15-year Air Force veteran, Metter native, manages learning resources for Southwest Asia base

Photo By Master Sgt. Jenifer Calhoun | Tech. Sgt. Oswald Steley, manager of the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron's Learning Resources Center, works in the LRC during operations, April 8, at a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia. Steley is deployed from the 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and his hometown is Metter, Ga.  

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04.28.2010

Story by Senior Airman Jenifer Calhoun 

380th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Tech. Sgt. Oswald Steley has done nearly everything in the Air Force services career field. As a services craftsman, he's achieved the mastery needed in his career field to provide the morale, welfare and recreation support for service members in a variety of means.

At a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia, Steley is the manager of the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron's Learning Resources Center. The Learning Resources Center, or LRC, is the hub for deployed to check out movies, educational material, music and language compact discs and fictional, biography and reference books to name a few things. In doing this deployed job, Steley works six days a week, 12 hours a day.

"The LRC is a morale-booster for all our deployed troops," said Steley, who is deployed from 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "It helps improve the quality of life for people who are far from home by providing movies for entertainment, educational material for college work, training resources for learning a new language and a whole lot more."

Steley not only maintains a hefty volume of material for the LRC, he also provides "on the spot" customer service.

"I have a lot of customers who come in and tell me it makes them feel a little more at home by having the LRC available to them," Steley said. "I'll usually help them find what they need, tell them a little about what we have available and make sure their visit was a successful one."

As a services craftsman with the 380th EFSS, Steley supports more than 1,900 deployed service members for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. In the 380th EFSS, services support programs range a myriad of areas and Sergeant Steley has to be ready to support any one of them in addition to managing the LRC. According to his official Air Force job description, services Airmen like him manage and direct services programs, operations and retail operations. They supervise and work in appropriated fund food service and lodging activities, recreation, fitness and sports programs, linen exchange operations, mortuary affairs programs, honor guard teams and services readiness programs.

Furthermore, services Airmen like Steley also identify facility requirements and conduct surveys to determine facility renovation, construction and modernization needs, the job description states. They also establish and supervise bare-base facilities that provide food, fitness, lodging, sports management, recreation, laundry, mortuary services and field exchange operations to deployed personnel.

In all the services functions, Steley has to maintain mandatory job knowledge in areas such as accounting procedures, management principles, merchandising, marketing, automated information systems, food service facility operations, subsistence management, requisition and issue procedures, menu planning and lodging operations, the job description states.

"I've done a lot of different jobs in my more than 15 years in this career field," Steley said. "In services, we work in many different places and I know all of them. I think the most rewarding for me though was working for eight years as a fitness trainer."

When Steley left his hometown of Metter, Ga.,to join the military, he said he wanted to see the world.

"Being deployed applies to my original goals to see the world," Steley said. "I've been able to see different cultures and experience the diversity. I've been able to see a lot and have enjoyed every bit of it. I'm glad I joined."

The technical sergeant added that he has always been proud to serve and will proudly continue to do so.

"I serve now so my son doesn't have to," Steley said, expressing the importance of defending America's freedoms to include freedom of choice. "It will be a choice for him like it was for me."

The 380th EFSS is a sub-unit of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The 380th AEW is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The wing supports Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and Operation Enduring Freedom.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2010
• Date Posted: 04.28.2010 01:13
• Story ID: 48790
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)