31 Jul 2009

Logistics Readiness Squadrons load Air Force for deployments

"We're the first in and the last out," explains Tech. Sgt. David Dries. A member of the 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron and one of a handful of technicians responsible for loading and unloading aircraft, Sergeant Dries and his team are often involved at the beginning and ending of any deployment. "We usually go in with security forces and secure

23 Jul 2009

Iron man: Tinker colonel bikes, swims, runs his way to fitness

He hit the ground hard. Lying on his side, he felt the trickle of liquid. "At first I thought it was blood," said Col. Jerry Thayer. "But it was from the bottle on the handlebars." Waving off help, Colonel Thayer remounted his bike and, before the adrenaline subsided, had passed a number of riders. Scraped and bruised but with nothing broken and

23 Jul 2009

UPARs help get story out

It's Friday morning and you've just picked up the latest Tinker Take Off only to see that your unit isn't in the paper, yet again. You know for a fact that Airman Jones just saved a woman from choking at a local restaurant last week or your best friend in the unit designed an aircraft part that will save the Air Force millions of dollars. What is

23 Jul 2009

Family’s Tinker legacy stretches four generations

When she lost her mother two months ago, Retha Lucas, and her sister had the task of clearing out their mother's possessions for her grief-stricken father. It was then that she stumbled upon a family surprise. "We were going through her cedar chest and we found this," Ms. Lucas said, holding up a worn and tattered page from the Tinker Take Off.

17 Jul 2009

Down in the desert

A Tinker Air Force Base employee, who was deployed last year to Iraq as a member of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, unfortunately became all too familiar with a C-130 like the ones he works on here when the aircraft he was flying in suddenly lost power and plunged into the Iraqi desert on June 27 -- a day he will likely not soon forget. Eddie

26 Jun 2009

552nd ACW helps tell Air Force story in new movie

As the premier airborne command and control and battle management platform in the world, the 552nd Air Control Wing's E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System is frequently needed to support various missions around the world. One of the most recent missions was particularly exciting: helping Autobots fight off Decepticons in support of worldwide

26 Jun 2009

Operation Air Force educates academy cadets

It was an image out of Hollywood. All eyes in the room were on the gunman silhouetted in the open doorway. The muzzle of his rifle panned the room while the strains of the "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" played in the background. "Speed, force and violence are the key," the gunman said. "It's not for the timid or the weak at heart." The music

19 Jun 2009

K-9 cop keeps military safe

"We've got a bomb threat at the shoppette," the Airman says. "Who do you want to send?" Tech. Sgt. Michael Jones thinks for a second. "I'll go with Blacky," he says. It takes only a few minutes for Sergeant Jones, the kennelmaster for the 72nd Security Forces Squadron to locate his partner, an all-black German Shepherd. Blacky leaps into the rear

19 Jun 2009

ADAPT program can help problem drinkers

Sometimes they don't want to talk. That's when Mildred Fitch, a substance abuse counselor with the 72nd MDOS, puts down her pen and shares her own stories. "Sometimes that opening up makes a change," she says. "I feel really privileged when they feel comfortable enough to share with me." As a counselor with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and

19 Jun 2009

Tinker man patents six-way chess game

For several years, Mike Owen pondered the same question, something very few have probably considered. Could chess be a three or six-player game? He thinks the answer is yes. He designed a workable gameboard that resembles a Chinese Checkers gameboard, visited with lawyers and applied for a patent. He's still waiting for an answer. In the meantime,