Feature Search

Personnel Center to deployers: Don’t leave without your guide

  • Published
  • By Steve VanWert
  • Air Force Personnel Center
Most Air Force members being deployed to a foreign country have little knowledge of the culture they'll work in for the next four to 12 months. They don't know a Hijab from an Abaya or a Dishdasha from a Gutra. How many times a day can you say hello to someone in Kyrgystan? Why can't you eat with your left hand?

Perhaps even more important, how do deployed leaders find information about the AEF Life Cycle, Alternate Battle Rhythms, the AEF Pivot Date, Contingency Response Groups and even Field Sanitation? It's all in the guide.

Published by the Education, Training and Outreach Branch of the Air Force Personnel Center's Directorate of AEF Operations at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, the "Deployed Leader's Guide to the AEF" puts all the information in one place - the palm of the deployed troop's hand.

"This guide provides deployed leaders one place to overview the major issues they face in the AOR," said Maj. Donna Watson, chief of the branch. "We realized from feedback from prior AEF rotations that deployed Airmen would be knowledgeable in some areas, but not in others, depending on their AFSCs and backgrounds."

In response, AFPC compiled that information into one publication and made it available to all current and future deployers. It was a daunting task, but one they had done before. In September 2005 they published the first AEF guide, the "Wing Leadership Guide to the AEF" and last fall, they published the "IDO Guide to the AEF," these guides target base level leadership and deployment machine people respectively. They are both excellent sources of information for anyone who has a hand in the deployment process at homestation.

The Deployed Leader's Guide is for all deployed members from technical sergeants to general officers.
"We went to a wide variety of sources, including feedback from deployed commander's surveys," Major Watson said. "As far as I know, this is the first time all this information has been in one place."

It keys on knowledge areas to provide a basic foundation to everyone. These areas include rotation of Airmen, security and force protection, base operating support, deployed organizational structure, morale and discipline, resource management, operating in a Joint environment, sister services and host country awareness. Used in conjunction with the Airman's Manual, the DLG ensures leaders are prepared to address the myriad of concerns they face in a deployed environment.

The Wing Leadership Guide is published for wing and vice wing commanders, command chief master sergeants, group and deputy group commanders, group superintendents, squadron commanders, superintendents and installation deployment officers. It's for home station units deploying people to the AOR.
"The focus in the WLG is to provide commanders at the tactical wing level straight talk on current information they need to know," said the major. "It includes information to properly execute their part of the AEF, including available metrics."

Both of these guides were patterned after the Airman's Manual, a ring binder that fits in uniform cargo pockets.

The WLG is in its third update; the first published in September 2005. Printed by DAPS, 20,000 copies are currently being prepared and are on schedule to be distributed to bases in the Cycle 7 AEF 1/2 target base alignment starting in December. Other bases will follow and the guide will be available in December on AEF Online.

The DLG is brand new. Also printed by DAPS, 25,000 copies are currently being sent to locations in the CENTAF AOR and to bases in the Cycle 7 AEF 1/2 target base alignment. Other bases will follow.

"It's easy to read and easy to understand," said the major.

If you had one, you'd know that a Hijab is a headscarf, an Abaya is a long black robe, a Dishdasha is a long-sleeved, ankle length, typically white robe, and a Gutra is a headdress that comes in different colors. You'd know that you only say hello to someone once a day in Kyrgystan (or they'll think you forgot you already saw them that day) and use your right hand - the left one is considered "unclean."

You'd also know that these two guides contain information to make your jobs easier, so don't leave home without them.