Thanks, Airmen, for all you do

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Derrick Harrison
  • 621st Air Mobility Advisory Group
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Sometimes, we do not fully appreciate the work our Airmen do until we are immersed in their world. 

I am living proof of that statement because I have operated on the periphery of mobility operations for a majority of my career.  In the beginning, when the Air Force created Airman 1st Class Harrison, interaction with mobility Airmen was limited to the occasional exercise, processing through a deployment line or coming in on the weekend to load an aircraft as an additional duty.  Of course, there was always a loadmaster there making sure we did not damage the plane while pushing pallets into place. 

As an operations intelligence analyst, my focus always has been on "red forces" and how they could hinder our operations.  Sure, we went to the Air Mobility Division in the Air Operations Center and passed them threat tippers on enemy activity, but we never fully understood how their mission worked. 

Our idea of mobility was loading cargo and/or passengers onto a transport aircraft and going from point A to point B.  Not once did we think about the planning that went into making the missions successful. 

Fast forward to 2012 and I had the honor to participate in Exercise Austere Challenge where mobility played a significant role in success or failure of the mission.  Maybe this was the first time I realized just how important mobility was to all U.S. services and our partner nations. 

Now as I think back, hindsight is 20/20 - more like 20 years of clarity - and it is very clear how important mobility Air Force is to the overall mission.  I honestly think the light bulb was there, but the switch had to be flipped because I suffered alongside some loadmasters in Survival School and that should have given me my first clue as to how the Air Force views mobility. 

We, as a service, are eternally grateful for what you do and will continue to do while serving in the greatest Air Force in the world.  The men and women working day to day in mobility makes everything look easy to an outsider, but we all know there are a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind the personnel making it to the area of responsibility before the redeployment date or materiel making it to an austere outpost to provide critical supplies.

So, for the Airmen who are continuously deployed or temporary duty and can't give families much notice other than to say "I'll try to call you when I can," the Airmen who go to places most of us could not find on a map, the Airmen who work in suboptimal conditions to make sure planes are airworthy and to the families who stand strong in the face of uncertainty,  I, along with other leaders in this great Air Force of ours, can never thank you enough for going above and beyond to complete the mission. 

Today's crises are not clearly defined and conflicts cannot be accurately predicted, but we know when the time is right and we have to exercise our core competency of rapid global mobility, our Airmen will answer the call to support national objectives. We thank you for the sacrifices you make to support our Airmen because without everything coming together succinctly, the mission fails.