72d OSS keeps Tinker flying through the new normal

  • Published
  • By Christian Tabak
  • 72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  

While some areas of Tinker Air Force Base have shifted duties to telework where possible to promote safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, Airmen within the 72nd Operations Support Squadron have remained on the frontline to ensure that Tinker’s airfield stays operational.

With a group of 12 individuals keeping the office operational 24/7, Airfield Management’s continued operations have ensured that aircraft are still able to arrive at Tinker for missions, construction on the airfield continues, and other significant duties are fulfilled with little disruption.

As their work continues, adapting to COVID-19 has presented uncharted territory for personnel, according to Airfield Manager, Marc Bradley.

While Bradley said flights have “decreased tremendously” as a result of limiting the airfield to aircraft with business at Tinker, adoption of social distancing and other safety measures have represented a disruption and added pressure to how the team usually operates.

“Our goal in Airfield Management is to support the mission and do the best we can, while also taking care of our people and making sure they stay healthy,” Bradley said.

Where and when they can, the office has shifted its operations to rely more on technology to promote social distancing. Important face-to-face exchanges at the front desk have become phone conversations, and the personnel have taken other measures to decrease interactions that could potentially risk exposure to the virus.

It’s the disruption of the team’s usual routine that Bradley said has hit the personnel working in Airfield Management the hardest. Fulfilling the mission-critical role of ensuring the airfield remains operational during a global pandemic, Bradley said the change in mindset alone can be fatiguing.

“While others have the safety of being able to telework and not expose themselves, due to the nature of our job we have to be here to perform our duties,” Bradley said. “So we have set up the work center to keep them socially distant and limit interactions internally and with other agencies as much as possible.”

Whereas before a flight crew was required to hand in physical copies of manifests and flight plans for verified record-keeping, Bradley said now those documents are being passed through email to limit any potential exposure.

For any flights that are not stopping at Tinker for official, base-assigned business, Bradley said landing would require a sign-off from 72nd Air Base Wing Commander Col. Paul Filcek to likewise ensure that no unessential flights expose the base.

Each of those changes has represented extra layers of coordination and added pressure to the squadron’s small workforce, according to Bradley, especially for those who work the single-person shifts on nights and the weekends.

While the entire COVID-19 scenario has required a complete overhaul of the office’s routine and so much uncertainty remains surrounding when the pandemic might reach its conclusion, Bradley said the office is bracing itself for the potential of a “new normal” in the way it continues operations.

“I still think we’re trying to understand what the ‘new normal’ will entail in the long run,” Bradley said. “I think this has changed things and that there will still be changes after this that will be a new normal, I just don’t think we’ve pinpointed what those are.”