Best Friends: Bond Between Security Forces Member, Horse Survives Basic Training and Her First PCS

BEST FRIENDS

Bond between security forces member, horse survives basic training and her first PCS

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON // PHOTOS BY STAFF SGT. VERNON YOUNG JR.

16 March 2015

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, spends time with her horse in Lothian, Maryland after her military duty day as an U.S. Air Force patrolman, Jan. 30, 2015. Evans, a North Carolina native, relocated her horse to Maryland at her own expense to continue competing with the horse. Spending time with the horse has helped Evans cope physically and mentally as she begins her military career.

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If Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn R. Evans has a stressful night on patrol, or if she just needs to vent, she always has her best friend. She might fuss at her friend for getting himself dirty as she brushes his mane, but he always listens, never talks back, and perhaps most importantly, is always waiting for her in his barn in Lothion, Md.
That’s because Evans’ best friend is her horse Kobalt.
“A lot of times I will come out here if I’m stressed out about things, and I can ride,” she said. “When I get in the saddle, I can just leave everything else on the ground, and I don’t pick it back up, so I usually leave the barn calmer and happier. A lot of times, I do my best thinking out here, and I will have a fresh perspective on things when I’ve just had some time to myself and spent some time doing something I love. So I usually leave here with a clean slate.”

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, guides her horse Kobalt before washing him for the day in Lothian, Maryland, Jan. 30, 2015. Evans, spends time washing, riding and training with Kobalt during off-duty hours as she prepares for competitions in the future.

The 11th Security Forces Squadron member brought Kobalt from North Carolina when she arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Nov. 20, 2014 after she completed technical training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Everyone, from her recruiter and military training instructor during basic training to fellow Airmen, told her she wouldn’t have the time or money to care for a horse, but Evans didn’t listen to unsolicited negative guidance. She wanted her best friend with her, and she’s reminded of the reason each time she walks into his stall.
“They have the strongest bond of any horse and human I have ever seen,” said Cathy Scott, one of Evans’ best human friends who she met through their mutual love of horses in North Carolina. “It’s actually funny to watch them together. He moves, she moves. Their steps sync up when they walk. The only way to describe their bond is they are truly connected.
“She would do anything for that horse. Who else would take their horse with them while on active duty in the Air Force, based more than nine hours from home? Their bond is truly remarkable.”
But the friendship didn’t begin well when a veterinarian near her hometown of Old Fort, N.C., gave her Kobalt, then a 3-year-old named Ned, when Evans was 17. He kicked, tried to bite and Evans was afraid of him. But eventually, she summoned the courage to ride him, and trust was born in both the young woman and her horse.

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, spends time with her horse in Lothian, Maryland after her military duty day as a U.S. Air Force patrolman, Dec. 20, 2014. Evans, a North Carolina native, relocated her horse to Maryland at her own expense to continue competing with the horse. Spending about two hours of time with her horse has helped Evans cope physically and mentally as she begins her military career.

She talks to Kobalt as if he’s another human being, sometimes even answering her questions for him. But there’s an emotional bond between them that she really can’t explain.
“When we’re together, it’s almost like he can read my mind,” she said. “He is constantly on top of what I’m feeling. If I’m sad, he tries to cheer me up. He gives me hugs. If I’m upset or mad, he gets upset and throws a little temper tantrum to let me know he knows I’m mad. If I’m happy or just full of myself, he just relaxes and listens. He’s very connected to me and my emotions, everything I feel, do and see.”
She began riding horses at the age of 10 when her parents decided to home-school her and her brother, and they needed a physical education activity. Three years later, she got her first horses – an old pony she named Allie and a colt named Alaska. At first, she was far from excited about the 23-year-old, dirty, white pony.
“But I took her home, gave her some TLC, a bath and cleaned her up, and she ended up being the best pony I ever had in my life,” Evans said. “After I adjusted to her, and we got to know each other, and we quit hating each other so much, I started to really enjoy owning a horse.”
Evans joined the Air Force when her father gave her a choice of either completing the college degree she had spent four years working on or joining the military. But neither basic training or her technical school came easily for her. In basic training, she struggled with her physical training test because of anxiety over sit-ups, but eventually overcame it and graduated June 13, 2014. But it didn’t get any easier in her tech school until she had to make the decision while low-crawling through sand on a 100-degree San Antonio day in full gear on whether she was going to continue fighting for the career she wanted or give up and go home.
“My sergeant was over me, screaming the entire 10 minutes, telling me to get out of the sand pit and go home, and that he didn’t want me in his Air Force,” she said. “I remember thinking I had to decide right then and right there if I was going to get up and go home, or if I was going to fight for what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. So I crawled through that sand, and I finished.”

