A Rock Solid Warrior: Senior Airman Derrick Davis

Published March 21, 2014
By Public Affairs staff
386th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- This week's Rock Solid Warrior is Senior Airman Derrick Davis. Davis is a customer service technician & cashier assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. The Lithonia, Ga. native is deployed from the 30th Comptrollers Squadron, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Cali.

In his own words:

Q: What is your family's military heritage?
A: My Mother, Father, niece and ousin are all in the Army.

Q: What is your mission here?
A: My mission is to financially process everyone on "The Rock", to answer pay inquires, process military pay documents and to make Exchanges/Reverse Accommodations of USD to Foreign Currency.

Q: What are some of the best parts of your mission?
A: The best part of my mission is meeting everyone on base as they are in processing. Also, when I finish helping a member the satisfaction I see on their face, no matter how big or small their situation may be it's always a great feeling.

Q: What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?
A: Because we are the Servicing Finance Office for other bases in the AOR, it's hard for me to have a face to face conversation with members whom have an in-depth finance problem. In order to overcome this challenge, I inform members to email myself instead of our Finance org box. This way they know there is a reliable source on the other end, in which they can contact for future inquiries.

Q: How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base?
A: At home base I am customer service technician, helping members with military pay inquires. While deployed I am a cashier, in which, I convert USD into Foreign currency. I am also a Customer Service Technician that service every military branch with their pay inquires.

Q: How many times have you deployed?
A: This is actually my first deployment. I was blessed enough to extend my 4 month deployment into 9 months. If I could stay for a year, I would.

Q: What makes this deployment unique?
A: This deployment is unique, because I've never been outside of the USA, and I've been given the opportunity to represent the United States Air Force in the host nation. This is main reason I joined the AF.

Q: Why did you join the Air Force?
A: I knew the world revolves around more than my hometown in Georgia, so I wanted to see what the world and the AF had to offer. I want to finish my Bachelors in Accounting/Finance and I heard the AF had an amazing educational opportunity.

(The Rock Solid Warrior is a weekly spotlight focused on an outstanding member of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. These unsung heroes have been nominated by their unit leadership to be recognized for their efforts while deployed.)