Team Travis rallies to help family in need

  • Published
  • By Maj. Peter Lueck
  • Wing Operations Center director, 60th Air Mobility Wing
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Senior Air Force Leadership has designated July 2009 through July 2010 as the "Year of the Family." This concept of the "Air Force Family" means focusing on relationships both with your family - near or far, and with your fellow Airmen. As we reflect on families, the sign of any strong family is not how they interact when things are going well but how they support each other during difficult times.

Many Airmen and families are feeling the effects of stress with the high operations tempo of multiple deployments and long periods of separation from their support networks of friends, co-workers, or family members. A recent example of how the military is like a family occurred at Travis on a recent Thursday night in March.

Imagine you and your family are on a vacation far away from home, with a day to spend in Northern California. After spending a wonderful day exploring San Francisco, it is time to return to Travis to catch a "space-available" flight back to your home base. On your return trip, you approach a toll gate and the next thing you remember, you regain consciousness in a hospital room. An attendant informs you that you're at David Grant USAF Medical Center. You discover you have been in a severe automobile accident and your concern turns to your family. The good news is your spouse and two of your three children are in good health and will be released soon. The bad news is your eight-year-old daughter will need to remain overnight and is in a full body cast because of swelling in the spine.

Unfortunately, this is not fiction. The good news is you are on a military base and the nurse calls Command Post for assistance because it was after hours and many base functions were closed. Command Post is able to relay the information and, quickly, a chaplain is there to assist you. They have coordinated to get you and your family into billeting for the night. In addition, they work with the 60th Aerial Port Squadron to locate your luggage and have it delivered to billeting. Then a maintenance operations controller volunteers the use of a car seat to transport your three-year-old son safely to billeting. All of this is done without prompting, not because it is the easy thing to do, but because it is the right thing to do, and it exemplifies what families do for each other.

The efforts of everyone that night turned a potentially devastating situation for the affected family, into a relatively bearable one. These caring acts were done by people who expect no rewards for their efforts. Actions like these are expected in a family and illustrate how the military is exceptional at taking care of each other. Next time you hear "Year of the Air Force Family," remember the family is large and all inclusive and includes all Airmen both past and present.