GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE -- Two security forces master sergeants started their Air Force careers at Grand Forks Air Force Base more than 20 years ago at a very different Grand Forks Air Force Base. Recently the demolition of the dormitories they once lived in as airmen caused them reflect on what has changed since they were first stationed here and also on what has remained the same.
To Master Sgt. Stephen Terrill and Master Sgt. Todd Tureskis, 319th Security Forces Squadron, the biggest differences between the past and present is the mission. According to the them, when they were stationed here as airmen in the mid-80s there was a missile wing, bomber wing and tanker wing. Now two of those missions have transitioned to other locations and the tanker mission is scheduled to leave in 2010. However, the base has a history of change and the future of the wing will include new missions.
Currently, the base is host to the Department of Homeland Security and wing leadership is looking for new partnerships to bring the base into a new chapter in its dramatic history.
Despite the changes the base has undergone, it's been host to more than a half-dozen missions in its five-decade history, the most important aspect of the base have remained the same -- its partnership with the local community.
Both Terrill and Tureskis have spent the majority of their careers here due to the local community, raising their families here and volunteering to help during the worst disaster in this area's history.
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"I think the community and base are so close because the values outside the base are the same as our Air Force core values," noted Terrill. "This is a community where it's not uncommon to leave your doors unlocked and not feel nervous."
"My second assignment was to Florida and I chose to leave the gulf coast and return here because the quality of life is so great here," said Tureskis. "Unlike some places where you have to tell your children to avoid certain places in town, there's no place in Grand Forks I tell my kids to avoid."
Their tie to this community is more than just their career. For these two combat veterans, the tie to the local community is as strong as the tie between father and child.
"Both my children were born here, one at the base hospital and one downtown," said Terrill.
"My children were born here as well," added Tureskis. "Mayor (Michael) Brown actually delivered my second daughter. The community saved my daughter's life after complications during labor threatened her health. I'm forever indebted to Grand Forks."
Grand Forks is indebted to the base as well. In 1997 the worst flood in local history struck the Grand Cities, covering the downtown area in more than 12-feet of water. It was Airmen who mobilized to protect as much of the city as possible and volunteered after the danger had passed to help their neighbors.
"We opened the gates and set up living facilities in the three-bay hangar for local residents," said Terrill.
"I don't think anyone thought of it as a military humanitarian mission or dangerous to allow base access to so many people," added Tureskis. "We were just neighbors helping neighbors."
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The demolition of Felix Hall is bitter-sweet for Terrill and Tureskis, "It seems like every time I turn around a memory is disappearing," Tureskis said.
Yet, the changes improve the base and increase the value of the installation. Who knows what the future holds for the base.
"Grand Forks Air Force Base has a bright future," said Terrill. "The community and base will be relying on each other and working together for many years to come."
