Page 1 - Nellis Creech NTTR Bullseye June 17, 2016_Neat

Vol. 66 No. 24
June 17, 2016
823rd MXS, 66th RQS return from deployment
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kevin Tanenbaum By Senior Airman Rachel Loftis
Airmen from the 66th Rescue Squadron and 823rd Air Maintenance Squadron shake the 99th Air Base Wing Public A airs
hands as they disembark from a bus after returning from deployment at Nellis Air Force
Base, Nev., June 7. The deployment began approximately four months ago as members NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. —
of the 823rd MXS and 66th RQS traveled to Afghanistan. Approximately 80 Airmen from the 66th
Rescue Squadron and 823rd Maintenance
Squadron were welcomed home June 3
and 7 a er being deployed for approxi-
mately four months.
e Airmen were bused from the Nellis
AFB ightline to the 823rd MXS hangar
where families awaited their arrival.
“It’s nice (to be back),” said Michael
Mauro, 823rd Maintenance Squadron
Helicopter Maintenance Unit Officer
in-charge. “It’s hotter. It’s a good thing,
there’s a lot more freedom.”
e deployment began approximately
four months ago as members of the
823rd MXS and 66th RQS traveled to
Afghanistan.
e primary mission of the deploy-
ment was personnel recovery support
through all of Afghanistan.
“We were to be on standby in case of
the event that aircra went down and pi-
lots ejected and needed to be recovered,”
Mauro said. “We were also responsible
for helping out in certain situations where but when were in the ght we have each
Special Forces or other Soldiers were in
need of assistance and needed to be medi-
cally evacuated out.”
Communications Focal Point: New and Improved
By Airman 1st Class Kevin Tanenbaum Recently, the 99th CS has imple- known as the communications focal
mented a new strategy in order to ensure point.
99th Air Base Wing Public A airs that customer service on Nellis AFB
is readily available to all and that the “ e client service center here is the
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — missions of all base organizations can communications focal point for a lot of
Handling the load of over 11,000 Air- be accomplished. di erent issues, it’s the initial insertion
men’s communication on Nellis Air into the communications squadron,”
Force Base is a job that rests on the When opening a ticket with the 99th Master Sgt. Steven Sweeden, 99th CS sec-
shoulders of the 99th Communications CS, the rst thing that Airmen will en- tion chief client service center. “Similar
Squadron. counter is the client service center, also to Civil Engineering, when you call in a
Scan with Find us online at Homecoming
your
smartphone Nellis AFB & Nellis welcomes
To connect Nellis Bullseye returning Airmen
to our website
12 & 13
ough the squadrons made many
achievements during the deployment,
one instance stands out.
“So back in the end of March there
was an F-16 that crashed on take-o ,”
Mauro said. “ e pilot safely ejected and
landed outside of base so we were able to
pick him up and take him to the hospital
in about 10 minutes from getting noti-
ed of the incident.”
For Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Jones,
823rd MXS assistant squadron superin-
tendent, he relates his experience to that
of a re ghter.
“When you’re not actually ghting a
re you’re at the station. You’re making
sure the mindset is ready to go,” Jones
said. “Sometimes the guys might be in
the tness facility, sometimes the guys
might be eating, watching television
and when that bell is rung for us to get
that aircra ready to go, times in battle
gets tough.
“When you deploy all you have is
each other. Teamwork is very important
and just giving each other support on a
day-to-day basis. With new technology,
being able to do things like call home,
Skype, video Skype it de nitely helps
other, we have to look out for each other
and that’s all I know.”
trouble ticket for your air condition be-
ing out, you don’t call directly back to the
AC shop, you call the focal point. at’s
what we focus on here.”
In the past, the communications
focal point was only composed of one
Air Force Specialty Code handling the
__________ See FOCAL, on page 3
CONTENTS
Commentary ............................ 2
Environmental ..................... 5-7
Health & Wellness .............. 15
Nellis Living ............................ 17