Retiree Appreciation Day

Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Gregory Mask served as a personnelist. "I had to opportunity to serve for Desert Storm, actually Desert Shield and Desert Storm,” said Mask. “I was amazed at what we're able to do as people working together. The camaraderie, the way we train and learn and execute,” added Mask. One of those times was while he was stationed in Grand Forks and a great flood overwhelmed the city. “We took in 5,000 members from the local community, and we housed them in the 3-bay hangar,” said Mask. “We worked 12 hours a day for about three weeks straight. Ops tempo was really high for what we had to do, so we had to house those people. It was a collaborative effort to see everyone pitching in. And we were able to do that… because everyone was trained and talented and could provide certain human capital to make that happen." (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Tara Stetler)