Transit Center welcomes Navy redeployers

Published Jan. 11, 2013
By Tech. Sgt. Rachel Martinez
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan -- The Transit Center at Manas in Kyrgyzstan may be farther from the ocean than any other facility in the world, but the presence of U.S. Navy Sailors here is increasing.

The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Forward Headquarters Manas stood up at the Transit Center in January 2012 with the mission of providing onward movement capability for Sailors deploying as individual augmentees into Afghanistan. As of December 2012, that mission has increased to include the redeployment of those Sailors out of Afghanistan on their way back home.

The inclusion of redeployers is due to the recent relocation of the Navy's Warrior Transition Program, a five-day process designed to ease Sailor's transition back from a deployment. Previously located in Kuwait, the Navy moved the WTP center to Sembach, Germany, in order to better serve those Sailors completing individual augmentee assignments in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq.

"What this move did was add a step to the Navy's redeployment process," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Blair Keithley, officer in charge of NFHQ Manas. "There are no direct flights from Afghanistan to Germany. So, just like the other services that redeploy through Manas, we added redeployment of Navy Sailors through Manas."

The first flight of Navy redeployers transited through the Transit Center in mid-December. Since then, the NFHQ Manas staff has provided onward movement for an average of 35 to 40 redeployers each week, providing them with onward travel itineraries and handling combat pay and entitlement issues.

"The Navy headquarters here does the RSOI - receiving, staging, onward movement and integration - of Sailors," said Keithley. "It adds a couple extra days of time, but what I have found in the groups that have done it - and we've had four or five cohorts that have come through here - is that what they get here is that first chance to relax. They will sleep 12 to 15 hours the first time here, call home, and start to make plans without worrying too much about what they have to do next. They know they are on their way home."

Keithley and his team of 15 Sailors maintain daily contact with the transiting Sailors on the ground here to make sure they know the headquarters team is here to serve them. If a Sailor has a question, the staff is here to help, but ultimately, their role is to makes sure the Sailors relax and get to their next flight. One Sailor currently going through that process is U.S. Navy Petty Officer Elijah Clemmons. Clemmons is returning from his second deployment to Afghanistan. Following his first deployment, he redeployed through the WTP in Kuwait. This is his first time redeploying through Manas.

"The process is pretty simple and to the point here," he said. "While we are still transients, there is a big difference between this place and Kuwait. The food is better, Wi-Fi in the tents is a huge plus, and everything is pretty close."

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Davidson is the operations leading petty officer at NFHQ Manas. While the redeployment mission is an increased workload, he said he appreciates the comments he hears from those redeploying Sailors.

"It's exciting to tackle a new endeavor and gratifying to hear comments for what we did," he said. We put in a lot of effort into helping each individual. I couldn't ask for a better crew."

Those sentiments are echoed by Keithley.

"It's nice for us as a group of individual augmentees ourselves that what we get to do on our deployment is take care of Sailors," Keithley said. "That's been the highlight of what we've been doing here the last year. We congratulate them when they get here and they are happy to be on their way home. If we can speed them on their way and make sure they are taken care, then we're happy to do that.

"It is an increased workload for us, but it's not something we can't overcome with the team we've got," he added. "We've got a talented team of Sailors that are dedicated to the idea of customer service and they've proven that time and again here over the last year. I don't have any concerns about our ability to handle the increased flow."

That increased flow of redeployers is likely to continue so long as the mission in Afghanistan remains.

"I suspect that as long as Manas is running and as long as we have troops downrange, my headquarters will be here to help move Sailors in and out," Keithley said. "I think that the deployer schedule will start to slow as we see fewer folks going in, but the redeployer schedule will probably be fairly consistent coming out, which is great - I'm happy to see them going home."