CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Senior Airman Kyle Simpson is a member of the 17th Airlift Squadron and has been stationed at Charleston AFB for about a year-and-a-half.
He was recently deployed to Southwest Asia as an aircraft loadmaster apprentice with the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. Airman Simpson's responsibilities included supervising the loading and unloading of cargo including pallets, rolling stock, as well as passengers and delivering it to places throughout Southwest Asia. He helped calculate restraint for all cargo, as well as manage the weight and balance of the aircraft.
While stationed at home base, Airman Simpson is also a mission launch coordinator where he is responsible to build binders with all the necessary paperwork for each mission the 17 AS sends out.
According to Airman Simpson, what he likes best about his job is traveling to different countries and seeing different parts of the world on a regular basis. It feels good to deliver critical cargo to people all around the world and accomplish the mission, he said.
This "warrior of the week" hails from Warren, Pa., and enlisted in the Air Force about two-and-a-half years ago to help him work toward getting a college degree.
Airman Simpson was rewarded when he had the opportunity to deploy to a remote location. Deploying taught him a lot about his job and also gave him an opportunity to learn a lot about himself, said Airman Simpson.
"Airman Simpson works directly with our current operations section and duty officer to ensure that all the mission binders for each flight are correct and have all the required documents," said Master Sgt. Charles Baker, 17 AS chief loadmaster. "This can be a tedious task and it requires a person whose attention to detail is spot on. When Airman Simpson is not working in the mission launch office, he is on the road flying cargo and troops in and out of the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom combat zone. He is a hard worker and I can always count on him to accomplish any task that is assigned to him. He is truly a warrior. Airman Simpson is a huge asset to the 17th Airlift Squadron and Team Charleston.