Trainees with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, meet with agents from Leisure Travel Services Monday at Davidson Fitness Center to buy tickets and make reservations to go home during the holidays. The temporary travel agency will be set up in the DFC gym through December to facilitate booking more than 4,500 combinations of flights and direct charter bus tickets for service members this holiday season.
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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — It’s beginning to look a lot like holiday block leave in the Davidson Fitness Center, as part of the gym has been turned into a temporary travel agency for the next couple of months.
On Monday, trainees in basic combat training units and service members attending their military occupational specialty schools here lined up to meet with Leisure Travel Services agents to plan and book their holiday travel.
Aaron O’Donoghue, the manager at Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s LTS, said he has a team of four airfare agents, including himself, one direct charter sales agent and one airport shuttle bus ticket agent working to book more than 4,500 combinations of flights and direct charter bus tickets for service members this holiday season.
“This year’s schedule from today to mid-December has us ticketing around 470 scheduled hours, and in January we will be working an additional 20 hours over two days to help with the return of Fort Leonard Wood’s Soldiers, Marines and Seabee Sailors,” O’Donoghue said.
He said most of the tickets are to places in the continental U.S., but sometimes they get a request that takes a little more time and planning.
“In past years, we have booked tickets to places like Sweden, Germany, South Korea, Thailand, Argentina and South Africa,” O’Donoghue said.
As Pfc. Tierra Graeschoedel, a trainee with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, waited her turn on Monday, she said she was glad to be taking care of her travel now, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it when she gets to her advanced individual training duty station.
“There are a lot of unknowns because I am in basic training right now, but this December, I will be with my MOS school in Joint Base San Antonio (Texas),” Graeschoedel said. “After today, it will be easier for me to focus on what I need to be — my training.”
“I am excited to plan my trip. I haven’t seen my sister in a few months or my parents for a while. And my dogs — I am so ready to see my bulldogs,” she added.
Graeschoedel said she already has a plan to stay engaged and sharp while taking a break from training.
“My whole family is very active. I am looking forward to hiking and staying active with my family,” she said.
Pfc. Andrea Diaz, also a Foxtrot Company trainee, said she has been missing her grandma’s cooking and was excited to be headed to home for the holidays.
“I hope she makes rice, beans and mofongo for me,” Diaz said.
Making sure trainees, like Diaz, get to eat their grandma’s cooking during the holiday is what makes the long hours worth it, according to O’Donoghue.
“Holiday block leave is a team effort, and I am very lucky to have the best team members by my side. It’s a huge undertaking and at times can be very stressful and tiring, but you would never know it as the Leisure Travel team keeps an upbeat attitude throughout ticketing, knowing that in the end, we get to see all smiling faces, tears of joy and excitement, as we help with departure days, sending them home to their families for this holiday break,” O’Donoghue said.
