When TSgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner, Social Media Director of the 434th Air Refueling Wing Office of Public Affairs, approached me about applying for the Honorary Commanders program at Grissom Air Reserve Base I thought it sounded like fun. Upon hearing my good friend Leilan McNally would also be applying I assumed it would be a little like In The Army Now if we both got picked. The only question was who would be playing the role of Andy Dick and who would be Pauly Shore.
That is until we got selected. Our first order of business was to get the debrief on the induction ceremony specifics. The event would be in a normally secure area that was going to be unsecured for the event. Mark stated, “There are security forces inside the flightline, with nothing better to do than count rivets on planes, just waiting to put a knee in someones back. Please don’t walk through the doors of the hanger”
This was serious business.
From the Office of Public Affairs: The goal of the Grissom Air Reserve Base Honorary Comanders program is to provide select individuals from the civilian community the opportunity to learn first-hand about the base, its mission, people, history and impact on the state of Indiana. I had a little knowledge about the base due to a media refueling flight I took last year;
Checkout a video I did from that event of a KC-135 while it refueled a plane in mid-air going hundreds of miles per hour.
http://www.facebook.com/v/2289062820264
Each honorary commander is paired up with a department head at Grissom. My honorary commander counterpart, Chief Master Sergeant Karen Perkins, got her start in the regular Air Force working on planes like the one being refueled in the video. After 5 years she transitioned to the Air Force Reserve. She is now the command chief, the highest ranking enlisted officer of one of the key aerial refueling units in the Air Force Reserve command.
Nearly everyone at Grissom is a reservist. What does this mean? Basically it means they have day jobs and regular lives, in addition to their reserve duties. This was perhaps my biggest takeaway from the induction ceremony. Chief Perkins carries a full time job working for the FAA, keeps up on base duties and communications at night and drives or flies into Grissom from Oklahoma City nearly every weekend. Luckily for the Chief she has to be on base so much that some of her travel expenses are picked up.
While in line for lunch I overheard the reservists talking about where they were from. Chicago suburbs, Terre Haute, the list goes on and on. A friend of mine drives into Grissom or Camp Atterbury from Columbus, OH regularly to fulfill his duties. All of this time away from their families, their lives and they pay for their own travel.
The dedication these people show to their country is impressive once you realize the scope of what they do and go through to help protect us.
“I, Chris Theisen, having been appointed a Grissom Honorary Commander in the United States Air Force do solemly swear that I will support and defend the Constituion of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without and mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.”
If the honorary commanders had any doubt about how serious a position we were selected for it ended upon taking that oath at the induction ceremony. What started out as a fun opportunity has turned into a task I’m taking seriously; letting as many people as I can know about what the men and women of the 434th ARW at Grissom ARB base do on a daily basis and how it affects all of us, at home and abroad.
Checkout the video of the induction ceremony, edited by my good friends at 12 Stars Media with their awesome Candidio product.
Stay tuned to my blog as I share more adventures of the day to day life of an Air Force reservist.
I’m In The Air Force Now.
