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First Sergeants donat table to Club

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  • Tinker Top 3
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  During a Top 3 meeting back in March, the idea was brought up to showcase the heritage of each unit by refurbishing a table for the Tinker Club. Each table would display both past and present history of a unit. It is a way for an organization to show pride in both their unit and Tinker Air Force Base.

Combined Clubs around the Air Force have offered units the opportunity to personalize a long military tradition, the base club. Master Sgt. Zachary Merkl, Top 3 member and Heritage project lead, thought it would be a great idea to bring the tradition to the Tinker Club.

The Tinker Club agreed to the project and allowed 76th Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight to take the first table to be refurbished. After a week of brainstorming ideas EDMX had a direction. The table would include both the 654th Combat Logistics Support Squadron, which was deactivated in June 2008, and EDMX to which they were re-designated. The four aircraft along the edges represent the distinct capability that EDMX provides Aircraft Battle Damage Repair on. The rivets around the edge and the hand fabricated metal pieces represent the skill sets that provide combatant commanders repair capabilities beyond that of field level units.

Being a small unit, every idea offered was taken into consideration. In the end Senior Master Sgt. Rickie Gress, EDMX superintendent, took control and made things happen. The table took roughly 40 man hours to complete. Due to a high ops tempo, the refurb was hampered by unit deployments, CONUS and oversea TDYs and inspection preparation. Total investment came out to around $200. Much of the donations to complete the project came in the form of raw materials and memorabilia donated by current members and CLSS alumni.

The one thing that stands out in the minds of those that took part on the project isn't how good the table looks, but that everything on the table was done in-house by the members themselves! Every aircraft, rivet and even the "Stars and Bars" were hand cut and polished by ABDR technicians.

"It would have been easier to farm the refurb out, drop the table off at a local vendor and say this is what we want, when can we get it back?," said Tech. Sgt. Neal Camren, lead ABDR training instructor. "But by doing the table in house we have more pride in how it looks and a bigger sense of accomplishment."

EDMX personnel were proud to present the table to the Tinker Club.

"I think it's fair to say that we set the bar pretty high and we look forward to seeing what other units will come up with and we challenge them to present a table as impressive as ours." Sergeant Camren said.