by Chief Master Sergeant Mike Eisenberg
388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Munitions Flight Chief
7/5/2010 – HILL AFB, Utah – On June 23, 2010, the Air Force munitions community said farewell to one of its greatest supporters! There was standing room only in the spacious Hill Aerospace Museum for the retirement of Colonel Randy B. Tymofichuk.
Colonel Tymofichuk was the 309th Missile Maintenance Group Commander at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. He led depot maintenance and repair for all Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in support of USSTRATCOM requirements. His group was directly responsible for the assembly and transport of rocket motors for Missile Defense Agency test launches and aging and surveillance testing on various solid rocket motors, munitions, and associated equipment.
He served in critical positions in missile operations and maintenance at every echelon in the Air Force to include key staff positions at Numbered Air Force, MAJCOM, and Headquarters United States Air Force, as well as commanding at the squadron and three times at the group level.
It was an incredible sight to witness as supporters came out in groves! Many were Air Force General Officers, Commanders, munitions personnel, retirees, and civilians who worked with or under him while he was Commander of the 75th Maintenance Group, Commander, 784th Combat Sustainment Group, and Commander, 309th Missile Maintenance Group.
This retirement ceremony was especially significant in that Colonel Tymofichuk was bestowed the honor of being nominated and inducted as an honorary member of the Ammo Chiefs Association. His certificate and coin were presented by CMSgt (Ret) Calandra, CMSgt (Ret) Maurer, CMSgt (Ret) Fallen, CMSgt Eisenberg, and (C)MSgt Jones. Colonel Tymofichuk was truly touched to have received such an honor from a group he has respected throughout his career.
The persistent theme from guest speakers, friends, and family was the Colonel’s unwavering dedication and devotion to the advancement of the munitions community and his sincere caring for the personnel that worked for or around him. Although he has retired, his legacy to the munitions community will definitely live on!
One of our members in Texas, Ammo Chief John Rivard is interested in forming a Chapter to cover the Southwest. Any members or potential members who are interested please contact John Rivard!
1. Date, Time, Location: March 13, 2010, 1:15 pm (1315 hours), 1 FW Munitions Flight Administrative Facility, Langley AFB, VA.
2. Purpose: General membership meeting.
3. Attendees: A quorum was present (10 of 19 voting members including 2 proxies).
PRESENT
Michael Gavin (President)
Mike Robertson – (Vice President)
Wilbur McCullough – (Secretary/Treasurer)
Richard Pennington
John Matthews (Proxy)
Tom McConnell
Ed Weisheit
Dan Munro
Rick Follett
Phil Kennedy (Proxy)
ASSOCIATES
John Usefara
4. The following Agenda Items were discussed:
a. Mike Gavin welcomed our new members to the group: Dan Munro and Rick Follett were at the meeting and Ken Jackson joined but could not make it to Langley.
b. The Secretary presented the minutes from the December 12, 2009 meeting.
i. Motion to accept – Rich Pennington
ii. Seconded – Mike Robertson
iii. Unanimously approved.
c. The Treasurer provided a detailed fiscal update (attached). Our current balance of $662.45 was supported by coin sales and membership dues. Since the December meeting, we disbursed awards to base-level Ammo troops ($150.00), donated to the CMSgt Richard Gauvin Scholarship Fund ($250.00), and assisted Ammo troops in need during the Christmas holiday period ($400.00). Mike Robertson asked if we had anything in writing regarding reimbursement of dues if a member leaves the area. There is nothing in our by-laws. Bill mentioned we had contacted Dan Fri when he was about to leave the area and he told us to keep the dues. We’ll approach this the same way with other departing members.
