Graveyard shift gets it done

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Patrice Clarke
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  It's said when the sun goes down the creepy, scary things come out to play. That's when the unidentified noises can be heard and the unexplained movements can be seen. One group of Airmen could care less about the myths, or the folklore, they get the job done. These are the men and women who work the graveyard shift ... many of them wouldn't have it any other way.

There are many squadrons and base agencies who run 24 hour operations but this article focuses on just three: the 6th Security Forces Squadron, the 6th Maintenance Squadron and the Command Post.

For many, the mid-shift is the only shift they would work.

"You learn the most at night and get the most work done," said Airman 1st Class Larry Washington, 6th MXS crew chief. "You get to go off on your own and be really independent."

"I like the mid-shift because it gives me a better opportunity to take college classes," said Senior Airman Anthony Deem, 6th Air Mobility Wing command post controller. "The night time is the best time for college classes in my job. The ops tempo is a lot different from the day shift."

The night shift not only benefits Airmen but the supervisors who work with them.

"It gives supervisors a chance to really teach and be supervisors," said Staff Sgt. James Gregory, 6th MXS flying crew chief. "We get the feeling of empowerment because we have more freedom to train towards the Airmen's needs."

Security Forces members use the mid shift to run detailed exercises with their Airmen.

"Our exercises test our Airmen on a variety of situations that could occur on base," said Staff Sgt. Timothy Davis, 6th SFS desk sergeant. "We try to make our exercises as realistic as possible so they can be prepared when situation like those really occur."

"The night shift in our case is a big job for our Airmen," said Master Sgt. John Bratcher, 6th AMW command post superintendent. "They have to make the decision on whether to wake the wing commander up or let him sleep. For an Airman to make that decision is a big responsibility."

Though the mid-shift is lauded by many there are some downsides to working the graveyard shift.

"Hardest thing for me is the family part of it," said Sergeant Bratcher. "When you work mid-shift you really have to plan quality time with your family."

For others, the sleeping schedule and food choices posed a problem.

"It took me about two week s to adjust to the whole night sleeping schedule," said Airman Washington.

"In the command post we work a four on, four off schedule," said Airman Deem. "On the four days off I try to get back into a day routine and it was difficult at first to go back to the night schedule on your first day back."

Eating your lunch at 3 a.m. also poses a problem for the graveyard shifters.

"Unless you want to eat McDonalds, or Steak and Shake, you really need to plan ahead when it comes to your meals," said Sergeant Gregory. "There really aren't a lot of options, especially if you want to eat healthy."

Working the darkest hours of the night opens up the grave shifters to some strange occurrences on base ... or at least the legend of something strange.

"I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary working the night shift," said Sergeant Gregory. "You hear legends and myths about certain aircraft but it's usually just the aircraft settling. When you have 50-to 60 year old aircraft they are bound to make noises at night."

"Working in command post has the potential to be spooky because it gets awfully quiet out here but nothing happens," said Sergeant Bratcher. "When I was out at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado, we would have to pull CQ and do security checks in the enormous facility by ourselves. Out there in the dead of night we would try to get those checks done as quickly as possible because it definitely had spooky potential. The current command post isn't as big so I think the spookiness is lowered."

Spooky or not, the graveyard shifters punch their clock the minute the sun goes down and makes sure the mission continues throughout the night.