Not many people would raise their right hand and promise to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Those that do sign on that dotted line, sign with the knowledge and acceptance of the very real possibility that they will have to keep that oath with their lives. That paralyzing fear of deployment, the bloodshed that is expected, having to take lives, having their own lives taken, stops many people from enlisting.
According to an article titled Demographics of the U.S. Military, 2.2 million men and women make up the active component in all of the military branches (Army, Navy, Marines, and the Air Force). That makes the percentage of active duty U.S. military personnel just under 1% of the American population.
Those that do enlist indeed sacrifice for the country they love and would die for their country. They understand that their life is no longer their own and will have to leave the comforts of home for the harsh extremes of deployment.
The U.S. Air Force Reservesis slightly different than active duty in the part that instead of devoting their entire time to the military, they are more flexible to a civilian lifestyle outside of the military.
For SrA Harun Abdul-Ali, deployment life is no stranger to him. Abdul-Ali first enlisted in the United States Marines for 6 ½ years. He transitioned to the Air Force Reserves and has currently been serving for 7 years. Abdul-Ali is now on his 3rddeployment, with his second stint in Kuwait.
SrA Josh Huber is currently going on 6 years as a Security Forces Member. In the civilian side, Huber works as a new police officer for Dayton, Ohio. Huber just completed his one year probationary period as an officer.
“We got really lucky with leadership,” Huber says when asked how he is adapting to deployment life. Having good leadership is essential to building morale on flight. With this rotation of new personnel, leadership has stepped up to the plate for their troops that are on the ground. They coordinate activities to do as a unit such as wine and paint night and functional fitness sessions every Wednesday and Saturday.
Huber, along with many of the deployed members in Kuwait, are often found in the base gym keeping up with their fitness as well as ensuring they are meeting the fitness standards the military requires of them. “I spend most of my time working out, be it functional, running or weights,” said Huber.
Joshua McCrabb, Security Forces reservist and police officer with the Village of Commercial Point, says, “I miss the food most.”
For many of the airmen currently deployed in the AOR, deployments are what the individual makes of it. There is the job that they set out to do, whether it is finance, postal services, food services, or security forces (military police), the mission is the same. The end goal is the same, to get back home to their friends and family.
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