934th Airmen start new year with deployment

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Cherish Chavez
  • 934th Airlift Wing
Airmen and family members of the 934th Airlift Wing said “see you later” to nearly 150 Reservists during a deployment ceremony Jan. 8. The Airmen deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

“The mission is going to be mainly airlift,” said Maj. Chris Rieland, chief pilot of the 96th Airlift Squadron and mission commander for the trip. “So taking troops and cargo into theater all over the Middle East and all over Africa. It’s kind of a mixed bag of locations we’re going to.”
He said there would also be potential for some airdrops.

“On our last deployment we got some airdrops,” he said. “We always like that, it makes it a little more exciting.”

Rieland wasn’t the only one who was excited about the deployment. Senior Airman Gretta Bieths, a loadmaster with 96 AS, was eager to get out on her first deployment.

“I’m excited,” said Bieths. “It’ll be a new experience. I love new experiences and seeing new places.” She said she is most looking forward to getting out of this cold weather.

For Airmen like Tech. Sgt. Collin Kneubuhler, a flight engineer with 96 AS, it was a little harder to be excited. Though this will be Kneubuhler’s fourth deployment and he thinks they get easier each time, this time the new father had to leave behind his four-month-old son.

“I’m glad I’m going again,” Kneubuhler said, “but I’m ready to be back already.”

Lt. Col. Casey Dodds, commander of the 96 AS, said, “It’s harder for a lot of the younger folks that have small kids at home, or new babies, or the wife’s pregnant and gonna go through the whole pregnancy and have the baby right when they get back.”

He said the leadership going on the deployment is there to give the Airmen whatever support they need, and that there are people here to give the families that same support.

”We have a wonderful key supporters organization at the 934th, and each unit has a really strong key supporter key spouse.,” Dodd said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job showing their support not only to the members that are deploying, but also for the family members that are staying behind.”

The Key Supporters program is just one of many resources available to deploying Airmen and their families. To read about more, you can visit: http://www.minneapolis.afrc.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/8895/Article/1028440/many-resourc es-available-for-deployers.aspx.

A few of Minnesota’s elected officials were also present at yesterday’s deployment ceremony to see the Airmen off and offer their support.

Senator Al Franken told a story about a USO tour he went on in Kabul in 2006. He said after the show he went to a call room to call his wife. He saw a list of call rules on the wall with rules such, “Always say I love you to start the conversation,” and “Always explain if you are tired and annoyed.” He said after hearing an argument between a woman who was deployed and her loved one back home, he realized the pressure associated with deployments.

“It made me really understand the sacrifice that the families pay,” Franken said. “I just want to thank you all for your service to our country, to our freedom, to our way of life, and that includes everybody in this hangar. Thank you so much.”

Congresswoman Betty McCollum told the deploying Airmen how proud she was of them for their military service and for being able to juggle family and military obligations along with responsibilities to employers.

McCollum said, “Even though you are going to be going someplace much warmer than it is outside here today, there’s nothing warmer than the love of your family, your friends, and your countrymen, and especially your fellow Vikings here in Minnesota.”

Representative Tom Emmer spoke of the importance of the family members’ role.

To the Airmen he said, “While you go overseas to do a mission for the next few months, and you’re going to be a great team and you’re going to represent this state, this base, our country very well, this mission over here is just as important.”

To the family members he added, “While your loved ones are over there doing this important mission, accomplishing great things for this country, you’re going to be right here doing the same thing.”

Though Senator Amy Klobuchar couldn’t be at the ceremony in person, she wrote a letter to the Airmen.

“By answering your country’s call to service, you are following in the footsteps of generations of patriotic citizen soldiers who left their families, friends and employment behind to serve our country,” Klobuchar wrote. “Those who have served helped create and protect the great nation

that we live in today, and now your courage and dedication to the country will ensure we will continue to be strong for generations to come.”

The 934 AW is proud of the sacrifices the deploying Airmen make as well as those of the family members who stayed behind. As everyone does their part to continue the mission, we remember it is not “goodbye,” but “see you soon.”