Wing bids commander goodbye with burgers, gifts

Published June 20, 2007
By Corey Dahl
21st Space Wing Public Affairs

PETERSON AFB, Colo. -- The wing commander now has a few extra items to pack before he leaves Peterson.

The wing's various groups showered Col. Jay Santee with gifts - mostly of the tacky and humorous variety - at a farewell barbeque June 15. Colonel Santee is leaving to become vice commander of the 14th Air Force at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

A crowd of hundreds, munching on hamburgers and hot dogs, watched as Colonel Santee unwrapped presents such as a miniature parking space sign, complete with a variety of titles to change out, from "Nation Saver" to "Golf Pro."

Other gifts included a fake gold necklace with a large dollar sign pendant, to represent the colonel's cost-cutting moves, as well as a box of personalized golf balls the Operations Group claimed it had pulled out of the golf course lake.

After the ribbing, however, Col. Liz Anderson presented Colonel Santee with a serious gift - a large, framed picture of the 21st Space Wing, surrounded by each group's coins - and thanked him for his time on base.

"You have changed the face of the wing forever, the face of the base and the face of the Air Force," Colonel Anderson told him. "And we are forever indebted to you."

After thanking the crowd for his gifts - all of them - Colonel Santee urged the wing's staff to continue to do good work, whether planning a barbeque or saving the nation, regardless of who's leading or how much money is available.

"There are plenty of things that you shouldn't be able to do, but you always pull it off," he said. "It doesn't matter what we're looking at, you make the implementation look easy, and you should all just keep doing that."

Farewell