Airman augments special assignment during deployment

Published Oct. 22, 2021
By Tech. Sgt. Daryn Murphy
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait -- Airmen from different backgrounds allow the world’s greatest Air Force to continue to grow and adapt to face challenges. One deployed Airman is using her particular background of being born in the country of India to assist in the security of not only the base but the overall mission.

Senior Airman Ramandeep Kaur came to Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, as a defender originally assigned to the 387th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. After arriving on station, she was then transferred over to help the Office of Special Investigation Locally Employed Persons Screening Team because of her unique upbringing.

“I speak three other languages… Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu…that’s basically what most [Other Country National]’s speak here,” Kaur explained. “I was working at Cargo City since I got here in July until the first week of September. Then I was brought over to OSI.”

Kaur was raised in India and moved to the United States when she was 10 with her family. Her special linguistic capabilities were not the only reason that she was an obvious candidate to work in the investigations department doing background checks.

“I have a law enforcement background from before I joined the Air Force,” She said. “First I was a deputy sheriff for about three years in [Northern Virginia]. I was assigned to jails and didn’t really like that. So, I left that and before I joined the Air Force, I was with Homeland Security as a contractor.”

Kaur, a reservist from the 911th Airlift Wing out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been extremely busy since going to basic military training in October of 2020.

“So I got out of BMT and tech school then they said ‘hey do you want to deploy?’ I said why not?” she said, “it’s been a blessing since then and I’m really grateful for it and a lot of good things have been happening for me since I got here.”

After arriving to ASAB, Kaur took no time in fully immersing herself in military traditions by joining the base honor guard.

“Have you seen those uniforms?” she smiled as she explained, “I mean, just being able to put the uniform on and marching with pride, it just gives you goosebumps, you know? They have the taps on the shoes and every step they take, it’s just like, it makes your heartbeat go faster. It’s something I’m really passionate about.”

Since joining the base honor guard, she said it has helped give her perspective on what she wants to do down the road in her military career.

“As far as in the Air Force, I want to join honor guard and slowly build my steps up and I want to join big Air Force honor guard.” Kaur explained “The big honor guard where I get to travel to different countries and present colors, it’s such an honorable thing. I think that’s one of the reasons why I joined, to be a part of something like that.”

Even though she has only been in the Air Force for a short time, Kaur says that she is staying focused on what’s important to her.

“We take some things for granted, like the luxury of living in big houses,” she said as she talked about deployment life. “I think we all get lost in our lala land sometimes, but I’ll definitely be walking away from this just being grateful for everything that comes to you in life.”