Andersen Air Force Base, Guam – U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kurtis Humfeld, an Air Terminal Operations Center information controller assigned to the 734th Air Mobility Squadron, was recognized as the 36th Wing’s Team Andersen Linebacker of the Week, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, March 29, 2023.

The Team Andersen Linebacker of the Week recognizes outstanding enlisted, officer, civilian and total force personnel who have had an impact on achieving Team Andersen’s mission, vision and priorities.

After arriving at Andersen AFB, Humfeld started out as the air terminal operations supervisor where he led a team of 20 military and civilian personnel. During this time, he guided his team through a 30% manning deficit while still providing command and control support to 177 presidential support missions in 30 days. These efforts supported the president and vice president of the United States and their travel to and from the G20 summit and Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

As an information controller, Humfeld supervises a shop that is solely responsible for command and control and monitoring the workload of the squadron. He works closely with appropriate major commands air operations, command and control agencies, base operations and other agencies to ensure each work center has needed information. Humfeld also briefs aircrew on important payload information to include seat release, hazardous materials, special cargo shipments, special category passengers and other pertinent details.

“My favorite part of my job is when I get to do something that I know will have an impact,” said Humfeld. “I like it when we can do stuff that has an immediate, tangible effect.”

Humfeld collaborated with Indonesia’s Naval Chief of Staff to secure non-standard sealift, eliminating a 12-month delay of $2 million of foreign military sales for the Indonesian Air Force. Humfeld facilitated the final steps in a 12-month project, resolving the degraded phone system for Andersen AFB’s mobility operations linchpin. His efforts met the Air Mobility Command commanders One Command Post directive. The Unify Open Scape phone system is a highly advanced system used to communicate with aircrew, land mobile radios and phone connectivity though one station. This ensures that information controllers in the ATOC and maintenance operations center receive real-time updates of airfield operations.

“It’s important to lead by example because people learn and figure out how to do stuff by looking at people around them,” said Humfeld.

The term Linebacker is rooted deep within Team Andersen’s history. Operation Linebacker II took place on Dec. 18, 1972, and was the largest number of heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of World War II. During the operation, B-52s from Andersen flew round-the-clock bombing missions over North Vietnam to destroy major targets in Hanoi and Haiphong in an effort to bring the Democratic Republic of Vietnam back to negotiations.

The recipient will have the opportunity to sign a “Linebacker” football jersey that will be displayed in the Wing Headquarters building.

Way to go, Humfeld!

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• Andersen Linebacker of the Week: Christopher Quintanilla