From the frontlines: Staff Sgt. Richard Mahaney

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Nick Wilson
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo --  When it comes to having respect for the worth and dignity of every Airman, one Air Force Global Strike Airman held this value true by keeping accountability for every Airman who comes in and out of his unit during his recent deployment to Southwest Asia.

Staff Sgt. Richard Mahaney, 509th Force Support Squadron assistant NCO in charge of installation personnel readiness, returned July 1 after spending five months deployed as personnel support for contingency operations.

Mahaney worked on inprocessing members through the area of responsibility. He also processed redeploying servicemembers to and from the AOR.

"We accounted for all personnel until they got assigned to a different unit," Mahaney said. "So if we lose a member, then it's our responsibility to find them."

His day-to-day duties included pulling daily rosters, checking for new waivers, reporting personnel accountability to squadron and group leadership, inprocessing members, outprocessing members and redeploying members.

"While I was deployed my job was pretty much exactly the same as the job I have here at Whiteman," Mahaney said. "The only difference is that in my office here at Whiteman we review waivers, while we reviewed waivers and altered the format to my group commander's liking while I was deployed."

Besides his duties in the office, one of the tasks Mahaney was responsible for that made this deployment unique was processing and redeploying members that saw combat.

"Some of their belongings would be burnt up or they would come to us in pain," Mahaney said. "We would make sure that they got to the correct facilities like the clinic and hospital or if they were severely hurt we got casualty notifications done."

Mahaney's dedication and leadership, both at home and deployed, has not gone unnoticed.

"Ricky's professionalism, mentorship and guidance helped the new PERSCO team successfully transition into the deployed location and job," said Staff Sgt. Alexander Matthew, 509th Force Support Squadron NCO in charge of IPR. "He always was willing to go out of his way to assist customers with their concerns until their needs were met."

Mahaney said he enjoyed the 'me time' he was able to get during his deployment. He had a lot of extra time to study career development courses, study for his next rank and work out. The free time he got also gave him more of an opportunity to bond with his fellow Airmen.

"I like the fact that everyone on my team was closely-knit like a family," Mahaney said. "I met a lot of new people over there. Learning about people and their culture and way-of-life is always an experience to me."

Mahaney says he'd like to deploy again. One of the main things he liked about this deployment was being able to lend a helping hand to people during times of need.

"It feels good to be helping out when at the right place and time," Mahaney said. "That's part of the reason of why we're the best at what we do as a military and Air Force."