Holiday exodus approaches

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Candy Miller
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Every year thousands of Airmen in Training deploy home for the holidays during the annual exodus. Within a 12-hour period about 4,000 Airmen will leave Sheppard from Dec. 18 until  Jan. 3. The military training leaders began preparing for exodus in September. They worked together using the original exodus plan from previous years and updated the plan according to what has worked the best in the past.

Airmen must set up transportation home on their own and find transportation to get to their departure point. For Airmen that choose to travel out of Dallas, Texas or Oklahoma City,Okla.; the Information, Tickets and Travel Offices will provide bus transportation.

Master Sgt. Robert Fraley, an MTL leading the exodus operation, said this is the first year AiT will use Leaveweb to process leave rather than using the hard copy of Leave Form 988.

He said allowing the Airmen to use Leaveweb makes the process much faster and does away with the hassle of paperwork.

"It prepares the AiT to use the Air Force Portal for all of their Air Force mission support needs," he said. "It also takes unnecessary steps out of the process in today's technology era."

All 82nd TRW AiTs are authorized to wear smart casual civilian attire while traveling during the Exodus holiday period. Furthermore, wear of the Airman Battle Uniform , the Battle Dress Uniform, Service Dress or any combination of blue uniform is also authorized.

"Many Airmen will be traveling for over 12 hours with heavy luggage," said Sergeant Fraley. "After travelling for so long, many of the uniforms become wrinkled, ribbon racks break and they end up not looking like the Airmen they are."

Sergeant Fraley said Sheppard has coordinated with Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to allow 2009's last set of AiT arriving from basic military training to take leave for exodus when they arrive Dec. 21. The Airmen will in process at Sheppard Dec. 22 and begin their exodus Dec. 23.

The first Airmen from BMT in 2010 will arrive Jan. 4.

For more information on purchasing plane or bus tickets, contact ITT at 676-7019. For more information on exodus, contact Sergeant Fraley at 676-3372 or Senior Master Sgt. Robert Smith at 676-8378.