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Who's speaking, please?

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Connie L. Bias
  • 92nd ARW Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Imagine taking 1,200 phone calls each day. 

Sure, most of us depend on the phone to get our jobs done. But 1,200? That's all you'd do - talk on the phone. 

At Fairchild, there's a small group of people who actually do spend their entire work shift talking on the phone. They're the friendly voices saying, "Can I help you?" every time you need a base phone number, make a morale call from a deployed location, or need some type of base information you can't seem to find anywhere else. On a busy day shift, these calls stack up quickly. 

"In fact, we should pass our two-millionth call-in sometime during the second week of March," said Tim Rieman, telephone operations supervisor, adding that the count started in April 2002 when the current contract, run through Air Mobility Command, was signed. "Depending on the time of the year, the number of people deployed and other factors like that, we can take about 34,000 - 44,000 calls per month." 

To create those kinds of numbers, you might imagine a long row of operators furiously answering phones and patching calls. In truth, seven switchboard operators take care of the base's calls from a small, secluded room located in the Military Personnel Flight, working shifts to cover the 24-hour operation. One of the seven, Dorothy Patton, says she loves coming to work each day and helping people over the wires, especially when she's connecting deployed people to their loved ones. 

"Sometimes we get to know people by their voices, even if we don't know their names," she said. "I feel like we're really doing a service, helping the guys and gals (downrange) ... The best end result is knowing that they're back with their families." 

She said every now and then, they are able to get to know the deployed callers by name and by face, and it's always an added bonus. 

"Sometimes they even bring us pies and cookies, and you can't beat that," she said.
Ms. Patton, like all of the switchboard operators, works with a disability; she's legally blind. Working with Services for the Blind and Goodwill, she spent a year and a half looking for a job for which she's qualified. When the operator position at Fairchild opened up, Ms. Patton jumped at the chance. 

"I got an interview and said, 'Give me a try.' I told Tim I could do it, and it's been two years now," she said, adding that she "just loves" the job. 

To retrieve information from her computer screen, Ms. Patton uses a program which can enlarge the screen to her needs, allowing her help callers. With a few years on the job, her memory also provides much of what she needs. 

"We don't just give out numbers; we give out information, and we're also the base locators," said Mr. Rieman. "For instance, people will call here looking for MPF customer service. That's a very busy number, and the operator can handle a lot of questions a person may ask. This service just helps people on the base get their jobs done without those constant phone calls." 

Those 1,200 daily phone calls, he means. For such a small, hidden group of people, Fairchild's switchboard operators make an impressively immense impact.