Branch celebrates fleet milestone with families

  • Published
  • By 1st. Lt. Kaprice Montecalvo
  • Communications Systems Quick Reaction Capability Branch
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Quick Reaction Capability Branch gathered with family members of all ages for the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet's 50,000 hour celebration in conjunction with the second annual HNAA "Bring Your Family to Work Day" Aug 14.

"This is a significant milestone for the BACN fleet," said Col. Anthony Genatempo, Space, Aerial and Nuclear Networks Division senior materiel leader. "Since the first aircraft with BACN deployed in 2008, this critical capability has now been provided to our warfighters for more than 50,000 hours."

The celebration kicked off during the lunch portion after Genatempo's profound proclamation - "Let us eat cake!"

Bring Your Family to Work Day focused on the future of the Air Force; with briefings about the fundamentals of flight, Air Force careers and experiences, presentations about specific Air Force programs at Hanscom AFB, and special robotics demonstrations by representatives from iRobot. Hanscom firefighters were also on hand to make a presentation.

"This event was a great opportunity for family members to get a glimpse of what we do at work every day," said Capt. Tchoia Brown, E-11A Payload Sustainment and Platform Maintenance BACN program manager.

Younger family members' colored pictures of the BACN mascot, built paper aircraft and pinwheels, and navigated robots through an obstacle course using a tablet computer.

"The robots were awesome," said Jimmy Gould, son of BACN Deputy Program Manager Jennifer Gould. "The iRobot guy threw the little ones across the room and they turned themselves over. One time the big robot ran over the little robot and the little one didn't even break! The little robots went way fast and were fun to drive."

These activities were followed by a tour of the iRobot's 110 FirstLook Firefighting robot as well as two firefighting vehicles from the Hanscom Fire Department.

Family members then attended presentations on programs originating at Hanscom, listened to experiences from the Air Force Academy and deployments, as well as presentations on the Judge Advocates career path and the government perspective.

The concept of Bring Your Family to Work Day has preserved the quality of life at Hanscom AFB, said organizers. Thanks to the support of leadership, the event was an educational insight into today's unique environment for families of our military, civilian and contractor personnel, as well as those preparing for future career opportunities.