Everyone should get into deployment rhythm

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Russell Kuck
  • 62nd Airlift Wing command chief master sergeant
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  This month we're welcoming home Airmen from their air and space expeditionary force five and six rotations, just about finished sending out the AEF seven and eight deployers and have a group of people almost in their training window for AEF nine and 10.

While this may just seem like a hectic time of year, I guarantee that it's not an anomaly -- this is our deployment battle rhythm.

Throughout the wing, we can expect to always have large numbers of Airmen deployed, as well as many Airmen preparing to leave and return home.

We can no longer disregard this pattern. If supervisors haven't done so already, it's time to put the necessary procedures and programs in place to ensure we're taking care of our battlefield Airmen.

I encourage every supervisor to build an excellent combat training program, establish measures to maintain contact with deployed members and their families and create a reintegration plan that goes beyond simply signing a member back in.

By ensuring our programs follow our Airmen from the start to the finish of their AEF rotations, we create well-trained deployers who can stay mission focused knowing their families are taken care of.

If we fail during any one of these steps, we put Airmen's lives and families at risk.

Gen. George Patton once said, "Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."

Our deployment battle rhythm definitely creates challenges for those leaving, as well as those staying behind.

By embracing our ops tempo and doing our best to prepare our Airmen for the challenges of a deployed environment, we can be proud each time an Airmen gears up, deploys and safely returns. Hooah!