Carson City Guard member gears up for another deployment

Nevada Air Guard Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Pavlik is the production controller for the City of Carson.

It's not Nevada's capital, though. The City of Carson is a four-engine C-130 propeller airplane used by the Air Guard to move troops, vehicles and equipment across the country and around the world.

Pavlik and other members of the 152nd Airlift Wing are shipping out for an unnamed destination in Southwest Asia "sometime in the near future."

"We're not allowed to say anymore than that," he said.

Southwest Asia could mean Turkey, Sri Lanka or Bhutan, but more likely it'll be one of the current hot spots in the war against terrorism -- Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq.

Pavlik is almost relieved by the deployment.

"For a while there, a lot of the missions were just training and you get a little run down with training, training, training."

Before he became a production controller Pavlik worked on the ejection seats of F-4 Phantom fighter/reconnaissance jets.

"I did that for 15 years and they only used an ejection seat once for a crash. Our system never got used. Of course, it feels good that when it did get used it worked. But you join the military to serve your country -- not just train."

When Pavlik deploys he'll be gone for about four months. His unit will relieve one that has been overseas for half a year.

"We'll be living in tent cities. The unit we are relieving has been over there for five or six months so they've got it pretty well set up."

As production controller, Pavlik is the liaison between the gray aircraft's crew and the "back-shop people" -- those providing specialized services in electronics, hydraulics, navigational systems, radios and instruments.

Pavlik also handles production control for seven other C-130s, five of which are named for cities in Nevada. The City of Carson was built in 1979 --Ethe same year Pavlik joined the Guard.

Pavlik and his wife Kathy live in Carson City off Saliman Road. They have been married for 17 years.

The senior master sergeant has been deployed more than 40 times in his 24 years in the Guard, so his wife is used to him being away.

"She is very understanding," he said. "Her father is retired Air Force. That's probably helped out with her being so understanding."

Previous deployments have taken him to Oman, Korea, Germany, Italy and all over the United States.

"I've been to a lot of places in the country," he said. "The Guard is nice place to work if you like to travel. Of course our next deployment doesn't sound quite as fun."

His most recent deployment was to North Carolina to help with Army parachute training jumps in May. The last time he left the country on a deployment was for two months in Ecuador in December 2001.

For now he commutes from Carson City to Reno's May Air Force Base next to Reno-Tahoe Airport.

"Sooner or later (Reno-Tahoe Airport will) probably kick us out of here -- they want our piece of property."

When his unit was activated at the end of February he became an active flier for the U.S. Air Force. Once he's deactivated he'll go back to working full time for the Air National Guard.

Pavlik grew up in Yreka, Calif., where he attended Yreka High School. That's the town where the famous "Yreka Bakery" is a palindrome -- spelled the same forward and backward.

"It's no longer a bakery but they still have the sign painted in the window," Pavlik said. His parents, Frank and Dorothy Pavlik, still live there.