Warrior stories: 100th CS first sergeant shares her stories of deployed life

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Editor's note: Master Sgt. Hayden Pickett, 100th Communications Squadron first sergeant, deployed three times to serve as a first sergeant between September 2005 and July 2009. She has also deployed three other times to serve in other positions during that time frame. This story is just part of her experiences.

Getting out the door

Thursday: "Hayden, we need you to go to Balad (Iraq)"
Monday: "Hayden - you're going to Kyrgyzstan instead. Oh, and you need to be there by Friday ... "

"That's just how it was - I had between four and 10-days notice for each of my first sergeant deployments," Sergeant Pickett said.

"By the end of the first day of my notification, I had fired my weapon and been medically cleared," she added. "When you have to deploy in four days, that's the nice part - you get priority to get everything done." 

Iraq

Mosul

On her first day in Mosul, Iraq, where she was serving as the first sergeant for security forces in Balad, Sergeant Pickett said she and her troops were at the police academy when an unmanned aerial vehicle dropped from the sky and landed in the city.

"Security forces had to go and recover it," she said. "When they did, they started getting attacked. They came back with a rocket-propelled grenade in their tire. The base (a tiny forward-operating base) just got pummeled.

"It was pretty eye-opening, but we didn't have any injuries or anyone killed," she added. "It was very emotional, but everybody held it together and kept their wits about them - it was just a normal day in their life."

The Tulsa, Okla. native said she went to one of the FOBs with a seven-vehicle convoy so she could talk to a security forces dog handler who was troubled by the events going on around him.

"He was exhausted from going on striker missions, because a lot of his friends had been hurt or killed. He'd just had enough," she said. "We spent several hours together. He really just needed a sounding board and some encouragement.

"After that, he was doing better, and ready to serve the rest of his tour. I stayed in touch with him throughout my deployment to make sure he was doing OK."

An emotional memory during her time as the security forces first sergeant was the death of a military working dog.

"There was an electrical fire caused by an air conditioning unit in the handler's room. He was at the gym so the dog (MWD Akki) was alone in the room. The room ended up catching fire, and the dog died from smoke inhalation.

"Three Army soldiers broke the door down to try and get the dog out - but he would only respond to his handler, and wouldn't come to them. He was loyal to the end," Sergeant Pickett said.

Sergeant Pickett said there was one moment in Mosul that stands out clearly in her mind.

"They were driving me around in convoys and would come under attack. I was getting ready to redeploy, and they were all standing there," she said. "It was a really, really cold night so they had all their gear on as they were getting ready to leave to go on yet another convoy.

"I was saying goodbye and told them to huddle around me real close, because it was so cold. They formed a semi-circle around me," the sergeant added. "Now I'm kinda small, and there were all these big dudes around me. I was telling them just how proud we were of them serving so selflessly, and that we'd continue to pray for their safety.

"I finished by saying to them, 'I'm so proud of you all - take care of yourselves and each other - 'Hooah!' And they just said 'Hooah' all together, really quietly. It was just a really intimate moment."


Balad

In Balad, Sergeant Pickett was the first person to fill the first sergeant position. During her time there, she travelled 2,700 miles throughout Iraq.

"It was pretty exhilarating, getting to fly in a Black Hawk (helicopter), Sherpa (Marine airplane) and Chinook (helicopter) - whatever we could get on," she said. "We were going to many different FOBs to visit people, sometimes to give out recognition certificates. We had hardly any discipline issues - everyone was too busy trying to stay alive, rather than get in trouble - but we were trying to increase morale."

On her next visit, she took some things from the chapel to give to the troops.

"Those guys had (very little support), but they were facing death nearly every day with all their convoys and other missions," she explained. "I brought little devotionals, bibles and rosaries - just stuff like that. They appreciated it. I wasn't trying to push it on them. I just wanted it to be available to them because it was such a tense environment, and they didn't have a chaplain there."


Budapest, Hungary

A 2008 month-long deployment in support of NATO in Budapest, Hungary began with a phone call from Chief Master Sgt. Michael Warner, former 100th Air Refueling Wing command chief, asking, "So, what are you doing for spring break, Hayden?"

"We had six tankers from RAF Mildenhall at Budapest airport, but our hotel was 30 minutes away, so we had the challenges of force protection issues (such as not being able to wear uniforms in the hotel), and tried to keep everything as covert as possible."

Her team consisted of 145 people.

"I'm most proud of what we did in the first 24 hours," Sergeant Pickett said. "We had to get everyone under the same roof in the same hotel. We produced a personnel roster, rules of engagement (including curfews and boundaries, and showing what places were absolutely off-limits to U.S. Air Force personnel).

Serving as the first sergeant, her biggest challenge was logistics.

"That kind of stuff isn't in the handbook - as first sergeants, it's said that we're in charge of 'beds, beans and bullets'. Luckily there were no bullets there, but we got everyone staying together, and everyone got fed."

Kyrgyzstan

Sergeant Pickett said her best deployment of the three was in Kyrgyzstan, mainly because she was working with such good people. She was in charge of 249 civil engineers, to include a flight of about 80 host nation and third country national escorts.

The first sergeant spent a lot of time out visiting her troops, making sure they were clear about the commander's policies, and to inform them of events going on around base. That included sports events, volunteer opportunities, and monthly cook out recognition ceremonies.

"I also spent time with senior NCOs to help develop them, so they would know how to deal with problems by establishing standards and making clear the expectations," she said.

A fact of life

Deployments are now a fact of life for military members, and because of the situations faced in war zones, some people have a very tough time handling it when at their deployed locations.

"I find people respond better to you and what you represent when you build rapport and a relationship with them," Sergeant Pickett said. "As a first sergeant, I went out and talked to my Airmen at sports events and other events around base. If you talk to them about the little things, they tend to want to work harder for you.

"It's important as leaders to show genuine concern for people, to build them up and identify their strengths. That way, when roles, positions or volunteer opportunities come along, we can find the best people to fill those roles, rather than just have someone do it for an EPR bullet."

The Tulsa native said all Airmen have to be ready, as they might have to leave at a moment's notice.

"Sometimes you don't have the guidelines of what you're supposed to do. So ask yourself, 'What is best the thing I can do for the Air Force in this role?'," she said. "Deployments will definitely make you a more interesting person, and will open your eyes to a different side of the Air Force mission - I guarantee they'll learn something about themselves, and they'll feel better for it."