Buckley addresses GCC, council elects new officers Published Jan. 24, 2014 By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- Upward and onward was the message delivered to the Grissom Community Council recently about the north-central Indiana base. Col. Don Buckley, 434th Air Refueling Wing commander, addressed the GCC at their general membership meeting held in Wabash, Ind., Jan. 17. The GCC is a civilian, non-profit organization that works in partnership with Grissom to promote programs that benefit both the base and local community. During his speech, Buckley talked about Grissom's strategic mission; it's importance to the local area, nation and world; and its future before opening up to a question and answer session. "Grissom's primary purpose is to provide a combat ready force for combatant commanders in order to execute the taskings of the National Command Authority," Buckley said. "And, we did this most recently with our last AEF deployment where we deployed 138 people down range where they flew more than 2, 362 hours offloaded 6.8 million pounds of fuel. "And, let me tell you, that's a lot of gas," he added. Not only did the council learn about Grissom and it's future, they also made some changes affecting their own future as they elected new officers. While the majority of the GCC officers remained the same, there were some new additions. The following those elected for 2014: - President - Dr. John Gilpin - Vice president - Retired Col. Timothy Cox - Secretary - John Stackhouse - Treasurer - Brian Wright - Kokomo Regional Director - Jean Lushin - Kokomo Regional Director - Retired Col. Frank Faulkner - Logansport Regional Director - Grover Bishop - Logansport Regional Director - Jim Price - Peru Regional Director - Retired Col. Gary Beebe - Peru Regional Director - Retired Lt. Col. (Dr.) Gary Lockard - Wabash Regional Director - Dr. Robert Beckett - Wabash Regional Director - Hal Job Grissom is not only home to the 434th ARW, the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command, it also hosts three Army Reserve units and a Marine Corps Reserve communications detachment. Stay connected with Grissom and the 434th ARW on Facebook and Twitter.
