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Deployed Ellsworth Airman receives call from POTUS

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Holmes
  • 438th Air Expeditionary Wing

Sitting at a desk in Afghanistan, a young Airman awaits a call from the most powerful man in the free world.

Airman 1st Class Steven McRavin, 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group guardian angel, was chosen to receive a phone call from President Barack Obama on Thanksgiving.

 

“He thanked me for being here and doing good things,” said McRavin, who is at Kandahar Airfield on his first deployment from his home unit, the 28th Security Forces Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base. “He said that he knows that being gone is tough and that everyone out here is doing a good job.”


As a guardian angel, McRavin works to ensure the safety of more than 50 Air Force members as they perform their daily task of advising members of the Afghan Air Force.

It is the dedication and enthusiasm with which he does this job that allowed him to be chosen to receive the call.

 

“As a young defender he has really been into this job and is a positive influence to the others out there with him,” said Chief Master Sgt. Tim Ross, 738th AEAG superintendent.

 

Every year Obama has taken the time to continue the tradition of calling military members who are deployed for the holidays.

 

“Sir, we had a pretty good spread for dinner tonight,” said McRavin when asked about the Thanksgiving dinner he had at the dining facility.

 

McRavin smiled during the two-minute conversation, but his smile widened when the president asked about his family.

 

“Yes, sir, I talk to them every chance I get,” said McRavin. “My step-son is four-years old and a little ball of fire. I miss him a lot.”

 

McRavin has been in the Air Force for 15 months and can already say he’s done something that very few have been, or will be able to do.