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375th LRS sends off next round of deployees

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Gwendalyn Smith
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  

Scott Air Force Base just said goodbye to another round of deployers this week under one of the larger “deployment bands” that hit the base.

“This band is known as our ‘big hit’ deployment window and logistics planners coordinated several instances where groups of 10 or more personnel were departing Scott AFB on the same day,” said Stephen Hendren, Installation Deployment Officer.

Thanks to the efforts of the 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron, the process has been streamlined for the larger groups by mass transporting members to the regional airport, thus saving money, resources, and time. As another benefit, this process also gives leadership the opportunity to be with the family members as they personally send-off members of their team.

Leading that effort was Col. Laura Lenderman, 375th Air Mobility Wing commander, who spoke to nearly 40 deployers and their families during one of several send-offs.

“I want to thank all the families, friends, unit deployment managers, coworkers, supervisors, chiefs and commanders who are here today to say goodbye to our deployers,” said Lenderman. “It’s a hard time for families, but it’s an important time for our nation, so thank you for your sacrifice and support of your loved ones going overseas. To those deployers, thank you for what you are about to go do. I know you’re ready, excited, and prepared.”

Because their loved ones will be gone for months at a time, the deployment of a family member can be a very emotional and difficult time for many families.

“I went to the most recent send off, and for me it really hits home that these are people. These aren’t numbers,” said 2nd Lt. Ryan Janusick, LRS officer in charge of plans and integration section. “So often in our job, and similar jobs as well, you boil it down to numbers, facts, and statistics. So when you see these groups together you see the humanity behind the numbers. That’s why it’s important that we do things in a smart, timely, and professional manner.”

LRS identifies, validates, and distributes over 800 deployment taskings per year and coordinates with other deployment agencies across the installation to ensure that personnel are notified, eligible, trained, equipped and fit to fill combatant commander requirements.

The efforts of LRS help make the process run more smoothly, ensuring there is less stress on the 279 (P2-band) deployers and their families from Team Scott.

Hendren added, “I believe the largest benefit is just being able to share a moment with our warfighters before they deploy. We can’t forget that our Team Scott members are still performing very serious work far away from home and their loved ones. This helps us to remember.”