AFOTEC supports deployed members with care packages

  • Published
Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. --  It has been said that without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. The caring members from the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center are hard at work building that sense of community by putting together care packages for the organization's deployed team members.

"The AFOTEC Key Spouse program initiated the care package program to ensure deployed members are taken care of as we continue to support their efforts and help support their families," said Senior Master Sgt. Peter Padilla, AFOTEC First Sergeant.

Packages are put together each quarter and contain a variety of items such as snacks, books, DVDs, personal hygiene items, and cards and notes signed by family and friends. The AFOTEC Key Spouse program is lead by Vivie Sargeant, wife of AFOTEC Commander Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Sargeant. Mrs. Sargeant works with other AFOTEC key spouses and organization members to collect and assemble the quarterly care packages.

"We are happy to provide a little bit of home for our deployed Airmen," said Mrs. Sargeant. "Sending 'care packages' to our AFOTEC deployed members is a small way of telling them we are thinking of them and that we appreciate their enduring sacrifices on behalf of our Nation. We look forward to preparing and sending care packages quarterly."

"As we continue to focus on our AFOTEC mission, it is also very important to find time to remember our deployed team members," said General Sargeant. "Our support continues beyond the normal duty section and when our members deploy we continue that support to them and their families until they come home."

AFOTEC is a direct reporting unit under Headquarters, United States Air Force. It is the Air Force independent test agency responsible for testing, under operationally realistic conditions, new systems being developed for Air Force and multi-service use.