Force Protection, defenders execute dorm makeover

SOUTHWEST ASIA --

Residents of Bay A, Dorm 200, completed a month-long dorm renovation  project on Dec. 21., 2015 at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

 

The dorm renovations are part of an effort to make the living areas within their facility, primarily the hallways, more homelike for its residents, which is composed entirely of female Airmen from the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and force protection personnel.

 

“For many of the Airmen here, it’s their first time being deployed away from home,” said Tech. Sgt. Akilah, 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Force Protection site leader and Bay A chief. “I’m a mom so I tell the ladies, ‘hey, it’s only temporary. We’re only here for a couple of months, so let’s try to live in this place and make this a home away from home.’”

 

Following Akilah’s suggestion, the Airmen discussed various changes to make to their dorm, which included the colors to paint the hallways, ideas for motivational quotes to place on the walls and decorating it with a giant tree with pictures of the various residents to give it a more home-like feeling.

 

Some of the dorm residents believe the changes are a welcoming sight and bring a nice change of scenery to the area.

 

“Walking past the tree is my favorite part because now we have some scenery versus all this sand and rock,” said Senior Airman Catherine, 380th ESFS FP escort. “I think everyone’s favorite part of the project was painting their quote s on the wall.”

 

Catherine has been a part of the renovations since it began more than month ago and says the experience has been relaxing and allowed the residents to bond.

 

“It’s been kind of a camaraderie builder between all the girls living in the dorms. When I would be working on the tree paintings late at night, a couple of the girls would come in from work, put their gear down and ask if they could jump in. They would sit there and help me paint the leaves,” she said. “I think we all found it as way to build friendship and relax at the same time because we all felt like painting was relaxing.”

 

The Airmen also plan to carry out more renovation ideas in the future to further improve their residence.

 

“The dayroom kind of looks like an office right now, so we want to change it to have more of a homey feeling so residents feel more comfortable going in there to talk to their families and other residents,” said Airman 1st Class Ashley, 380th ESFS commander’s support staff administrator. “It’s been good so far, but there is room for improvement so that’s why we’re making it better.”

 

Akilah hopes future rotations will continue with dorm projects of their own.

 

“I think for the next group that comes in here, it will be a nicer welcome than what we had,” she said. “Hopefully, they’ll see the pride and effort the Airmen put into making the dorms theirs and follow our examples with ideas of their own.”

 

Due to safety and operational concerns last names were removed.