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Rock Solid Warrior: Staff Sgt. Garie Routhieaux

  • Published
  • 386th Expeditionary Operations Group
SOUTHWEST AISA- --  Rank/First & Last Name: Staff Sgt. Garie Routhieaux

Deployed Unit: 386 EOG/EOSS/Tower

Duty Title: ATC Liaison

Home unit/station: 20 FW/20 OG/20 OSS/Tower, Shaw AFB, S.C.

Family's military heritage: My grandfather served in the Army from 1960-1963

What is your mission here? Our Mission as LNO's is to ensure safe operations on the airfield and Alpha Sierra Tower's designated airspace, as well as the surrounding airspace. We help Host Nation controllers with language issues and provide insight and expertise to challenging ATC scenarios. We also work diligently to build/maintain relations with HN ranks at all levels to help ensure smooth operations of the EOG mission.

What are some of the best parts of your mission? Getting to literally see first-hand every Airmen's/Soldier's work on this base come to fruition as we get airplanes on and off the ground. I also enjoy getting to build relations/friendships with Kuwaitis. Lastly, I can't say enough about the team that has assembled around me, from the EOG/CC all the way down to myself, best group of people I have ever worked with!

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them? The biggest challenge was getting started. Our role in the tower is to provide insight and assist Chief Warrant Officers who have been doing this job for 20-30 years. It was extremely challenging to earn their respect/trust. I personally built relations with them by learning about their families, eating meals with them, joking around with them, and most recently giving them most of the candy from my Christmas Packages to give to their kids. Operationally, I persistently tried to help smooth out operations until they realized the value I brought to the table. We have a great all-around relationship now.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base? I am the only American in the tower at most times during my shift. The majority of my day is spent interacting with HN controllers and learning about the differences between them and us. Operationally, this position is a huge difference/challenge because I don't get to actually control traffic; rather I am tasked with trying to persuade HN controllers to control scenarios the way I see fit.

How many times have you deployed? This is my first deployment. Can't say enough good things about it!

What makes this deployment unique? Being that this is my only deployment, everything feels unique. I underestimated how quickly I would build life-long friendships over here.

Why did you join the Air Force? Adventure, prior to joining I had spent merely a handful of days outside of Ohio. It has been the best time of my life!