Fresh eyes focused on deployment

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stacia Zachary
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. (AFPN) --  It has been said by old hats in the Air Force that the service is getting younger by the day. While this may not actually be the case, there is a group of Airmen who are new to both the Air Force and deployments. But they are ready to gain experience in their career fields and in the mission abroad aiding in the war on terrorism.

For Senior Airman Elizabeth Larson, a 43rd Comptroller Squadron finance technician here, the experience her deployment to Southwest Asia offers is exactly that -- another sector of the Air Force she has yet to familiarize herself with and another part of her job she has yet to learn.

“I didn’t join the Air Force for any one reason; but to experience all (aspects) of the Air Force,” said Airman Larson, who is 32 months into her military career. “Although I will still be working in finance (while deployed), I will be working in much different conditions and with different (operating procedures). I will also handle foreign currency as a cashier.”

As for the deployment itself, Airman Larson can best be described as enthusiastic about her upcoming tour. When the office first received word of a deployments tasking with four slots open, the 43rd CPTS had no trouble filling one of them.

“I wanted to go,” she said. “They asked for volunteers and I was all over it.”

Airman Larson’s excitement over the prospect of deploying for the first time does not diminish her concern over the timing of the deployment.

“Being gone for the holidays has to be the hardest part of getting ready to leave,” she said. “I am going to miss all the big family holidays.”

Since her father had been in the service, Airman Larson was an Army brat born in Michigan but raised in North Carolina. Her first assignment was at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. -- only six hours from her home and family. Recently, the financier had a permanent change in duty station here, just miles from her parent’s doorstep.

After leaving the nest to join the Air Force, Airman Larson has remained within driving distance of her family. However, along with her deployment, her mother also will deal with the enlistment of both of her siblings -- her sister will cross into the blue while her brother is signing up with the Army.

“It’s going to be really difficult on my mother because for the first time she will not have any of her children around,” she said. “That’s the most difficult part of deploying -- always wondering how my mom is handling our absence and worrying about her.”

These worries are echoed by others also set to deploy during the holidays. Although the concern for those left behind is usually a common theme among Airmen, the base has set up deployment procedures to ensure that those concerns do not multiply while preparing to leave for the desert.

Deployment outprocessing routines help Airmen pack up without too much hassle.

“The base outlets have been very good about getting me prepared,” Airman Larson said. “Going through the checklists made it so much easier than I expected, and the legal office sent me an e-mail almost immediately after being officially tasked telling me what I needed to do there.”

With Airman Larson all prepared to go and final goodbyes yet to be said, she puts her obligation to deploy into perspective.

“It will be hard to deploy and be gone from my family during the holidays, but it’s important to me to help out and do my part,” she said.