Pride of the Pack: Senior Airmen Chelsea Early

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Nathan Gallahan
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Senior Airmen Chelsea Early from the 8th Operations Support Squadron was selected as the 8th Fighter Wing's Pride of the Pack for the week of June 4.
Each week the 8th Fighter Wing commander recognizes one member of the Wolf Pack by awarding them with a Pride of the Pack certificate for their stellar commitment to excellence and superior mission accomplishment.
Here are some of Airmen Early's highlights: 

Rank and full name: Senior Airmen Chelsea Early
Unit: 8th Operations Support Squadron Intelligence Office
Duty Title: Operational Plans Targets Analyst
What is your job in a nutshell: Primary point of contact for all 8th Fighter Wing operational plans targeting support. I'm responsible for managing the deliberate planning of 8FW OPLAN tasked missions. She identifies and tracks the status of Combat Mission Folder construction and any discrepancies in the target materials section of CMFs.
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Previous Base: Holloman AFB, N.M.
Follow-on: Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany
Hobbies: Horseback riding, movies, and reading
Favorite music: All music
Last good movie: Lucky Number Slevin
Favorite Quote: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow." ~ Albert Einstein 
Best thing you've done here: Ministry of National Defense Cultural Tour to Seoul.

Letter from her commander:
Senior Airmen Early has made a positive impact throughout the wing and the community from the moment she arrived in March 2007. She serves as the unit Operational Plans Targeting Analyst within the Intelligence Flight and the Mission Planning Cell. Her daily responsibilities include providing targeting support to both flying squadrons, keeping real-world and armistice special instructions up-to-date for mission planners and maintaining all pre Integrated Tasking Order combat mission folders. 

Airmen Early's focus since arriving here at Kunsan has been to provide around the clock target intelligence support to the fighter squadrons, as well as exercise support, and the Operational Readiness Inspection preparation. This is her second time here at the Wolf Pack having been deployed here during her last assignment as a targeteer in the 9th Fighter Squadron. She has brought her extensive targeting background with her and continuously shows her dedication as one of six targeteers at Kunsan. She has selflessly dedicated her time and expertise to training the flight on Integrated Munitions Effects Assessment, an advanced targeting software program, providing a more thorough understanding on how to maximize the F-16's employment against hardened targets. During exercises and contingencies, she provides top-notch intel support to the mission planning cell keeping mission planners up to date on current threats and providing weaponeering solutions as well as fragmentary breakouts so the Wolf Pack can take the fight north.

She has also shown unmatched warrior spirit and fosters team work in all that she does. After being on the peninsula for only a month, she dove right into the biggest inspection the Wolf Pack has had in over a year and performed flawlessly. She applied her expertise in weaponeering 160 targets using five different munitions and various fuse settings. This allowed for the generation of 400 realistic training sorties flown with zero target discrepancies. Additionally, her efforts and can-do attitude were instrumental to her element being chosen to receive the "Best Team Performance Award" by the Pacific Air Forces Inspector General during the 2007 Operational Readiness Inspection.

Her dedication to education and the community is just as stellar as her day-to-day performance. She consistently strives to improve herself by enrolling and completing on-line intelligence education courses such as Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Mission Support systems. This gave her a better understanding of how to get critical mission materials to aid in mission planning. She also completed Air Tasking and Air Coordination Order training allowing her to better comprehend how that cycle works and where we, as intel support to the mission planning cell, fit in to the big picture. Her efforts towards the community are just as impressive. She was crucial in the planning an execution of the squadron's post ORI party as well as helped with going away parties and events. The local community benefits from Airmen Early as well as she has volunteered her spare time to make children in the orphanage have a better view of Americans. She continually sets the standard within the flight for enthusiasm and dedication to the mission and she always goes above and beyond what is expected of her. Senior Airmen Chelsea Early is very deserving of the Pride of the Pack Award.

Lt. Col. Richard D. LeBlanc
Commander, 8th Operations Support Squadron