927th Family Day Rocks MacDill's Beach

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Raymond Sarracino
  • 927th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  "Click-click-click-click-click ... click ... click ... click."

The staccato sound of a spinning prize wheel slowly grinding to a halt kept a young lady spellbound as she waited to find out which reward would be hers.

The young lady, Erin Jones, 5, was one of more than 1,500 927th Air Refueling Wing Airmen and their families to hit the beach at MacDill Air Force Base's southern tip to celebrate their wing's accomplishments with friends and family, May 4.

"Winning a prize was my favorite part," Erin remarked shyly after emerging victorious with her new pen firmly in her grasp. "But, I also like the pizza," she added as she and her family moved along to their next family day adventure.

HEAVY LIFTING

The day's events were the culmination of more than six weeks of hard work by many 927th ARW members.

The team, led by Dale Nyack, 927th ARW commander's secretary, and Senior Master Sgt. James Candler, 927th Force Support Squadron services superintendent, was comprised of 16 volunteers, who put together the event to encourage 927th ARW Airmen, their families and friends to spend the day together and away from their usual unit training assembly duties.

According to Maj. Vicky Mathews, 927th ARW executive officer, the team more than succeeded in accomplishing their task. "When Col. Schwartz (wing commander) came aboard, he challenged us to put together a first-class event for the May UTA."
In her estimation, the team surpassed expectations.

"They worked extremely hard during the past five weeks. The community came together and supported the event... it turned out awesome," she said.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Once the plan was in motion, the team immediately began reaching out to the local community for their participation.

Judging from the more than dozen booths set up on the beach, the community was willing to respond to their call. Some of the sponsored booths included: Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, the USO, MacDill Air Force Base's Civil Air Patrol Aviation Cadet Squadron, Saint Leo University, several area hotels and numerous local small businesses.

While the generosity of the local community was on full display, some of the booths were there to heighten awareness of services available to Airmen and their families. For example, the USO was there to let people know about their updated facility at Tampa International Airport.

Another group, Hero-2-Hired, was there to inform service members of job opportunities. Al Starling represented H2H at Family Day.

"We've had a pretty significant number of people sign up for the program," Starling said. "There are more than 10,000 employers with job opportunities listed in our database."

GRILL SERGEANTS

While the opportunity for fun was plentiful, feeding more than 1,500 people kept a group of barbecue-smoke engulfed chief master sergeants and first sergeants busy throughout the day.

Master Sergeant Ed Viverette, 927th Operations Group first sergeant, said, "We flipped at least about a thousand burgers out here today. It's been pretty good. No complaints, Just that the smoke seemed to follow Chief (Rose) Gamble wherever she went."

ACTIVITY BEACH

Families had a wide variety of activities available, from the building supply company's project booths, where children could hammer together wooden toys, a booth with electrical projects, the wheel of fortune at the Family Readiness table, volleyball, a military-themed athletic competition and of course, one of the must-haves for any successful Family Day - the dunking booth.

Many volunteers subjected themselves to being dunked, but Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Kupcho, 927th Aerospace Medical Squadron superintendent, gave as well as he received. Taunting pitchers intending on dunking him with shouts of, "C'mon, pony up!" and "You call that a pitch?" as well as dousing pitchers with his super soaker water gun, he was philosophical about life in the dunk tank.

"It's not bad. The first one (dunk) is the worst. Ah, it's just water!" he said.
Among other distractions, revelers could vote for their favorite car or motorcycle on display in the parking lot, check out the latest in small arms at the Combat Arms table, participate in the games, listen to the live musical stylings of "Six Volt Rodeo" on the main stage, or simply enjoy the pleasures of good company and camaraderie at the beach on a beautiful day.

One participant, Capt. Elvis Santana, Equal Opportunity director for the 927th AMS, summed up the significance of the day. "This is the one day of the year when our kids get to see where their mommy or daddy goes on UTA weekends and to meet the people they serve with."

Editor's note -- The volunteer committee consisted of the following people: Tech. Sgt. Vince Naputi, Senior Master Sgt. Harold Potter, Master Sgt. Ray Mauricio, Chief Master Sgt. Darwin Williams, Staff Sgt. Nikki Broomfield, Master Sgt. Mark Corradino, Staff Sgt. Shannon Crosby, Master Sgt. Kathy McNeil, Tech. Sgt. Chris Cramer, Master Sgt. Vanessa Maxfield, Master Sgt. Putney Ussin, Master Sgt. Chris Cassabon, Tech Sgt. Don Waggoner and Staff Sgt. Silka Rodriguez.