Hidden heroes from all walks of life

  • Published
  • By Col. Anthony Butters
  • 60th Operations Group commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The word hero is defined in the dictionary as, "somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character."
When I think of my personal heroes, traditional and historical figures first come to mind. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. who had the courage to stand up to injustice, Joshua Chamberlain from the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Unit who had the physical courage to lead a bayonet charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, and George Washington who had the moral courage to walk away from the office of president when many wanted him to be president for life.
When I think about it, more examples of heroes come to mind. The individual who stopped a potential sexual assault from occurring is a hero.
The Airman who takes the keys from their friend and won't let them drive home after drinking requires personal courage and is also a hero. We won't hear about them history books or read about them in the newspaper, but these acts may have saved lives. What about the people here at Travis who do their job every day without fanfare or publicity, without whom our Air Force could not operate at the level it does?
Are they heroes?
Throughout all three wings and the tenant organizations Travis, we have hidden heroes working every day in the shadows. As the Operations Group commander, I'd like to highlight some of those hidden heroes in my group.
Throughout the world, our aircraft are refueling other planes or landing at an installation, or loading vast amounts of fuel every day. In the first two months of 2011, over 35 million pounds of fuel were offloaded during air refuelings and over 900 missions and sorties were flown. Dan Bast is the wing refueling documents control officer. He has helped recover over $2.1 million of over charges and incorrect charges for the 60th Air Mobility Wing during the last three months. This money would have been paid out and lost, if he had not caught it. You'll never see him on television he just does an essential job a hidden hero in my book.
We are coming up on the 30th anniversary of the first KC-10 Extender delivery and KC-10's just went over 20 years of flying continual combat missions in the Area of Responsibility. Our aircrew, flight support and maintainers have been deploying and working together throughout those 20 years. For the flyers, they rotate out approximately every 74 days, because they have reached their maximum allowed flying hours. They come back to Travis, reset and often go quickly right back out the door when they've lost enough flying hours. Staff Sergeant Mike Durham, 9th ARS boom operator is currently on his third deployment in the last year. When he returns, he'll have been deployed for 220 days in one year without a complaint and getting the job done another example of our hidden heroes.
Our families are a group of hidden heroes, not just in the Operations Group, but for all of us in the military.
I grew up in a small town in Maine and after being gone for the last 27 years, I can still walk down Main Street and run into someone I know. My children won't have a place to call their hometown. They have seen more of the world and our nation then I ever did at their age. I have great admiration for our children who proudly wear the badge "military brat," because they have the courage and skills to fit in to new places and meet new people that I know I never had. Military members quickly become part of a flight or unit, but it is usually left up to our spouses to find the new dentist, doctor, salon, set up the house, etc everything that is transparent to us, but gets done. For my family, nine different houses over the last seven years and I know there are people out there who have moved more. Talk about a group of heroes WOW!
Hidden heroes at Travis are all around us. I know in my group, I could go on and on with examples and will be glad to (I love to talk about our Airmen). I also know that Col. Tracey Skelton in the 615th Contingency Response Wing, Col Brooks in the 349th Air Mobility Wing and all the other commanders here at Travis could do the same thing. We are blessed and truly lucky to have these great Americans these hidden heroes, working with us each and every day.