Page 11 - Desert Lightning News 11-6-15

Desert Lightning News November 6, 2015 11

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Airmen: Are you taking care of them?

Commentary by Master Sgt. Marc Sellers how to buy groceries and the list just goes on and on. So you see it is

56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron because of this that when the gentleman stated he knew we would take

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Many years ago I was just start- care of his son that I immediately began to worry. Will we? Are we? In
ing out as a young flight chief and senior NCO. I had traveled back east my Flight, the answer was no, I didn’t feel that we were doing enough.
to attend the Maintenance Production Superintendent Course and was
headed back home. After I dropped off my rental car I hopped on the Upon my return I immediately changed how we operated. We were
bus that would take me back to the terminal. It is this exact moment in averaging three to four new Airmen every month. We established a
time how I viewed our Airmen changed forever. checklist that covered everything from how to pay your bills online to
how to do laundry. If they didn’t have a car we made sure that they got
As I boarded the bus a gentleman in the far back corner struck up a everywhere they needed to go. In fact, to steal a term from the Navy, it
conversation with me. (I was in uniform) He said, “Air Force, hey my was all hands on deck. What we had discovered was shocking.
son leaves for basic training tomorrow.” So I began to talk with him and
he said something to me that really struck a chord, he said, “I am glad he The reality was this, far more of our Airmen than we thought were
went into the Air Force instead of going off to college, as I know the Air barely getting by. One Airman explained to us that she slept in her dorm
room for three nights with no sheets, blankets or pillows. She arrived

Force will take care of him.” It was at that very moment in time, the hair on a Friday that just happened to be during a four-day weekend. Her
sponsor picked her up and dropped her off at the dorm and left her with
stoodup on the back of my neck.
Many people will tell you that leading and parenting go hand in the “call me if you need anything” statement. As far as she was con-
hand. I tend to agree to some extent, however, I will say that if you cerned, this was normal. This situation should never be normal.
have a teenager in the house you may tend to understand that genera- We also started another process, when Airmen under the age of
tion a little bit better than others. My son had just turned 18 and was 21 processed through my office, I got their parents phone numbers
getting ready to head off to his fathers beloved Boise State University. and addresses. Each one them received a call and a letter from me,

We were quite anxious for him as he was leaving home and we weren’t so that they knew who I was and they knew how to contact me in the

really sure as parents just how prepared we had gotten him...either event of an emergency. As it turns out, in the span of two years I was

way he was leaving. contacted at least 50 times. Parents were eternally grateful to have an

My wife and I had many conversations that my son never knew took avenue to reach out to when Airman Doe doesn’t answer his phone

place. Can he do laundry, can he cook, does he know how to pay his bills for days on end.

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