76th AMXG presents refinished heritage table to officers’ lounge Published May 2, 2012 By Master Sgt. William Chapin 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group contributed a piece of history to the Tinker Club officers Rosie's Lounge April 20. Led by Col. Brad Tannehill, 76th AMXG commander, a group of approximately 10 Airmen and civilians showed off a rectangular oak table that comfortably seats six people. For their efforts and dedication, Colonel Tannehill coined the Airmen. Using their off-duty time, volunteers spent approximately 50 hours -- which progressed over a period of roughly two months -- to complete the table. Personnel in the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight donated approximately $200 for supplies including sandpaper, coins and epoxy used to seal the top of the table. "This is eye watering. It's absolutely unbelievable," said Colonel Tannehill. During a Tinker Top 3 meeting of senior enlisted professionals in March 2011 an idea was proposed to showcase the heritage of each unit by refurbishing a table in the Tinker Club's John Ivory Enlisted Lounge. Each table would represent the history of a unit, as a way of showing pride in that unit and Tinker. Members of the expeditionary maintenance flight were the first on Tinker to design and refurbish a table. The flight presented the table back to the club in August 2011. Today, there are three such tables on display in the enlisted lounge. After seeing the quality craftsmanship of the table the EDMX personnel designed, Colonel Tannehill proposed the idea of his group refinishing a table for the officers' lounge. Tinker Club officials thought it was a great idea and provided another table. In January, flight members began the first stages of the refurbishment and determined the table's design. The theme centers on the five pillars of maintenance: safety, training, attitude, readiness and standards, and coins representing each of the seven units in 76th AMXG were inlaid in the wood. "The concept of continuous process improvement through speed, quality and safety has propelled the 76th AMXG to record-breaking successes. Thus, it is fitting that the table's centerpiece is a polished aluminum star, representing the 'Art of the Possible,'" Colonel Tannehill said. "Our mission is to generate airpower which is depicted by the five aircraft surrounding the star. In order to reach the team's full potential we do not settle for what people expect us to do, the minimum standard, but we reach for the stars striving to discover what we are truly capable of doing, world-class standard." In the course of working on the table, Airmen said they faced several challenges. Initially, the letters spelling out the five pillars of maintenance had been laid out in red, white and blue, but it didn't look right, so they removed them and reapplied the letters solely in blue. Furthermore, the crew found this second table was made out of oak and more porous than the first maple table. It was an extremely tedious process to lay down the epoxy top coat. Each of the four coats had to be smoothed numerous times over several hours to ensure the crystal-clear finish had no bubbles. "We were discouraged with that and at first. We couldn't get the bubbles to go away," said Staff Sgt. Shawn Harmon of the 76th EDMX flight who helped refinish the table. "But now that it is said and done, we're really happy with it." (Brandice J. O'Brien, Tinker Take Off staff writer, contributed to this article.)