Center of Excellence opens its doors to first set of redeployers

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kristian Carter
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  The kids are getting restless; the TV can only hold their attention for so long. Families are waiting in the break room, waiting for their Airmen, waiting for reunion, waiting.

Twenty-two maintainers and two KC-135 crews returned to Fairchild Monday after a deployment to Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, to fight the Global War on Terrorism.

These Airmen and families were the first to utilize the Expeditionary Airmen's Center of Excellence to reunite following an Air Expeditionary Force deployment.

As the Airmen made their way through the in-processing line, filling out paperwork and receiving vaccinations, most of them wore the same expression: relief and excitement to finally be home, and a sense of exhaustion one can only understand when they've been there.

The spouses who stayed home with the children are normally wearing a similar look of exhaustion, but not today. Today they are tired, but energized about the impending reunion.

Just ask the family of Senior Airman Bill Crews, 92nd Maintenance Squadron.

Having him away means an opportunity to help take care of his wife and kids, said Jamie Craig, Airman Crews' father-in-law. "One of the kids is always asking 'Where's daddy?'"

Sometimes helping the families who stay home just means being available for the deployed member's spouse.

"We try to be emotionally there for her when she misses him," said Brenda Craig, Airman Crews' mother-in-law.

Now that Airman Crews is home, his family can shift their attention to aid in the reuniting of the family. With two young boys, ages 2 years and 6 months, families like this one sometimes still need help in the beginning of the reintegration period.

"Now Bill can spend a lot of time with the family," said Mr. Craig. "We'll take the boys for a weekend so the couple can get away."

The needs of redeployers aren't always limited to family care. The single Airmen need to work at getting readjusted to life outside of the war zone, too.

In the briefing these Airmen received that afternoon, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, Col. Scott Hanson, summed up what many people want to tell these and other warriors upon their return.

"Thank you for doing what you do for our country."