Class of 2021 Cadets at Tinker for Operation Air Force are shown at right. The visit expands the cadets vision of Air Force base operations and the many officer and enlisted skill sets that make the Air Force mission come together. They see up close how junior officers fit into the mission and work with other ranks to get the job done. The Cadets Second Class (C/2C), Class of 2021: (L to R in picture right) Nathan Fairhurst, Minersville, Utah; Camila Quintero, Savannah, GA; Lindsay Powley, Huntington Beach, CA; Spencer Flint, Knoxville, TN; David Ott, St. George, Utah; (Lt Markez Davis) and Devarsh Modh, Chantilly, VA. They will be staying on Tinker AFB and visiting base units and facilities including flight line and aircraft visits and base support functions. They visited Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Force Support Squadron, Securities Force Squadron, E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Wing, Office of Special investigations, FAA and other facilities.
Hosts Maj Libby Mobley, Chief of Flight Safety with the Air Base Wing at Tinker AFB and 1st Lt Markez Davis, a 72nd Force Support Squadron personnel officer at Tinker AFB put together the cadets' schedule. Both have done an outstanding job planning and escorting the visiting cadets during their daily activities. Markez is a 2017 graduate of the Academy on his second Air Force tour. Helping Lt Markez on the OC-ALC portion of the tours is 1st Lt. Anna Cherry, an Air Force Acquisition Officer at Tinker AFB and also a 2017 Academy graduate. The two Academy graduates met at the Air Force Academy and graduated together. See photos below.
THEN
2nd Lts Markez Davis and Anna Cherry immediately after commissioning at the USAF Academy in 2017. Davis told Cherry about the All-Air Force Sports program and encouraged her to try out. Now they're both competing at that level. He played rugby and she played softball at the Academy varsity level. They're now 1Lts assigned to Tinker AFB.
NOW
Cadet Spencer Flint Evaluates Tinker Training: Ops AF helped us to better understand how complicated the Air Force machine is. It is amazing to see how many people go into making things work. People really are our greatest asset. Most of us understood beforehand that support and operational functions had a purpose but did not know exactly what that purpose was. After going on this trip, we have developed a better picture of the big Air Force and how its components work together to get the mission done. Flying missions may seem to be the biggest part of the Air Force from the outside, but on Ops AF we saw that they are only the tip of the iceberg. Some of the most important things that I got from Ops AF were getting experience with enlisted members and seeing how important all of the different AFSCs are in the big picture. For example, I gained a lot of respect for maintainers that will be making sure my plane works well if I become a pilot. I also learned much about how to act as a new 2Lt in a unit. I learned that most second lieutenants have very little idea what they are doing when they first show up. As a 2Lt, you have to be eager to go out and immerse yourself in the squadron, getting to know people and being mentored by officers above you. You need to be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge you can get from those around you. With all of that, be the best you can be at your job; become an expert at it. We all heard this kind of advice from many different people, from new to senior officers as well as senior NCOs. I think it is safe to say that the group of us had a great time learning at Tinker AFB. Without a doubt we all learned some important things that may help us make more educated decisions about our AFSCs as well as become better 2Lts once we graduate.