5. Old Business:
a. Awards Committee: We had no annual winners announced in January. We are awaiting word on the 1st quarter winners.
b. Membership: With the recent addition of Rick Follett, Dan Munro, and Ken Jackson, our active Ammo Chief membership roll is up to 19 plus 3 Associate members.
c. Fundraising: The coins sales continue to do well and we expect to have a spike in sales due to the upcoming ANG (Apr) and CAF (May) conferences. Mike Gavin will have the yard sale at his house on June 19 and was accepting donated items after the meeting. Further details on what type of help he will need will be sent out as the time nears. Tom McConnell stated the beer mugs go for about $4.00 and we can sell them for a good profit. He wasn’t able to get any information on the gilded glasses from Incirlik similar to the ones given away at the ACA reunion held at Hampton, VA. During the meeting we collected $8.00 for coin sales, $20.00 for shirt sales, $75.00 for ACAMC dues, and $75.00 for ACA dues. Rick Follett mentioned coins may be cheaper from Turkey. The quality issue was discussed and LENAJ set some high standards. However, the set-up fee is high so it is best we not alter designs too often. The use of raffles to raise funds was discussed. There were concerns about the legal issues on a military installation. Additionally, there was discussion about risk in selecting a prize that would reach a broad spectrum of people and not create a debt for the chapter.
d. Sunset Committee: Gen Leo Marquez is going through chemo and perceives he is doing better. The Ammo community lost TSgt Jeffery Culp, SrA Sean McGinnis, and MSgt Wali Lanier.
e. Participation in ACAMC meetings: Overall attendance has been up. Weather issues along the east coast prevented some members from attending. Hopefully, June will yield a better turnout.
f. Update on the Langley AFB (December 11th) dinner honoring the 50th Anniversary of the rank of CMSgt. No information provided by the Langley Chiefs or in the base paper. Item closed.
g. Virginia license plate with active duty Air Force recognition. Phil Kennedy was not present to discuss status. Because 300 or so people need to commit to the purchase of the plate, it was deemed to be out of our purview. Another group on Langley should lead this effort.
h. Marble bench recognizing Ammo community by Wright-Patterson AFB museum. Rich gave the group an update. The ACA is acquiring two plaques from a company in Dayton, OH. One will be at this museum and the other will go to the Air Armament Museum at Eglin AFB. The goal is to dedicate the plaque at Eglin during the ACA reunion.
i. ACA reunion update. The dates for the reunion are 4-7 November and it will be held at the Sunrise Holiday Inn in Ft. Walton beach. The off-season room cost should be about $65.00 plus tax. The ACA is looking for inputs on the extracurricular activities.
j. Etching of current inventory of gold ACAMC coins. Mike Gavin will have Jeff Purdy do a test at the Armament Shop to ascertain if it can be done, and how to best etch the numbers.
6. New Business:
a. Fund-raising proposal; already discussed in paragraph 5c.
b. The CAF conference will be held 2-7 May at a hotel in the Langley area. No funds are needed to support the CAF. There is an opportunity to sell some coins and socialize with fellow Ammo troops at the conference.
c. The floor was opened for new business.
a). Mike Gavin brought up John Cecere’s proposal for establishing lifetime dues for ACAMC members. The group discussed the idea and determined that our limited membership size and unpredictable flow of new members prevents us from cutting off guaranteed funds.
i. Motion to keep annual dues – Rich Pennington
ii. Seconded – Bill McCullough
iii. Unanimously approved.
b). Mike Gavin brought up deleting the “Sharp Troop” award. This was discussed based upon all of the monies that went out for other award programs. It was determined the award would be kept as a way to recognize young Ammo troops and was good public relations for the ACAMC.
c). Rich mentioned the AMRAAM award submittals are due. The ACAMC supports winners in our area of responsibility.
d). Due to new information, Rich asked for an updated 2010 calendar of events (attached).
7. The meeting was adjourned at 2:21pm (1421 hours).
i. Motion to adjourn – Mike Gavin.
ii. Seconded – Rich Pennington.
iii. Adjourned by unanimous decision.
8. The next meeting is planned for June 19, 2010 after the yard sale at Mike Gavin’s house.
9. The group socialized for awhile and feasted on sandwiches, chips, and beverages provided by Mike Gavin. We then went out and loaded up Mike’s truck with yard sale items.
//signed//
Wilbur C. McCullough III
“It was only in this far before I lost sight of it.”Mid-Atlantic Chapter holds meeting 13 Mar 2010Prepping the Food!“This one would have fit me a few years ago!”
