Operation Hero 'deploys' Airmen's children

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Robert Zoellner
  • 33rd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  Today’s servicemember has a good understanding of what a deployment is, how it goes and what to do. But sometimes family members, especially the children, do not understand what is happening or why their mom or dad has to go.

Children of 33rd Fighter Wing Airmen recently got a taste of what their parents have to go through when they deploy and live in a deployed environment.

Operation Hero "deployed" children to better familiarize them with what their parents have to do when they are called upon to deploy.

“The parents volunteer; the kids don’t volunteer,” said Col. Brett Williams, 33rd FW commander. “We need the support of the kids just as much as we do the spouses. It’s important, and we hope we gave them the opportunity to see a little about what their parents do and where they go.”

The children were issued badges and identification tags and had to use these items to positively identify themselves during the deployment to enter different "zones."

Six zones were set up, and after a slide presentation, the children were divided into groups and sent to different zones.

The zones featured an explosive ordinance disposal robot demonstration, a military working dog demonstration, a "tent city" living area, chemical warfare equipment, a firetruck and firefighters and an F-15 Eagle display.

The zones gave the children a chance to get up close and personal with the things their parents see and or do during deployments.

Edwin Santos Jr., son of Tech. Sgt. Edwin Santos who is assigned to the 33rd Maintenance Operations Squadron, said he liked the K-9 demonstration.

“They were looking for bombs and things that could hurt other people,” he said. He said he also liked the tent area where he got to taste a Meal Ready to Eat and see how his dad might live in a deployed environment. Edwin said it looked like camping, but “a little more dangerous.”

“You can always see the anxiety and that they really don’t understand or fully comprehend what’s going on,” Sergeant Santos said. “When I heard about (Operation Hero), I saw the opportunity to bring him out and give him a taste of what it is that I’m going to go through, the process that we go through, the whole nine yards.”

Jennifer LaBorde, 15 year old sister of Staff Sgt. Amanda Patrick who is a training manager assigned to the 33rd MXOS, said she didn’t know much about her sister's job.

“All I knew is that she is a training manager,” Jennifer said. “I came here, and I saw how her life would be if she got deployed. I think I learned the most from the MREs and the tents because I had never really seen a cot before. I got to see the netting they have to use for protection and I learned about the living quarters."

Jennifer also got to taste a cheese tortellini MRE.

“I’d seen MREs before, but I’ve never made one, and temperature-wise, it was good; otherwise, it was not up to par,” she said.

Colonel Williams said Operation Hero may not make it any easier for the children to be without their parents, but maybe they will understand a little bit more about a deployment.

“We’ve been doing this at Langley for about four years,” said Master Sgt. Victoria Edmundson, from the 1st Mission Support Squadron at Langley AFB, Va. She brought her experience here to help kick off what officials said is sure to be an annual event.

“(Organizers) really had a good handle on this when I got here,” she said.

Operation Hero ended in the hangar with a pizza party for everyone. Although there were plenty of MREs to go around, the cheese pizza seemed to be the preferred choice.