Readiness office serves as main cog in big spoke operations

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matt Moorman
  • 916 ARW
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC --  Sitting in front of her computer, nestled in her little corner of the 916th Air Refueling Wing headquarters building, Master Sgt. Jill Weissflog said, "I'm the one who sends everybody out into the world." Among many other things, Sergeant Weissflog and the two other Airmen in the 916th Mission Support Group Readiness Office do just that: send deploying Airmen from the 916th on their way to locations across the globe. For any 916th Airman deploying, they must first pass through the Readiness Office.

"We're the main hub of deployments," said Sergeant Weissflog. This office handles all deployment orders for the wing and they ensure the eligibility of each Airman to deploy. In fact, the primary mission of the office is deployment personnel eligibility and accountability; ensuring all Airmen deploying are eligible to deploy and are accounted for while they're deployed.

Average Unit Training Assembly weekends are very busy for the members of this office. Between administrating fitness testing, training Personnel Accountability (PERSCO) Team members (people who are deploying and are in positions of accountability), performing security manager duties, making dog tags, and processing passport applications, their drill weekends fly by.

The Readiness Office exemplifies the type of low-visibility job in the Air Force Reserve that is simply vital to the mission of the wing. If the people in this office aren't doing their jobs, no one in the wing will deploy, jeopardizing the war-time mission.

Sergeant Weissflog has worked in the 916th MSG Readiness Office for six years, and she says the job has changed vastly since 9/11. Since then, Sergeant Weissflog said they have deployed the entire wing (numerically) two or three times over, staying busy year-round. Even when the wing is not on an AEF deployment cycle, she said there are people from the 916th deployed all over the world.

Despite the challenge of juggling the large number of tasks which are appointed to the Readiness Office, Sergeant Weissflog enjoys doing what she does, claiming, "The excitement never stops!"