TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Members of the only special operations wing in the Air Force Reserve recently spent their annual two-week tour observing, training and exchanging best logistics practices with units across Tinker Air Force Base.
The 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron hosted 17 Reservists with the Florida-based 919th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron July 17-28. The 919th squadron is part of the approximately 1,300 personnel of the 919th Special Operations Wing, based at Duke Field, Fla.
The joint training tour focused on logistics, traffic management, materiel management, and Art of the Possible streamlining in the 72nd LRS and the Air Force Sustainment Center, among other topics. Also participating in the training were the 72nd Air Base Wing, Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 137th Special Operations Wing, 507th Air Refueling Wing (Reserve), the 550th Commodities Maintenance Squadron and private industry partners.
The squadron’s annual active-duty tour was arranged on short notice after transportation fell through on a previously planned overseas trip. Master Sgt. Nathan Matthews, fuels superintendent with the 919th SOLRS, said he’d like to see more of these tours at the headquarters of the Air Force Sustainment Center.
“The amount of collaboration that went into this is unlike anything I’ve seen before,” Matthews said. “We didn’t know what to expect before we got here, and it was all last minute for us, but when we saw how much time and effort was put in, it was just amazing.”
Most of the squadron members are fully qualified, but benefits from the tour went beyond training, he said.
“The process of how organizations do things here is the bigger picture for us,” Matthews said. “Taking back things that make our life easier at home station is really what we do.”
Mary Webb, 72nd ABW installation deployment officer and a 507th ARW Reservist, became familiar with the 919th SOW working as a logistician in the Emerald Warrior 2016 exercise, hosted by Air Force Special Operations Command. The wing’s operations director asked her if the 72nd LRS could host the tour.
“With the amount of knowledge the 919th brought with them, the tour is a give-and-take relationship for sure on both sides,” Webb said. “What can we provide you guys, and what can you provide us to make us both better?”
The involvement of a range of personnel encouraged a robust exchange of ideas among all involved, said Chris Fellows, 72nd LRS chief of personal property and passenger movement.
“I think that’s overall the way forward for the Air Force in general,” Fellows said. “How do you build collaborative execution? How do we all work together to get to the common goal, whether it’s a Reserve, Guard, active duty or civilian workforce? I think this is one of those things that is a definite big step toward achieving that goal.”
Staff Sgt. Hugo Perez, noncommissioned officer in charge of passenger travel in the 72nd LRS, coordinated the planning and itinerary across organizations. “We wanted to showcase the overall mission, and I think they got a good picture of what Tinker offers and what we do here,” he said.