San Angelo Appreciates Goodfellow AFB

The Goodfellow Air Force Base Recreation Camp was crowded with military personnel and their families on Saturday. Inflatable jumping houses, a rock climbing wall, the smell of barbeque and the sounds of a live band occupied the camp for the afternoon.

“This is the tenth annual event and it is open to all of Goodfellow personnel and their families who are active duty,” said Bridgette Mikulik, Chamber of Commerce, event coordinator.  “This is just an awesome way to celebrate what they do for our country and the vibrancy they bring to our community. If you think about what this town would be like without all of these people and without Goodfellow, it would not only be a tremendous economic impact on San Angelo but be an impact on the spirit of the town as well,” she said.  “The chamber members helped sponsor this event and we have about 180 member volunteers helping out this year. None of them are selling anything, they are out here making snowcones or cotton candy, helping with food service and manning some of the other activities going on. ”  

Nearby, Mayor Dwain Morrison and Dr. Carol Ann Bonds were in charge of making cotton candy. “I used to do this all of the time when I was a principal,” Bonds said as she spun a beehive of blue cotton candy around a paper stick. “I am the sacker,” Mayor Morisson chuckled as he popped open a plastic bag for Bonds. “This is a great event it gives the folks on the base a chance to get away for an afternoon and enjoy the lake and their families,” he said as he passed off a bag of cotton candy to a young girl. “I am glad to be a part of it,” he said as Dr. Bonds agreed. “Without Goodfellow, San Angelo would not be what it is.”

Col. T.J. Hamrick, the Vice Commander of the 17th Training Wing at Goodfellow AFB, was waiting on his son and daughters' turn at the rock climbing wall. Hamrick has been in the Air Force for 22 years, and this is his third assignment to Goodfellow. He and his family came out to join in on the activities.  “This is an amazing event. I have been stationed at a lot of bases all around the world and I’ve never seen this type of community support anywhere,” he said.  “The local community has come together and provided an entire day of food and fun for all of the military people; we are truly humbled and feel a sense of appreciation from San Angelo. When new guys come in to train we tell them about this, it’s a big deal to the people out at the base.”

 The Air Force Band of the West kept music flowing in the park. The band plays all over the world for its peers; in fact members playing in the band have their own specialistl career code in the Air Force's  Personnel Center (AFPC). The band's guitar player, Greg Lacey, has been performing for the military for the last 13 years.

“We are here to remind people that there are positive things about the military, and days like these are amazing,” he said, explaining that sometimes the band's assignments can be in areas where soldiers haven’t had a lot of outside contact. “They haven’t even seen anybody drive a truck out to where they are for months, and then you show up and you rock the doors for an hour and a half, there is nothing more rewarding and there are no words to descibe it,” Lacey said.  “Seeing a Marine cry because he’s been shot and fired at for months on end and then finally he gets a chance to relax and hear some music that he is familiar with, it's therapy, music therapy.”

The band says that the most interesting places they have been to are probably places they can’t talk about. “But, just last week I played a guitar solo at the top of an old water tower for Randolph Air Force Base.( The USAF nicknamed the water tower landwark the "Taj Mahal"). That was pretty memorable,” said Lacey.

The event wrapped-up late afternoon. If you are interested in helping out next year contact the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce at sanangelo.org.