Joseph Oberto

Senior Airman served in Afghanistan at Bagram Airfield.

By John Williams, Bucks Local News

After serving nine months at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, Joe Oberto stepped out of his terminal at Philadelphia International Airport and into the warm embrace of his family.

“Coming home after my Afghanistan deployment and hugging my parents for the first time in nine months,” said Oberto, who is 20-years-old, “it was the happiest day of my life. I’m not going to lie to you – I choked up when I saw them.”

“One thing that I’ve learned since enlisting in the military is to never take your family for granted,” he said.

Senior Airman Joseph Oberto was born in Langhorne and grew up in Levittown. He graduated from Conwell-Egan Catholic High School in 2008 and was a stand-out Lacrosse player, earning Philadelphia All-Catholic Team honors his senior year.

He is the son of John and Susan Oberto (of Levittown) and has two younger sisters, Megan and Stephanie, including an older brother, George.

At age 17, he enlisted in the Air Force. After a month upon graduating high school, he left for basic training.

“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be in the military,” Oberto said. “I’ve served about two and a half years,” he said. “I completed basic training and tech school training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. In December 2008, I was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.”

The area surrounding MacDill AFB was given to the federal government in 1939 and founded in April of 1941.

He also carried out minor assignments at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash as well as Fort Worth, Texas.

He is a Security Forces Defender in the 6th Security Forces Squadron, which means that he provides law enforcement and security duties for United States Air Force bases. It is a subsidiary of the 6th Mission Support Group on MacDill AFB.

A year after arriving at MacDill AFB, Oberto deployed for his first tour of duty to the militarized airfield in Bagram, Afghanistan located in Parwan province (about 27 miles from the capital city of Kabul). Oberto would spend six months at the base.

Bagram, aptly named the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, is the temporary home to 5,000 Airman whose mission is “Fighting Terror and Building Peace,” as stated on Bagram Airfield’s official website. The base also has an 11,820 foot runway that was just completed in 2006.

On the base sits Camp Cunningham, an Air Force village that is dedicated to the memory of Jason Cunningham. Cunningham, a pararescueman, was killed on March 2, 2002 while medically assisting fellow soldiers and saving the lives of 10 of them. Posthumously, in Sept. of 2002, Cunningham was awarded the Air Force Cross, which is the second-highest mark of distinction a soldier can receive only to the Medal of Honor.

“Before I went to Bagram, I heard about the story of Senior Airman Cunningham,” said Oberto. “When I was at basic training our barracks (the 324th Training Squadron) was named in honor of SrA Cunningham.” He didn’t lodge in Camp Cunningham, but remembers many memorials positioned around the camp.

“For the majority of time I spent at Bagram it was quiet,” Oberto explained. “It was during the winter so all of the bad guys were hiding in the mountains.” However, he said, when March and April rolled around, Bagram received minor rocket attacks.

He said it was the insurgents’ form of “harassment.”

“Just two weeks after I left, Bagram witnessed a major ground attack,” he said.

In mid-May of 2010, the Islamist militant group the Taliban attacked Bagram Air Field with rocket propelled weapons, grenades and suicide bombers. In all, the standoff lasted eight hours and killed one American contractor, while injuring nine U.S. military members.

His fondest memories are of him and his unit sitting around makeshift tables and playing cards and discussing what they’ll do once they get back in the States.

“We would talk about what we wanted to do once we were home as well as the good times and the bad,” he said. “It was in May and the weather was exactly like spring time in the States. It reminded me of just sitting outside on a spring afternoon, hanging out and talking to my family.
It basically brought me that much closer to seeing my family, but I know I would miss the people I served with at the same time.”

Oberto also abides by a strict training regimen.

“Besides working, I enjoy going to the gym – a lot,” he said. “It’s something that has stuck with me since my deployment. When you are deployed you live by a set schedule. You wake up, shower, get ready for work, work (however long that may be), come home and change into your PT (physical training) gear, hit the gym for a good two hours, eat and go to sleep.

“If you aren’t working, you’re keeping in touch with your family or watching some movies on your laptop,” he said.

Joe is once again stationed at MacDill AFB in Tampa.

When he isn’t performing duties on base or in the gym weightlifting, Joe visits Clearwater, Florida to watch the Phillies in spring training or during the fall, they’ll head to “The Swamp” in Gainsville to watch the University of Florida Gator football team. If he and his friends feel ambitious, they will make the 5-hour haul to Tallahassee to watch the Florida State Seminole football team.

“Sometimes we’ll just go back to my buddy’s house, which is about three and a half hours from base and we’ll spend the weekend there,” said Oberto.

He also leads his flights’ physical training regimen. His task is to create workouts and make sure that Airmen pass their PT test.

In the spring, he will deploy to Riydah, Saudi Arabia and will remain there until the fall.

“My future plans are to separate from active duty, but stay in the reserves,” he said, “and hopefully attend Penn State University for Kinesiology. Once I’m finished, I want to get commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, reserves or active duty, and continue a military career.

As of now, he is attending the American Military University, an accredited online university. His ambition is to go to medical school and earn his doctorate in physical therapy.