F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Many Airmen join the U.S. Air Force for a common reason: to serve. This can put Airmen hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from their loved ones. As a first-term Airman, it can be difficult. Many Airmen may feel lonely, isolated and doubtful.
The Adopt an Airman program helps connect the community of Cheyenne and the Airmen of the 90th Missile Wing to help build a support system and connections for the Airmen serving through matching an Airman to a host family.
To help some of those host families better understand what their Airman does as part of the 90th Missile Wing’s mission, the wing hosted them for a visit and tour of several facilities on F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, Oct. 26, 2023.
“The Adopt an Airman program is essential to giving our junior Airmen that ‘home away from home’ environment,” said Col. Johnny Galbert, 90th Missile Wing commander. “This is a great opportunity to highlight our mission to our host families and show them how much we appreciate all they do for our Airman.”
The program begins by having a questionnaire for the Airmen and the families to fill out naming preferences such as hobbies, favorite foods, music tastes and other common interests to help match an Airman to a family they can really connect with. Once a good match is found, the Airman and the sponsors are introduced.
The Adopt an Airman program was put in place to ultimately help Airmen build bonds closer to them due to the bonds they originally have being so far away. The program also allows for community insight to understand the life of an Airman.
“We really enjoy it. We’re empty nesters, so bringing these Airmen into our home to have dinner, watch a TV program, do a potluck or have a movie night is a lot of fun,” said Linda Tyce, Adopt an Airman sponsor. “They’re fun kids to us.”
Full- time Guard and Reserve and Active Duty military members are prohibited from being a sponsor for the Adopt an Airman program to prevent an Airman from being matched within their chain of command. For more information on the program, send an email to adoptanairmanwyo@gmail.com.