117th Air Refueling Wing Operates Behind the Scenes

Photo By Cpl. Justin Humphreys | Tech Sgt. Matthew Stambaugh, first cook with the 117th Air Refueling Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, dates sandwiches his line cooks made for service members participating in the Mississippi Air National Guard’s Southern Strike Exercise 2018, Oct. 24, 2017, at Gulfport’s Combat Readiness Training Center – Battlefield Airmen Center. The operation is a joint force training exercise that allows participants the opportunity to build partnerships and maintain combat readiness for future missions. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Cpl. Justin Humphreys)  

COMBAT READINESS TRAINING CENTER - BATTLEFIELD AIRMEN CENTER, MS, UNITED STATES

10.24.2017

Story by Spc. Justin Humphreys 

102d Public Affairs Detachment

GULFPORT, Miss. – Airmen of the 117th Air Refueling Wing, Alabama Air National Guard, work around the clock to check in service members into the Combat Readiness Training Center – Battlefield Airmen Center in Gulfport, Mississippi as the Mississippi Air National Guard’s Southern Strike Exercise 2018 kicks off.

At Southern Strike, the 117th’s primary responsibilities are to keep accountability of all participating service members and provide them with food and proper shelter.

“The 117th has our PERSCO team, which is our personnel contingency operation team, and we also have our services team here,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Jerica Bice, a personnelist of the 117th ARW. “Our PERSCO team is doing accountability for all people participating with Southern Strike, and our services team is doing lodging and food.”

CRTC-BAC chose the wing to provide accountability because of their diverse abilities and success earlier in the year during another training operation.
“We had participated in an exercise earlier in the year and they were excited about our talent, and that’s why they picked us to come back for this operation,” said 1st Sgt. Stentsen Ellenburg, the 1st Sgt. of the 117th.

Accountability is important for the exercise because keeping track of service members is a necessity during deployments.

“For exercise purposes, accountability is important because, if this was an actual deployment or contingency operation, you would want to know where your people are at all times,” said Bice.

The unit is also in charge of providing meals three times a day for service members participating in Southern Strike.

“We’re approximately feeding about 150 per meal, so you average out somewhere around 450 to 500 per day,” said Tech Sgt. Matthew Stambaugh, a first cook of the 117th. “That’s the low numbers right now, as people come in, it’s projected to get up to about 300 per meal.”

Only about half a dozen of Airmen work in the kitchen, and they stay busy from the time they prepare breakfast for the participants to the time they clean up after supper.

“We’re utilizing the time that we have from breakfast to lunch. In a two-hour time frame, we cook for possibly 300 people with a five-man crew, sometimes four, so the time constraints are definitely something we’re having to work with,” said Stambaugh.

Airmen of the 117th working in the dining facility must collaborate with the personnel team for accurate numbers of service members to feed.
“PERSCO has a general number of how many people are supposed to be here for the exercise,” said Stambaugh. “We have our guidelines on what percentage we’re supposed to supply a hot meal for, and then there is the boxed lunches that are supposed to be taken out to the flight line. All those numbers are coordinated through PERSCO.”

The 117th is dedicated to keeping track of Soldiers and making sure they’re happy and healthy during Southern Strike.

“Food service-wise, our goal is to put out a great product at great timing so it doesn’t impact the length of the mission and it makes things flow a little bit better,” said Stambaugh.

• Date Taken: 10.24.2017
• Date Posted: 10.24.2017 23:58
• Story ID: 252884
• Location: COMBAT READINESS TRAINING CENTER - BATTLEFIELD AIRMEN CENTER, MS, US
• Hometown: BIRMINGHAM, AL, US