Citizen Airmen critical to NSS guest arrival

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kat Justen
  • 459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. --  Members of the 459th Air Refueling Wing stepped up to the international plate this week to support flight line staging operations for the arrival of 20 heads of state on their way to the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C.
  
Citizen Airmen from across the 459th helped augment critical mission requirements of the 11th Wing to include security forces, public affairs and vehicle escort, to name a few.

"We were happy to have people assist the 11th Security Forces Group with the security mission," said Senior Master Sgt. Bryant Hamlor, 459th Security Forces Squadron action officer. "This is a great opportunity for our squadron and wing to show our support."

In addition to security forces augmenting, tanker wing Airmen also assisted in public affairs activities. Members provided media escorts to and from staging areas, as well as captured imagery.

"Without the 459th there's no way we'd be able to pull this off," said Master Sgt. Lee Osberry, 11 WG Public Affairs superintendent. "It's definitely a team effort where we all need to get out there and support. If everything looks smooth on camera then you're doing a great job - that's where the volunteers from the 459th were able to help us accomplish that."

More than 20 international heads of state arrived here for the summit, which provides a forum for international leaders to reinforce critical commitments to securing nuclear materials.