LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Children from Team XL and Del Rio fell into formation, Nov. 18, 2017 to inprocess before spending a morning in a mock deployment at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
The junior deployment, held by Laughlin, was designed to support Military Family Month and help young military family members and children in the community understand both the Laughlin and Air Force mission.
“The dependent children get an opportunity to get a taste of what their military family member does,” said Master Sgt. Nicholas Suppes, 47th Force Support Squadron readiness noncommissioned officer. “The kids who come from the schools may not know what we do out here, but this event allows them to see what the military is like.”
Many others, like Suppes, volunteered to make the event possible and enjoyable to the children.
“The kids look forward to junior deployment,” said Janet Johnson, 47th Force Support Squadron Airman and Family Readiness Center school liaison officer. “When my girls saw the flier they were really excited and wanted to go.”
The event offered numerous activities for the children who attended. Beginning at the comptroller squadron, they were separated into squads. The squads toured the base learning to march, spending time at the flightline to learn about Laughlin’s aircraft, gaining a bird’s eye view of the base from the air traffic control tower and more.
“Junior deployment not only focuses on having something fun to do at Laughlin, but it also focuses on military families,” Suppes said. “We need to make sure we don’t lose track of the importance of family—without the family, the mission fails.”