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, surveys the road while on night-shift duty at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Feb. 14, 2015. During the evening hours, her role as a patrolman is to secure the base and maintain the safety of personnel. Her attention to detail and military discipline serves as key components to maintaining the demands of owning a horse and performing well at work.

Evans graduated Sept. 23 as a distinguished graduate. While in tech school, she also was a teal rope, which is a sexual assault representative. She felt called to volunteer for the additional responsibility because she was sexually assaulted for four years, beginning at the age of 14, by an older man at a barn where she was riding her horse.
“He just started integrating himself into my life by taking me home every day,” she said. “My mom and dad thought he was trustworthy because he worked with handicapped children. I was brainwashed into a lot of things and threatened. But after I got Kobalt, he was my stable, emotional tie-down. When I made the decision when I was 18 to get out of the situation because I physically could because I was an adult at that time, it was a very difficult, emotional time. So my horse played a big part in keeping me emotionally grounded. A lot of the things I went through affected me emotionally, and they still do to this day. My horse is something that’s been there for me.”
Evans talks to her therapist regularly and is beginning to realize the assault wasn’t her fault. She also gives the Air Force credit for giving her the strength to press charges against the perpetrator. Still, going home requires considerable inner strength, although she’s also thankful for the support of her family through the ordeal.
“The Air Force helped me to become a stronger person, where I don’t care what other people think,” she said. “He did what he did to me and deserves to pay for what he did, so I go home with my head held high, and I don’t care if some people take his side.
“Now I have help through the Air Force. I really didn’t understand how emotionally I was affected by it, and I tried to blow it off like it wasn’t happening, that it was in the past, but I realized I can’t do that. I have to figure out a way to work through it in order to overcome it. That’s what I’m doing now.”
As a young security forces member, Evans is off to a promising start in her career at JB Andrews, one of her flight sergeants said.
“She came here straight out of tech school with a lot more motivation than some of the guys she came in with,” said Tech. Sgt. Rommell C. Lewis, 11th SFS flight sergeant. “I think she has a good future in security forces as long as she holds on to her drive and motivation.”

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, approaches a vehicle during a routine traffic violation while on night-shift duty at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Feb. 14, 2015. During the evening hours, her role as a patrolman is to secure the base and maintain the safety of personnel. Her attention to detail and military discipline serves as key components to maintaining the demands of owning a horse and performing well at work.

Her best friend is a big part of that process. She works nights, along with 12-hour shifts every other weekend, so she sleeps during the day before making her daily visit to the barn to spend time with Kobalt and her pony named Kallie each afternoon.
“It is my outlet, where I come to de-stress and de-compress,” she said. “If things happen at work, I don’t bring work to the barn. I come here to be peaceful and to have a good time and connect with him. I really do think of him as my best friend, so it’s kind of like coming to hang out with your best friend.
“But he’s also like my therapist. I can easily come out here and talk to him anytime. He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t talk back, and he doesn’t give me any advice I don’t want to take. He’s been like my anchor through a lot of things. He’s my anchor through my job, and he’s been my anchor through the sexual assault. With everything, he’s been there with me through all of it.”

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, guides Kobalt into a horse stable after cleaning him in Lothian, Maryland, Jan. 30, 2015. Evans, a North Carolina native, relocated her horse to Maryland at her own expense to continue competing with the horse. Spending time with the horse has helped Evans cope physically and mentally as she begins her military career. She often compares spending time with her horse to being with a family member in her hometown.

She doesn’t look at either taking care of her horses or her job as work in the traditional sense because she loves both for different reasons. She has already begun organizing volunteer events, such as taking a small team from her flight to re-salt Arlington National Cemetery. Evans is amazed when she considers her progress, both on the job and in her recovery from the sexual assault.
“It’s been a journey, but it’s also been more of a fight to find out who I am in myself and who I want to be,” she said. “Every day I wake up, I do things I never thought were possible. It blows my mind to think I’m where I am today. The more I get into it, the more I love the military, the organization and I love what it stands for. I used to be terrified of deployment, but I’m to the point in my mindset where if it’s my turn to go overseas to deploy, I’m ready to do my part to serve my country and be somebody bigger than myself.”
She has a plan for Kobalt and Kallie for both deployment and her next permanent change of station move. He will be cared for in his barn if Evans deploys, and when she moves again, the horses will move, as well. In December, Evans moved her horses into the barn in Lothion after owner Robin Diallo responded to her Facebook advertisement. In addition to the boarding, Diallo’s son, Ben, helps her around the barn, just another advantage in what Evans calls an ideal situation for her horses.
As Evans settles into her job at JB Andrews, she plans to resume Kobalt’s show competitions this year. She wasn’t able to take him last year because of her Air Force training but has major plans for Kobalt or Painted Marble Serengeti, his show name. But whether it’s through competitions or just riding in the pasture, the friendship between the Airman and her horse will continue to be an important part of her life.
“Being in riding, competing and having Kobalt is a lifestyle. It’s what I choose to do,” she said. “It makes my life 100 percent better and 100 percent more stable. He relies on me, and I rely on him emotionally. He’s a big key to what’s brought me to the military and what has brought me through a lot of things in life.
“He’s my best friend.”

Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Evans, 11th Security Forces Squadron patrolman, poses for a portrait with her horse Kobalt in Lothian, Maryland after her military duty day as a U.S. Air Force patrolman, Dec. 20, 2014. Evans, a North Carolina native, relocated her horse to Maryland at her own expense to continue competing with the horse. Spending about two hours of time with her horse has helped Evans cope physically and mentally as she begins her military career.

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'Mr. P:' At 80, Supervisor Remains the Backbone of One of Service's Largest C-17 Fabrication Shops

‘MR. P’

At 80, supervisor remains the backbone of one of service’s largest C-17 fabrication shops

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON// STAFF SGT. VERNON YOUNG JR.

22 June 2015

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sews a head rest cover for the interior of a C-17 Globemaster III, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce completes work orders from C-17 maintainers to maintain aircraft safety standards. The fabrication shop saves the Air Force about $1.25 million annually on sewing refurbished and locally manufactured items.

When Bobby Pierce was learning to sew during his Air Force technical training in 1955, he never imagined he would still be teaching the skill to Airmen in his fabrication shop six decades later.
Pierce, or “Mr. P,” as he’s known in the 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Fabrication Shop at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, quickly made an impression on Tech. Sgt. Rico Kones when he arrived in 2001. Almost immediately, Mr. P became the person Kones looked to for guidance and information. Kones credits the veteran with teaching him how to sew, which Pierce continues to do with the shop’s Airmen.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sips his morning coffee as he begins his duty day, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce leads a fabrication shop of 10 civilians and several military members that provide a wide-range of fabrication services to the aircrews assigned to JB-Charleston.

“Mr. P is an inspiration to us all,” said Kones, an aircrew flight equipment special projects coordinator. “He is in his 80s, and he is still working here in the shop lifting heavy rolls of fabric and working out daily on his lunch break. Mr. P greets us all here daily with a smile and asks us, ‘How are you doing today?’ Although this is one of the busiest shops in (Air Mobility Command), Mr. P is always personable with the civilian members and GIs. He treats us all like family.”
Pierce is the senior of 10 civilian employees in the shop who represent more than 300 years of experience. It is one of the Air Force’s few fabrication shops that still produce all fabric-related items for aircraft. Every two years, the material in each of the base’s 50 C-17 Globemaster IIIs must be refurbished or replaced.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, escorts Staff Sgt. Matthew Mason, 437th Logistics Readiness Squadron non-commissioned officer in charge of documented cargo, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for Mason’s crew to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

Employees use sheepskin to make custom cockpit seat covers Pierce calls “butt covers,” and also refurbish armrest and headrest covers, bunk cushions, heavy bunk curtains made of fire-resistant fabric and heavy-duty straps. The straps must be done on Big Bertha, the only one of the shop’s five sewing machines that can handle heavier materials. They even embroider the active-duty and reserve wing logos, along with the JB Charleston logo, into certain items so all C-17 passengers will know where the work was done.
Some shop specialists compare the work to NASCAR mechanics. In both cases, people just take the end products for granted without considering the work that went into them, Pierce said.
“If a NASCAR driver does really well, people think he was great, but they don’t know what went into that car, the work that was done on that car to put him into position to win,” he said. “But everything had to be perfect in that car for him to win. But how was it perfect? People see things like seat covers and think they magically appeared. They don’t think about the work that went into them. They just see them and don’t know the story behind them.”
Each morning, Pierce arrives at the shop early at 5:30 and makes coffee. He checks his emails and reads the newspaper over his breakfast before his shift begins an hour later. It’s a routine that has served him well since his first day on the job in 1986.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, guides C-17 crew chiefs’ Airman 1st Class John Williams, Senior Airmen Rahul Bhutani and Airman 1st Class Christian Moskovitz, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for the Airmen to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

During those three decades, Pierce has witnessed the reorganization in 2007 that combined survival and equipment with aircrew life support. He’s also seen his share of other changes, such as when an Air Mobility Command commander’s ride on a C-17 led to a switch to a more comfortable bunk rest cover.
“In the early days of the C-17, Gen. (Walter) Kross rode on the aircraft and was displeased with the bunk rest cover,” Pierce said. “So it was changed to one that was much more comfortable for crew members to rest on.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, sews a head rest cover for the interior of a C-17 Globemaster III, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce completes work orders from C-17 maintainers to maintain aircraft safety standards. The fabrication shop saves the Air Force about $1.25 million annually on sewing refurbished and locally manufactured items.

