Officials to determine course for Keesler Airmen

  • Published
  • By John Ingle and Senior Airman Jacque Lickteig
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Officials here should find out soon a more definitive future for the more than 1,200 Airmen trainees from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., who arrived here Sept. 1 after Hurricane Katrina hit their base.

Until a decision is made, Airmen will shadow permanent-party Airmen in the career field they are training in, said Senior Master Sgt. Terry Neuharth, superintendent of military training operations support at the 82nd Training Wing training operations office here. Airmen will perform duties they would accomplish at their operational base upon completion of training.

"Right now a lot (of Airmen) will be employed within their squadron and other agencies," Sergeant Neuharth said. "They will get (on-the-job training) until further training is determined."

Airmen who were training in the finance career field will work at the 82nd Comptroller Squadron while those who are training to be personnelists will work at the 82nd Mission Support Squadron.

This will continue until Air Education and Training Command's career-field managers make a final decision about how best to complete the Keesler Airmen's training, said Col. Lansen Conley, 82nd TRW vice commander.

There are Airmen in a few specific career fields who do not have a match here, such as air traffic controllers.

Sheppard, AETC and Air Force officials are weighing options for those Airmen.

Sergeant Neuharth said most of the Airmen really did not understand what they had been through until they had a chance to gather their thoughts and see the damage on television.

"They were very sheltered on what happened down there," he said. "A lot of them saw it on (television news), and it hit them then."

Most Airmen were able to get out of Keesler with most of their uniforms and civilian clothes. But Sergeant Neuharth said there were a few who did not have any more than the uniform they were wearing and another one in their duffel bag.

For those Airmen in need, squadron clothing recovery programs will help furnish uniforms.

"I think this is a great effort by Team Sheppard not only by providing the basics (such as) food, shelter and clothing, but by adopting them into the wing and providing military training,” Colonel Conley said.

As of Sept. 7, Sheppard's evacuee count was 1,032.

The vice commander said some of the evacuees who are in the Guard or Reserve, the ones who have graduated and the ones from the Army have gone back to their home units. Officials here expect to send more of them home throughout the next week.

The rest of the evacuees here will go through a schedule of activities, including the shadowing program, details and base cleanup duties until AETC leaders decide on how they will continue their training.

"AETC is trying to minimize the on-the-job training load on operational commands,” Colonel Conley said.

"Eventually, they'll reconstitute Keesler and all its training capability," he said. "On an interim basis, they'll relocate some of the Keesler training to other AETC bases." (Courtesy of AETC News Service)