Air Force life
   by Duane A

As a former Chief of services and First Sergeant. I observed many instances of how we take care of our people in the USAF. Believe me, we set the standard.

An excellent example happened over 20 years ago. I was stationed at a semi-remote base in north central Germany. This assignment personified the Air Force program of "people taking care of people". During my tour of duty, the base converted from an unaccompanied tour to an accompanied tour of duty. As a result we opened up 100 base housing units and a small community center with all the basic facilities.

The sponsorship program in the USAF has always been a big deal. But at this base we took it to the next level. Newly assigned personnel would either arrive at Frankfurt or Amsterdam Intl. airport, then the sponsor would pick up the family and bring them to our base, and put them in a German hotel, until permanent housing could be obtained.

I vividly remember a program that was instituted by our First Sergeant. A newly assigned family was scheduled to arrive in country a few days before Christmas. With the cooperation of several base agencies, we assigned them to base housing, obtained a housing loaner kit, and even purchased a Christmas tree and a few small presents, and decorated the home for Christmas.

Can you imagine the shock on the family's face when they were picked up at the airport and then brought into a home already set up for Christmas. Rather than spending the holidays in a German hotel. Needless to say that family got their new assignment off to a positive start. To me, this is just an example of how Air Force personnel take care of one another.