VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Team Vance's littlest warriors deployed Oct. 19 on a one-day base contingency to get a better understanding of the mobility process. Operation Kids gave 67 children 5 to 12 years a snapshot of how our warriors go downrange.

"It was directed by the Commander of the Air Education Training Command, Gen. William R. Looney III, that some kind of deployment process for kids happen at each of the bases-- so we got with other bases and found out what they did. We saw a couple of continuity books and worked on it to customize it for Vance Air Force Base," Tech Sgt. Bobbie White, readiness non-commissioned officer and director of the second annual Operation Kids said.

Just as Team Vance comes together to support, organize and prepare for real-world deployments, it took an organized team to get Operation Kids off the ground. The children began their day 8 a.m. at the fitness center with briefings, T-Shirts and bags containing a Frisbee, bungee-cord watch, Air Force Reserve trading cards, pencils, a laser glider and safety tube.

The little warriors then boarded a bus provided by base transportation which carried them to the flight line. There they boarded a static C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 48th Airlift Squadron located in Little Rock, Ark.

The children got a chance to look in the cockpit and learn about the aircraft and how it fits in with the deployment process from Tech Sgt. Terrance Brown.

The children traveled to "Camp Liberty" in Hangar 170. There they were welcomed by Capt. Rick Milton, 71st Military Personnel Flight commander and received free boxed lunches and care kits courtesy of the Cimarron Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The children visited different stations within the camp with their assigned Wingman, an adult Team Vance member. The stations included an obstacle course, a tent with cots, personal military clothing, equipment, pictures, maps and cultural artifacts from deployed locations, a Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear station, a security forces station and a letter-writing station.

There was also a medical station with an ambulance, 71st Medical Group members and the Mediman, a computerized training dummy that simulates human characteristics. The camp also featured a 71st Communications Squadron station with telephone field equipment and a warrior face-painting station.

The deployment wouldn't have been complete without the home-coming; the Vance Officer Spouses Club hosted a celebration at the Chapel Community Activity Center that included parents with greetings and signs, music provided by volunteers, Jeffery Patton and Roger Miller, certificates and cupcakes.

Sergeant White measured the event's success in the number of smiles she saw, not only on the children's faces, but on the faces of military parents as well.

"To see smiles on their faces made me happy; it told me that I was doing my job. Hopefully it helps the military family members and the spouses of deployed members realize you're not alone when it comes to deployments, the whole base is in there for you; Team Vance is there for you," Sergeant White said.