Grissom airfield manager named best in AFRC

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GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind --  Mr. Robert M. Ulibarri, Director of Airfield Operations at Grissom ARB, was recently selected as the Airfield Operations Manager of the Year for the Air Force Reserve Command. 

Mr. Ulibarri is the son of Dolores A. Ulibarri of Clayton, N.M., and the son-in-law of David and Helen Breeden of Kokomo, Ind. 

For his efforts, he will receive the Colonel Derrel L. Dempsey Officer of the Year Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding Airfield Operations Manager within each Major Command in the Air Force. 

At Grissom, Mr. Ulibarri directs all airfield operations including air traffic control, manages airspace and coordinates issues with military users and adjacent Federal Aviation Administration facilities. His responsibilities also include coordinating and overseeing contract airfield management, flight service, the base weather station, transient maintenance and other civil engineering contracts affecting airfield operations. 

The air traffic control complex at Grissom provides support to all military and civilian aircraft operating within a 40 mile radius of the base and interacts with ATC Centers in Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend and Fort Wayne as well as local civilian airports in Kokomo, Marion, Logansport, Peru and Wabash. 

Mr. Ulibarri has been instrumental in the coordination and design of a new $5 million Radar Approach Control facility currently being built at Grissom. 

A 1972 graduate of Clayton High School, he later earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Embrey-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., and a Master of Arts degree from Indiana University at Kokomo. 

Mr. Ulibarri served in the United States Air Force, retiring after a 20-year career, and then began working for the Air Force Reserve Command as a civil service employee. He has been the Director of Airfield Operations at Grissom ARB for 13 years. 

He and his wife Deborah reside in Peru, Ind. 

Grissom ARB is one of only five Air Force Reserve Command bases in the nation and is home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing, the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in AFRC.