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Commander discusses the Tinker mission during Purple Heart banquet

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The 26,000 military and civilian personnel at Tinker Air Force Base "answer the call of others so they can prevail," Col. Steven Bleymaier, commander of the 72nd Air Base Wing, told members of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Every day, men and women come to work at Tinker "to support our troops at home and abroad with the tools they need to get the job done," the colonel said. "We support others who fly, fight and win, and hopefully then come home."

Tinker personnel provide critical mission support activities, he informed chapter members during a banquet Saturday night at the Tinker Club.

▪ The base deploys thousands of troops -- Air Force, National Guard, Navy and Marines -- every year. "We support their families with our programs and services," Colonel Bleymaier added.

▪ Processes at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center are improved continuously to get mission-ready aircraft and equipment to the people who are trained to use them. For example, the 76th Maintenance Wing recently won the Robert T. Mason Award for depot maintenance excellence, and Tinker's B-1 System Program Office received the 2011 Dr. James G. Roche Sustainment Excellence award.

▪ Tinker's 1,400-acre airfield has a perfect safety record.

▪ Tinker AFB was the first site in the Department of Defense to be certified to use videophones "to enable our hearing-impaired partners to provide mission-ready support."

▪ Tinker's medical clinic, medical lab, pharmacy and dental clinic have been rated the best in Air Force Materiel Command.

Despite significant budget reductions in the Defense Department, "We are finding new ways to get the mission done efficiently, effectively, and within those constraints," Colonel Bleymaier continued. To illustrate, he said:

▪ The 72nd Security Forces Squadron reduced equipment issue time by 70 percent.
▪ The Communications Directorate "Leaned out" the 76th Maintenance Wing's log-on time and reduced mechanics' wait time from 3 minutes to 25 seconds.

In addition, "We want to make the world a safe place to live and pursue liberty and happiness," Colonel Bleymaier said, "and that starts right here on our own doorstep."

▪ Tinker partnered with a Deer Creek school to develop a wildlife wetland, for which it won the Interior Department's "Take Pride in America" award.

▪ The 76 MXW has implemented new, safer aircraft pre-treatment processes.

▪ The entire base has improved its recycling efforts and other environmental programs "so we can be good stewards" of natural resources.

"Our attitude of service and support is the same motivation that our Purple Heart recipients embody," Colonel Bleymaier said. "If you talk to them, you will find out that their courage was not for their own gain, but for the mission. They were doing their part for the bigger whole."