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| Employee Spotlight on Jon Wiesinger
Employee Spotlight on Jason Connelly
Employee Spotlight on Randy Newman
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Employee Spotlight on Jon Wiesinger
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Jon Wiesinger
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The weather in Bagram during my Air Guard tour was perfect for vacation--about 100F during the day and 70F at night. Unfortunately, they haven’t built the pool or golf course yet.
During my deployment, I mostly flew the C-130H with my crew to many of the small airfields NAC serves. We also did one short notice night airdrop of supplies to some Marines in Helmond province. Afghanistan is an impressive country filled with tough people. I got to visit with some of the NAC people in Bagram and tour the facilities. The photos are of me and my crew as well as me at Farah airfield in Eastern Afghanistan.
During my 30 day tour, I flew 54.1 combat hours, moved 485 Passengers and 142 tons of cargo.
Our mission was to supply for Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) with material and people. The FOBs were generally small gravel airstrips. We also did one night airdrop to the Marines in Helmond Province. The drop was done using NVGs (Night Vision Goggles)
In September, I was deeply honored to receive the “Hometown Heroes Award” at a ceremony in Mansfield, OH, my hometown. The award is given to those who are deployed over 30 days in support of the wars after 9/11. Many thanks to those who supported me while I was gone.
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Jon Wiesinger (third from left) with crew at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
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Editor’s note: National Airlines’ Director of Operations, Jon Wiesinger, recently returned from a thirty-day National Guard deployment in Afghanistan.
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Employee Spotlight on Jason Connelly
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Jason Connelly
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My squadron in the Michigan Air National Guard recently deployed on the KC-135 air refueling mission and this summer we finished our first contingency deployment in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, at Incirlik AB in Turkey.
As aircrew, it was my primary responsibility to deliver on time scheduled fuel offloads, usually 100,000 pounds, to receiver aircraft during their flights going into and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. This helps ensure the safety of crew and cargo by allowing them to spend less time on the ground, not having to refuel, at their down-range destinations, and especially helping ensure safety of our airmen and soldiers at smaller locations where many times fuel has to be trucked in through hostile routes.
Operating in a contingency environment meant very few days off, and also sitting cockpit alert when necessary to accommodate the highest of priority missions. Our operations were supplemented with a handful of active duty aircrew, maintainers, and aircraft, and together we delivered over 20 million pounds of jet fuel to receiver aircraft.
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Jason Connelly's Air National Guard unit performed mid-air refueling on KC-135 aircraft that flew to Iraq.
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Having been deployed many other times, this was my first while being a member of the National Airlines’ team, and the support from everyone while I was gone was first class. It feels great to be home and back to work, especially with as warm a welcome as I received. I am excited to bring the experiences I continue to gain in the Air Force to National Airlines, as I believe they directly strengthen and influence my role with our company, and therefore strengthen the company as a whole!
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Employee Spotlight on Randy Newman
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Randy Newman
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About 7 months into my tenure as a new employee at National Airlines, I was deployed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan with the Air Force. I was there in Bagram for six months with my Civil Engineering Unit from Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. In Bagram I was part of a surveying crew that did a variety of GPS surveying and various stakeouts that aided in base expansion over there. I worked a lot with building plans and with computer aided drafting (AUTOCAD). I had a part in the design for the new NAC cargo yard over there. I also helped out with some general construction, concrete pouring, building renovation, and painting. On many of these smaller projects I worked with local Afghani laborers. They were pretty friendly and eager to learn, and it was a good experience working with them. During the last couple months of our stay we developed a training program to involve the 25 or so local workers we routinely worked with and I was responsible for training the two I had in my career field. I also taught a class to teach the locals English in order to help them in their jobs.
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Randy Newman spent six months with his unit at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
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Now that I’m back at National Airlines, I assumed my old role as an operations controller in the dispatch department. Here we take care of dispatching flights, flight following, and processing shipping paperwork. I’m glad to be back in the States, and would like to thank National Airlines for the support they showed me while I was away. One thing I did not count on was the tremendous support shown through the amount of letters and care packages we as a unit received. We were there over the holidays, which certainly added to the amount of mail that we received. Though before we left, and while we were there, (and probably still sitting there) we had tons and tons of snacks, toiletries, candy, blankets (for us and for the locals) and general day-to-day stuff. I was happy to see that we received so much support from people back here in the States.
Editor’s Note: National Airlines was recently recognized by the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve for its corporate commitment to U.S. Military service members.
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