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Operation Thank You: Community shows appreciation to Cannon Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Craig Seals
  • 27th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Clovis radio personalities Steve Rooney and Duffy Moon of 107.5 FM traveled to Balad Air Base, Iraq, over the Thanksgiving holiday bringing holiday messages and gifts from home to the deployed members of the 27th Fighter Wing in what they called "Operation Thank You."

Operation Thank You was put together as a way for Rooney and Moon to personally thank each and every Airman they came in contact with for their service and wish each of them a safe and enjoyable holiday season.
The radio hosts were able to fly on military medical aircraft into and out of Balad to gain a better understanding of the military's medical mission in Iraq.
While at Balad, the disc jockeys were taken to many of the bases' group headquarters and received briefings from various group commanders as to the Air Force's overall mission in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM and at Balad specifically.
Rooney and Moon performed their usual morning show live from Balad, entertaining troops and giving deployed Airmen from the 27th Fighter Wing the opportunity to send holiday greetings back home to their loved ones live on the radio.
The radio hosts also brought a video compiled of deployed members' families here at Cannon sending their well wishes and holiday greetings to the Airmen stationed there.
The radio show was broadcast from one of the base's four dining facilities on Thanksgiving, another broadcast from the recreation center and the final broadcast on the flightline with the 524th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit deployed from Cannon.

After their broadcast from the recreation center, Rooney and Moon were invited to be guest judges for the Balad Idol karaoke competition. Deployed Airmen were greatly appreciative of the efforts of Rooney and Moon, but the radio hosts were quick to turn the thank you back to the Airmen, thanking them for their service and sacrifice, especially over the holidays.
Their visit was well received by the Airmen as well as Balad's command section. Brig. Gen. Robin Rand personally visited two of the three broadcasts thanking Rooney and Moon for making the trip and bringing holiday messages to the Airmen.
The trip ended on a sobering note as the radio hosts traveled back to Germany on a military medevac C-17 aircraft loaded with ambulatory patients en route to receive medical care for battle related injuries.

"We are absolutely humbled by the Herculean efforts of every Airmen we came across on our visit and we have really gained a better understanding for the bigger picture of what the Air Force is engaged in out there," said Rooney.
"I think Operation Thank You was a huge success," said Moon. "Not just because we were able to do a radio show out there, but because we really got to see what these Airmen are doing and it is absolutely incredible. Wow."

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