Spring breakers invade base

Published March 24, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Timothy R. Capling
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- With spring break visitors taking over the local area, even the 325th Fighter Wing couldn't out-maneuver the student invasion.

In fact, the Checkertails welcomed the challenge by hosting college students from three universities on an installation tour to introduce them to active-duty lifestyle.

Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from Indiana University, Indiana State University and the University of Louisville arrived on base the evening of March 10 and began their tour the following morning.

For the first day of the tour, the cadets got an inside look into the Air Control Squadron, the 95th Fighter Squadron and Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation.

"It gave us a good opportunity to get a hands-on experience of base operations," said Cadet 3rd Class Angelo Underly, Indiana State University cadet.

The second day, the cadets visited the Silver Flag deployment training area, where they were hosted by Detachment 1 of the 823rd Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers or RED HORSE. While there, the cadets helped set up a runway, received an emergency management brief and viewed a C-130 mockup fire-fighting operation.

To cap their RED HORSE experience, the students finished the morning with a field ration lunch of spaghetti, green beans and salad served in a deployed dining facility tent.

After lunch, the cadets received a mission brief at the 83rd Weapons Evaluation Group and viewed an F-4 drone display.

The second day concluded at the 43rd Fighter Squadron, where the students learned the F-22 Raptor capabilities, got an up-close look at the aircraft, met a Raptor pilot and interacted with some 43rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit maintainers.

"I think it was a real good experience," said Cadet 4th Class Alex Hermes, University of Louisville cadet. "Going into the Air Force as an officer, it gave us a good chance to ask questions, interact with the active duty Airmen and search for careers we may want to pursue later on."

The base tour program receives many requests during the spring for AFROTC detachments to utilize their spring break to give cadets the experience.

"I think this was a good opportunity for these cadets to see some career fields that they may not have seen," said Lt. Col. Tammy Lundborg, Indiana State University's AFROTC detachment 218 commander. "Not only that, but they got exposed to life on base in general and got a chance to interact with both enlisted personnel and officers. They don't necessarily get exposed to that at their detachments."

Scorched