Faces of Recovery: Staff Sgt. Christina Curtis, NORAD, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FL, UNITED STATES

10.29.2018

Story by Airman 1st Class Kelly Walker 

1st Combat Camera Squadron         

I used to be stationed at the Air Battle Manager schoolhouse here from 2010 to 2017. This was my first duty station straight out of technical school as a command and control battle management operator. I moved to Peterson to work at North American Aerospace Defense Command. I heard the hurricane was coming, but being a local here so long, I thought it would calm down and be fine or it would dissipate or turn. I was really shocked that it actually hit Tyndall. When I saw the aerial video of the damage, I couldn’t believe it. I was trying to see my old dorms and my house on base. I knew right away that I wanted to help. Tyndall was home for seven years. When we arrived, we headed to tent city to check in and it was so weird because where tent city is, is where the NCO Academy track used to be. It was just a shock to see everything and it didn’t really hit me and I didn’t really get emotional until I went to the flightline side. It was like seeing a family member in the hospital.

With my team of nine from Peterson Air Force Base, we are members of the 1st Air Force recovery team call center. We are calling members getting their information and updating their status. We are tasked by Gen. Williams to get an overall sense of the how they are doing – how is your family, are your kids okay, can we assist you in any way to get you back up and running? We are all in this together. I love the calls when they tell me they were just helping someone else. Hearing the camaraderie and the way everyone is coming together, it is pretty amazing. We also have a task force we are sending out to people’s homes to help with things like tree and debris removal. We are trying to let people know they don’t have to contact someone in the local area, we have a team here on standby to help.

• Date Taken: 10.29.2018
• Date Posted: 10.30.2018 11:53
• Story ID: 298215
• Location: TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FL, US