Thunderbolts working over the holidays

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class C.J. Hatch
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  For some people the holiday season can mean family, friends, and a couple days off, except if working security forces, the fire department or the other units on base which have to be manned 24-7. 

Members of these units worked to keep Thunderbolts safe through Christmas and New Years. 

"Security forces worked a rotating 6 days on 6 days off, with a check in on the forth day for accountability," said Tech. Sgt. Nicole Elias, 56th Security Forces Squadron, day shift flight sergeant. "This way we have all our folks out there and still give them some time at home. We also are running with full manning, and are fortunate enough to have the amount of people we have enabling us to give that time off." 

Security forces still patrolled the flight line and performed all their force protection tasks. The civilian installation entry controllers also worked through the holiday. 

"It's kind of hard to work over the holidays because no one else is here," said Airman 1st Class Christopher Duwel, 56th SFS patrolman. "You think about all the people that are home spending time with family and we are here working. It's hard but it's what we have to do." 

The fire department also worked during the holidays, to ensure the safety of base if anything were to happen. 

"The fire department ran regular shifts during the holidays," said Chief Master Sgt. Louis Alimonda 56th Civil Engineer Squadron fire chief. "We are giving our guys an extra day off to compensate for working the holidays." 

The fire department has an A and B shift they work 24 hours on 24 hours off and worked the holidays according to the risk. 

"We have a log we keep of calls and use it to evaluate the risk," said Anthony Rabonza, 56th CES deputy fire chief. "We look at the times and days we have the most calls. From this we can estimate the times we should have more or less calls then normal. Then with this information we can decide what times need less firefighters and can release some of them. But we still maintain a good presence to protect the base and housing." 

The members of the fire department, security forces, command post, services and others worked to keep the base safe every day and every hour whether it was a holiday or not. 

"When the bad guys take a day off, we will get a day off," Sergeant Elias said.