The Ammo Chiefs at Ramstein are in the process of forming a chapter. Initial members are Chiefs Chris Hendrix, Brett Kulp, Tim Culbertson, Bill Hendricks, and David Nixon. Any members or potential members in Europe who are interested in joining a European Chapter, please email Chris Hendrix.
The AMMO Chief’s Association, Mid-Atlantic Chapter (ACAMC) submits the following 2009 Annual Report to the ACA for review and filing in historical records. We have also included a copy of our annual fiscal report for your review.
As expected, 2009 proved to be another successful year for our Chapter. The membership gathered four times to hold meetings, socialize, and plan for current and future events. With the aid of proxy votes, we were able to have a quorum and conduct official business at all the scheduled meetings. Our main efforts continue to be focused on working on implementing the personnel support initiatives such as, Airman Holiday Support program, recognition of Quarterly/Annual award winners. In addition, we continue to stay visible and solicit new members into the Chapter. To maximize participation we continue to float our meeting locations around to minimize travel on our regional members. This year we meet at the 1st FW Administrative facility (March), ACC Munitions Division Conference room (June), Mike Robertson’s home in Dumfries, VA (Sep) and finished out the year with our annual Holiday social/meeting at Bill McCullough’s home in Fredericksburg, VA (Dec).
Early in 2009 we appointed a By-Laws Committee which completed the Chapter Bi-Annual review and made required recommendations to the membership at the Mar meeting. A line by line review of the By-Laws was completed and all suggested changes were ratified and the membership voted to accept the recommendations. It should be noted the ACA Virginia Chapter name has changed to ACA Mid-Atlantic Chapter (ACAMC). Copies of the newly signed By-Laws were sent to the ACA for review, approval and file (action complete).
During the year, the Chapter membership grew with the addition of Yvonne Watts, Rick Bussell, Eddie Fuquay, Jerry Merichko, and most recently CMSgt Patrick Bowen. We also sent CMSgt Kevin Lewis off to retirement in Florida with our thanks as an active member. We are sure Kevin will stay in the AMMO business in some fashion and wish him the Best of Luck. The current Chapter membership roll is 18 members and 3 associate members yielding $525 in annual dues. Over the course of the year we disbursed $400 during the year for our Airman Support program, $250.00 to the CMSgt Richard Gauvin Memorial Fund at AFCOMAC and $200.00 to unit level award winners. We solicited, but did not receive any unit level Ammo first-termer award packages. The Chapter also recognized SSgt Chappell for his Outstanding Performance in the AMMO Career Field as the 2008 Annual AMRAMM award recipient. Our chapter collected $419.00 in fundraisers from Chapter coins, hats, pens, and other opportunities.
In the ACAMC region from NC to PA the known possible membership base during 2009 was approx 30 Chiefs, representing all Chiefs in the surrounding states. Of the 34, 18 are members in good standing and 12 are inactive. We continue to pass ACAMC information to inactive Chiefs in email messages and information concerning Chapter events and gatherings in the hopes they will join the membership and participate in our Chapter activities. Our three Associate Members continue to provide outstanding assistance.
A nomination committee was appointed in Sep to solicit names for the Chapter Vice President position. Jack Miller has done an extremely good job for our Chapter, but his two year tour of duty is ending. The election of a new VP was ratified at the 12 Dec meeting and Mike Robertson was elected to fill the VP position as of 1 Jan 2010.
Due to the ACAMC membership being spread out over five states (VA, MD, PA, NJ, and NC) and the District of Columbia, it is difficult to gather in force at meetings and events, but we plan for another active agenda in 2010. We have notionally set a Quarterly meeting schedule for 2010 beginning in Mar 09 at the 1st FW Administrative Building. We will continue to meet, socialize, and have fun while working towards enhancing the spirit and drive of the Munitions Community and to keep the AMMO Flame burning bright!!
//Signed, mrg, 24 Dec 2009//
MICHAEL R. GAVIN, President
AMMO Chief’s Association, Mid-Atlantic Chapter (ACAMC)
