Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio —
The Air Force’s top 12 Airmen of 2022 will be officially recognized at the AFA Air, Space and Cyber Conference Sept. 19-21 at National Harbor, with MR. Air Force magazine highlighting one day each week from now until the conference begins. Today we celebrate Tech. Sgt. Brian E., command language program manager for the 655th Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Reconnaissance Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio Kelleher.
Kelleher is an Urdu linguist. Urdu is a highly regarded language among the Afghan population—Dari and Pashto are the most commonly spoken languages there—but its scarcity makes Kelleher’s knowledge of Urdu even more valuable to the refugees, for whom Urdu is a major. So when a patient arrived at the Kelleher Reserve unit to find supporting Airmen who were so welcoming to operational partners, she didn’t have to volunteer or even be asked twice before signing up.
“My whole job is CENTCOM-centric,” Kelleher explained. “So … watching Afghanistan, watching Kabul fall … it breaks your heart.”
She was given 24 hours notice before heading to Task Force Holloman, which she described as a “desert deployment situation.” Over the course of two days, Kelleher and her team assembled an entire language support unit to support the temporary refugee “village.” Before the cell was created, no infrastructure was in place, meaning there were no existing plans for efficient communication with incoming migrants.
“These people coming in have been through a very difficult time in their lives, and they want to make sure they have support,” Kelleher said. “They are living people who counted against us.”
To rectify the situation and streamline the process, Kelleher’s 23-member linguist cell created directional signs in Urdu, Dari and Pashto and set up processes for translation and publication. During the two-week Operation Allies Welcome, her unit received 95 aircraft and processed more than 3,500 refugees for medical and visa purposes. Kelleher developed a missing child alert system that disseminated information about missing refugees in their native language, eventually reuniting more than 300 children with their families.
“It was messy, and messy, and things weren’t going well,” she says. “[But] We all just worked in concert. it was [actually] A very beautiful thing. “
Kelleher’s involvement with immigrants and refugees goes beyond her support of Holloman. Back home in Dayton, Ohio, she and her husband, also an Urdu linguist, volunteered with local organizations to support Afghan and Somali families transitioning to American life. While the organizations support the families in “big picture” ways such as paying for food stamps and finding jobs, Kelleher fills in the gaps so immigrants and refugees can set up Internet at home, read their mail or find out where they are. It’s a grocery store.
“It’s very baseline, very close support,” Kelleher said. “[It can feel] much better [helping with] the biggest thing”
Indeed, one of the Afghan families she worked closely with was moved to Dayton by Task Force Holloman’s “village.” Kelleher visits them regularly to check on their well-being, but they enjoy playing games, eating dinner and simply spending time together.
“We consider each other family,” she said.
For Kelleher, having a heart for the people you care about is central to being a linguist. She said the Air Force culture helped shape her mindset to “get it over with.” That, combined with language and cultural training, is what makes her and her cell’s efforts at Holloman unique.
“I’m not an island,” Kelleher added. “They are all my linguists and all my leaders. We all had to come together. I’m the one waving and saying thank you.
