Find routine, learn mission, take classes while deployed

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jay Hoth
  • 71st Medical Group
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  With Air Expeditionary Force rotations growing longer, Airmen preparing for deployment may wonder just how to make the time away from family and friends fly by.
One of the first things to do once you get to your deployed location is get into a routine.
You may think a routine will make your four months or more seem very monotonous, but really it won't. Most deployed locations have a six-day on and one-day off work week, with a 12-hour day. By having a routine, you will be able to look forward to the regularly-scheduled services events each week and of course, your day off.
This allows you have things to look forward to besides the eventual trip home. Having a routine helps you focus more on keeping your day-to-day schedule and less on marking the calendar days until your departure. I found myself actually having to think of what day of the week it was. If you aren't counting the days, they fly by. Once you have established a day-to-day routine, you can begin adding things to it like furthering your education or professional development.
Nearly every deployed location has an education and training manager to assist you in furthering your educational or professional development. How? If you are enrolled in a college course or professional military education and need to take a test, they can help.
Airmen wanting to earn college credit by taking a College Level Examination Program, Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support or Regents test can get help. These are all as easy as a trip to the education office and will only take you away from work for about an hour. Through CLEP, I was able to successfully earn 18 hours of college credit and my third Community College of the Air Force degree during my recent deployment.
To further your learning, step out of your comfort zone and learn about the mission at your location and the work it takes to get it done. By stepping out of the comfort zone of your own job and learning about the mission as a whole, you gain a greater understanding of what it takes to accomplish it.
First sergeants have the versatility of being able to work in any unit. My deployment found me assigned to a logistics readiness squadron; not completely foreign but not completely familiar either. Despite the mission learning curve, I was able to work in each flight from vehicle maintenance to aerial port to fuels.
In learning about the base, not only can you gain an appreciation for your unit's mission but also, for example, what security forces troops go through each day ensuring your duty location is free from threats, or what civil engineering troops do to keep the power on, water flowing and facilities usable or even what it takes for communications troops to keep the phones, network and giant voice operational. These are just a few examples of the many units and components it takes to make a base operational and fight the Global War on Terrorism.
You may have been apprehensive about deploying when you were first notified of your tasking. That is a common response. If you follow these few suggestions, your deployment could be a more enjoyable and positive experience and some of your anxiety may be reduced. I thoroughly enjoyed mine.