MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- After a long day's work, young Airmen living in the dorms have one desire – to go home to a clean and well-kept dormitory.
Luckily for them, the Bay Orderly program encourages Airmen to take pride and responsibility in the facilities they call home and enable a better quality of life for dorm residents.
“Rather than coming back to a dreary, dirty dormitory, they come back to it being well lit and taken care of,” said U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. David Yawn, 23rd Civil Engineers Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of dorm management,” it makes them feel like this is their home, it looks good, and it puts them in a better mood.”
The program tasks different Airmen each week with the responsibility of maintaining and cleaning common areas in the dormitories on the installation. Each squadron is tasked quarterly with supplying the 23rd Force Support Squadron dorm management team with some of their Airmen who live in the dorms.
In addition to clean and orderly base living quarters, the Bay-O program also produces more appreciative airmen. As they work on their assigned duties of the day, appreciation and pride are built for the work they put in to keep their living area well kept.
“When I first got here, my room looked spotless, and I appreciated that,” said U.S. Air Force Airman Javier Martinez-Lawshee, 23rd Maintenance Squadron Airman participating in Bay-O, “I want to make sure that those rooms that we are working on are well off for the people who are going to be coming here.”
With the duties of keeping the dorms in good condition, sometimes rough weather may occur that could cause damage to not just the dorms, but other facilities on base. Bay-O gets to play a part in helping put the base back together.
“After [Hurricane Idalia], some of the squadrons sent extra Airmen to assist us with collecting all the debris, and making sure all the dorms were in good, livable order,” Yawn said. “In a day or two, we had everything back up to the way it was before the hurricane.”
Hurricane Idalia hit the base hard, but the Bay-O program gave the Airmen that lived on base a chance to clean up their home, inspiring a greater appreciation for what these Airmen had been given.
The Bay Orderly program benefits Moody’s Airmen in the dorms in several ways by giving them the best quality of life and instilling a sense of respect for their home.