Defenders continue to support mission

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Byrl Engel
  • 60th Force Support Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Easter holiday and springtime represent the promise of rebirth and hope for the future. While one is easily distracted by all the negative events in today's media, we cannot overlook the positive things taking place to shape tomorrow. Our nation's military plays a vital role in shaping the future on the international stage as well as locally, and we should count our blessings, including the sacrifices and daily performance of our Airmen. 

Team Travis can be proud and thankful for the sacrifices and performance of its Defenders in the 60th Security Forces Squadron. On the international front, our defenders have regularly deployed on 179-day rotations in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom for most of the decade. In recent years, we also have taken on 365-day Joint Expeditionary Taskings alongside or in place of our U.S. 
Army brethren. Our former operations officer (Capt. Rick Martin) is leading such a unit, with eight other Travis defenders on the front lines in Baghdad performing a police transition training mission. 

Our K-9 handlers are also in high demand and defenders including Tech. Sgt. Brian Lowe, Staff Sgt. Gerson Henriquez and Staff Sgt. Kyle Lindsey recently performed intense front line missions in Iraq, including participation in special operations raids. Our unit deployment manager extraordinaire, Tech. Sgt. Dwight Valeros, will put his previous 365-day deployment experience in Baghdad to the test as he leads a small team headed to Afghanistan, performing a 270-day Provincial Reconstruction Team security mission. Meanwhile, Tech. Sgt. Robert Torres, Tech. Sgt. William Mehringer and Tech. Sgt. Paul Salter lead squads performing more standard security missions in Iraq and Kuwait and their superior performance already is being recognized by deployed leadership. 

Here at Travis, we are most fortunate to have leaders like Master Sgt. Basilio Giner, Master Sgt. Brian Wade, Master Sgt. Chris Reau, Tech. Sgt. Yves Daos and Tech. Sgt. Mahkelon Morris who lead our on-duty flights and patrolmen. New to the base this past year are civilian patrolmen, led by Officers Adrian McLain, Sean Carroll, James Newman, and David Trojanowski, who will provide greater continuity due to the high military deployment ops tempo. Our first-line defenders on the gates are led by Sergeants Ernest Jackson, Joseph Houston and Calvin Rouse. They not only prevent unauthorized access to our installation, but provide a first impression for newcomers to the base. We are well-represented by professionals like Archie "Guard of the Year" Headley, Stephon "Too Tall" Duberry, and David "That's a Good One" Milnes. 

A few other specialized areas in our Security Forces Squadron include the Raven section, Visitor Control Center, Combat Arms Training, and Maintenance and Training branches. Master Sgt. Dave "Smoke Yourself" Litz leads a well-trained Raven force of defenders who travel the world, providing aircraft security in higher threat areas or where local security is lacking. Raven team leader and member of the year, Tech. Sgt. William Rendall, and Senior Airman Jarrid Isaac-Wright, supported specialized missions for the 2008 Summer Olympics as well as Pakistan and the Philippines. Our Visitor Control Center, led by Jim Frazier and Esteban Plaza, assist hundreds of visitors daily to ensure authorized base access while Tech. Sgt. Scott Stevenson, Tech. Sgt. Nathan Roderick and Tech. Sgt. Dale Felton lead the base CATM section training thousands of Team Travis Airmen for weapons qualifications annually. 

Always innovative and full of initiative, Master Sgt. Ed Grant, Herb Parson, Doug Delcampo, Tech. Sgt. Michael Poplewko, Staff Sgt. Josh Perez and Staff Sgt. Louie Borrayo lead the Security Forces Training section which prepares Travis Airmen for deployment via Combat Skills courses. It bolsters base security with ready augmentee training and recently created a two-week advanced-skills course for our defenders designed to better prepare Airmen for combat and home station use-of-force situations. 

Finally, we are truly blessed to have three unique individuals supporting our unit and Team Travis as a whole. Our secretary, Rebecca Morse, constantly goes above and beyond her responsibilities to take care of our Airmen and serves as the unit backbone for all administrative activities and scheduling. We are also most fortunate to have the Travis Phoenix Spouse of the Year, Basil Thompson, who tirelessly ensures the families of our deployed Airmen are taken care of and helps organize unit and base events. 

Lastly, Travis defenders won the lottery in having the best honorary commander on base as Stan Davis's generosity is legendary and his heartfelt dedication to support our Airmen is simply unmatched. 

It would take 40 days and 40 nights to properly recognize all the other defenders beyond the 40 mentioned in this article. Please take 40 seconds out of your day to count your blessings and give thanks for all those who make sacrifices for something greater than themselves.