Great Falls native deploys, keeps Bagram safe

Photo By Master Sgt. Sara Keller | Staff Sgt. Melissa McCammon, an airman with the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, recently deployed from the 20th SFS, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

02.17.2012

Story by Staff Sgt. Sara Keller 

United States Air Forces Central     

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Staff Sgt. Melissa McCammon, an airman with the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, recently deployed from the 20th SFS, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

McCammon, a Great Falls, S.C., native, deployed to work with an elite group of security forces airmen with the 455th ESFS, a quick reaction team known as the “Reapers.”

Several times a week, Sullivan and members of his team travel outside the wire to deter terrorist activity and build working relationships with the local populace.

“Our mission is to defend the airfield outside the wire through early detection, deterrence, response, reconnaissance and counter insurgency, said Master Sgt. Troy Taylor, NCO in charge for the Reapers. “To complete these missions, Reaper teams are comprised of dismounted patrol members, counter sniper teams and surveillance teams that have access to unmanned air assets.”

As a member of the Reaper team, it’s McCammon’s responsibility to maintain her health and skills and keep others sharp to be able to perform all missions and duties that the team may encounter.

As a Reaper, airmen on the team have many responsibilities, but certain parts of their mission are what really make them enjoy their job everyday.

“It’s our job to go outside the wire and try to keep insurgents further and further away from the airfield,” said McCammon. “I like that we get to go out and make a difference.

“I think that it all starts with the children here,” she continued. “If we give them a good impression of us as Americans, we can plant that seed now and let it cultivate as they grow older; and when they are adults they will remember us as being kind and helpful.”

This is McCammon’s third deployment and she has been serving in the U.S. Air Force for eight years.

• Date Taken: 02.17.2012
• Date Posted: 02.17.2012 07:20
• Story ID: 83999
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF