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McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn. (Aug 28, 2019) – Air National Guard members from across the state of Tennessee recently gathered at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base to conduct personnel training.
The PERSCO, or Personnel Support for Contingency Operations, home station readiness training, was coordinated locally by Senior Master Sgt. Justin Small, 134th personnel superintendent.
“I, along with the other superintendents at the 118th Wing, 164th Airlift Wing, and our leadership at Joint Force Headquarters, have wanted to make it happen for a long time,” Small said. “We all have different missions and it was a good way for us to organize, talk about how our missions are different, and how we would execute downrange together, if we deployed together.”
The purpose of the training was to help prepare personnel Airmen from across the state to provide the best service to Airmen in any environment, but in particular those lacking in the comforts of home.
“Our overall goal was to execute personnel operations in a bare-base environment,” said Small. “We’ve gotten really good at deploying somewhere and doing our job in an established environment, but now we’re looking to get equally good at doing the same job in a location that is not established.”
Groups of Airmen from Memphis and Nashville joined the local personnel team for the training, which lasted four days here at McGhee Tyson ANGB.
“The experience here was absolutely phenomenal,” said Senior Master Sgt. Christie Smiley, NCOIC officer action manager from Tennessee Joint Force Headquarters. “We had great instructors with a lot of education on the real-time mission we have, not only for overseas but also for our state mission. It allowed a lot of team-building and networking across the state, and that is crucial for those of us from Joint Force Headquarters. We are in a non-deployable position, so it allowed my Airmen to get out and be able to participate with the wings and get a better understanding of different aspects of the job.”
Airman 1st Class Dominic Cooper from the 118th Wing said he appreciated the training opportunity.
“It was a great experience,” Cooper said, “I got a lot of hands-on knowledge that I can apply in my Air Force career.”
Staff Sgt. Kelesha Hibbler, human resource office remote from the 164th Airlift Wing, agreed that it was a great experience for everyone involved.
“It’s always a good opportunity for all the units in the state to come together,” Hibbler said, "but it was especially beneficial for those of us who have not deployed. In the event we do get tasked I definitely feel better prepared for deployment after this training.”
Sgt. Small said he plans to continue training with the other Tennessee Air National Guard wings to help facilitate greater operations across the state.
“We’re tentatively planning a get-together in January for day-to-day operations,” said Small, “but we’re definitely going to do this training again as well.”
The PERSCO training was conducted in the newly constructed McKinley Hall facility, a part of the Training and Education Center campus here on McGhee Tyson ANGB.
| Date Taken: | 09.06.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2019 12:30 |
| Story ID: | 357405 |
| Location: | KNOXVILLE, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tennessee Airmen train for contingency operations, by TSgt Teri Eicher, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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