AROUND TINKER: 72nd ABW Wildcatter Award Published Sept. 19, 2014 72nd Air Base Wing TINKER AIR FORCE BASE - Okla. -- The 72nd Civil Engineering Directorate's Hazardous Materials/Hazardous Waste Team of Cheryl Arnold and Brandt Fleharty recently received a 72nd Air Base Wing Wildcatter Award. Ms. Arnold and Mr. Fleharty have performed above and beyond their primary duties while facilitating the base-wide implementation of the new program for the management and tracking of hazardous materials and hazardous wastes. Ms. Arnold has worked hazardous materials for more than 10 years, and performed her primary duty as hazardous materials program manager since July 2012. During that time, she has maintained hazardous material purchase approvals for all shops across Tinker, seamlessly supporting the mission. Mr. Fleharty has worked as a hazardous waste program manager since June 2012, and since that time has ensured that Tinker maintained compliance with all hazardous waste regulations. In addition, he has implemented many money-saving initiatives that have saved the base more than $30,000 a year in hazardous waste disposal costs. Ms. Arnold and Mr. Fleharty both rose to the challenge during the critical process of changing from the previous Air Force tracking system. They worked closely with contractors, Air Force Civil Engineering Center personnel and environmental representatives from base organizations to ensure Tinker operated a program that met all base requirements. They ensured base users were properly trained and that all regulatory requirements were satisfied. They both worked through numerous data transition errors, business practice modifications and software system change requests to verify that the program was fully functional and contained all necessary records, data and inventory.