Meet . . .

TJ Burr, USAF Reserve Officer

Some of you may notice that TJ disappears from his civil engineering duties at the state office from time to time. This is because he has a part-time job with the US Air Force Reserves. Unlike a traditional reservist, Lieutenant Colonel Burr serves his reserve time by augmenting active duty forces when and where they need him. This unique status enables him to serve anytime, anywhere, with less than 24-hours notice when necessary. He keeps a rapid response bag packed with gear, and can be on a plane within a few hours.

Even though he only has 20-years of military service officially credited to him, he has continually served in a military capacity since he was 17 years old. He observed his 18th birthday in San Diego, California at Marine Corps Basic Training. After a short tour in the Marines, the Air Force awarded him with a 4-year ROTC scholarship at the University of Wyoming so he could pursue an education in civil engineering. When he asked the Marines about their engineering program, they told him they had two types of engineers: 1) Combat Engineers, and 2) Combat Engineers.

Following graduation from college, TJ entered active duty with the Air Force as a second lieutenant in Atlanta, Georgia. Enroute to Atlanta from his home near Denver, Colorado, he spent 2-weeks in Wichita Falls, Texas attending some special training. While on active duty and with the reserves, TJ has traveled around the country and abroad. He has been to, Greenland, Portugal, and 46 of the states in the US. His favorite trip while on reserve duty was a week in Anchorage, Alaska.

Recently, TJ has assisted with a $45 million project to restore the medical center at Keesler AFB, Mississippi to pre-hurricane conditions. The base is located in Biloxi, Mississippi, less than a half-mile from the Gulf Coast. He visited the area on February 14, 2006, and had this to say, “The coastline looked like a war zone.” The basement of the medical center is at 18 feet above sea level, but the storm surge raised the water level to 22-feet causing extensive flood damage to the lower level facilities. Unfortunately, the emergency power generators were all on the basement level. Without power or air conditioning, conditions inside the building rapidly deteriorated. Just months before Hurricane Katrina struck, the Air Force replaced all of the windows with hurricane-resistant windows, which prevented major damage to the upper levels of the facility.

The photographs were taken at a park dedicated to the USS Alabama Battleship in Mobile, Alabama. During wartime operations the battleship weighed 45,000 pounds and carried a crew of 2,500. The ship was listing to port side because Hurricane Katrina pushed sand up under it. The force of the hurricane’s storm surge was also strong enough to push tanks off their foundations that are also on display at the park.

TJ will likely find himself back in Mississippi in the coming months as the extensive constructions restoration continues. For now, he is happy to be home in West Virginia.

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