Before basic training in 1955, Pierce was selected as a parachute rigger. He learned to sew, along with parachute preparedness and inspection skills, during 16 weeks of technical training at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois.
His first assignment was at the former Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia, a Strategic Air Command installation; followed by Castle Air Force Base, California; Incirlik Air Base, Turkey and Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. He retired as a master sergeant in 1975 and chose to continue in the aircrew flight equipment field, first at Shaw, before he moved to his current shop 11 years later.
The one constant throughout his military and civilian careers has been his love of sewing.
“The one thing about sewing is it’s relatively a clean job,” Pierce said. “You don’t have mud and grease on your clothes normally. Also, it’s an inside job. You have air conditioning in the summer, and in the wintertime, you don’t have to be out in the elements. If you enjoy sewing, it’s kind of an art, a task in which you sew a piece of material to make it into an end item, like a cushion cover, or even a dress or pair of pants. You can do a lot of things with sewing.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, guides C-17 crew chiefs’ Airman 1st Class John Williams, Senior Airmen Rahul Bhutani and Airman 1st Class Christian Moskovitz, Feb. 28, 2015. Pierce and 437th fabrication flight personnel completed a job for the Airmen to load onto a C-17 Globemaster III. The 437th AFE creates aircraft parts by request and the 437th LRS Airmen install the parts with the approval of the maintenance squadrons.

The one thing the fabrication shop does best with sewing is save the Air Force money, about $1.25 million annually, on refurbished and locally manufactured items, said Scott Lewis, an aircrew flight equipment foreman. One of the items where a big chunk of the savings is made is in heads-up display covers. The covers cost about $2,500, but the shop makes them for $150-175 each. This savings adds up to about $40,000 on each C-17, or up to about $1 million a year.
Even when the workload eases up somewhat, there is still plenty to do. This is when they get ready for the next aircraft due for refurbishing.
“We have to keep a supply of items on hand so we can change them right away and can get it back ASAP,” Pierce said. “So when things are a little slack, we make extra seat covers, bed rest covers, and we sew extra straps to make sure we have some spare sets ahead to take care of them whenever they come in. All we have to do then is strip them off and put our new covers on. We always have something to do ahead of time. To have a few extra sets really helps us out in the long run.”

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, performs pull-ups during his lunch workout routine, Feb. 28, 2015. At 80 years old with nearly 60 years of federal and military service, his consistent workout routine has kept him abreast with the developing times and standards.

At 80 years and with almost 60 years of combined federal and military service, Pierce has no plans to retire. That suits the others in the shop just fine. They’ve grown accustomed to seeing his smiling face and carrying large pieces of fabric as if they were a few pieces of notebook paper.
“I’ve worked around a lot of older people in my career,” Kones said. “They talk about when they retire, they will go home with nothing to do. They need a mission to accomplish to keep them going. He has one.
“He’s the oldest in the shop, but we look at him as our Hercules because you will see him carrying around 25-pound fabric on one shoulder. Mr. P is the backbone of our section. He’s back there day in and day out, making sure our aircraft are looking good.”
But perhaps another lasting legacy Pierce will eventually leave the shop will be his role in inspiring another generation of mentors who are willing to go the extra mile for their own Airmen. Kones considers himself in that category.

Mr. Bobby Pierce, 437th Aircrew Flight Equipment Squadron, Joint-Base Charleston, S.C., repairman, displays his Air Force basic training portrait and squadron photo above his desk, Feb. 28, 2015. After retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1975, his dedication to the military continued and his love for sewing grew. As the leader of a long-standing fabrication shop, he remains the backbone of one of the premiere jobs in the Air Force.

“One of the biggest lessons that Mr. P has showed me about the shop and my career is that I am a leader, and it is my duty to ensure that the mission is getting accomplished and that my people are taken care of,” Kones said. “He showed me that if you take care of your people, they will take care of you. If you are there just working your people with no gratification, they will work because they have to for the paycheck. But if you show them that they matter, and that they are doing a good job, they will go that extra mile because of you.”

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