremiah. “I like the amount of
time and effort I have put into making
sure that our Airmen are ready to go.
Knowing that I’m enabling the RPA
enterprise is amazing.”