AFCEE celebrates 20 years of excellence

  • Published
  • By Karla Saia
  • AFCEE Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment employees past and present gathered July 21 under welcome cloud cover to mark two decades of mission excellence.

AFCEE's 20th Anniversary Ceremony, held outside Bldg. 171's Entrance 3, featured distinguished visitors from across neighboring Air Force agencies as Terry Edwards, AFCEE director, and keynote speaker J. B. Cole, AFCEE's founding director, reflected on the organization's origin, evolution and promising future.

Edwards was humble as he addressed the audience gathered.

"I can tell you that back in December of 1991 when a young captain wandered into a building on Brooks Air Force Base, he never, ever would have guessed he would stand here as director 20 years later," he said.

He attributed AFCEE's incredible growth in size and scope of mission to its diverse and talented workforce, as well as to the unit's foundational leaders, in particular Cole.

Cole noted most employees and outside observers would never guess that AFCEE, which currently has more than 700 people worldwide working to fulfill its mission, began "almost by accident."

"We had no desks, no paper, no pencils," Cole said, just a smattering of diverse experts including "engineers, lawyers, architects, contract specialists, and every kind of scientist you could think of" and an urgent requirement to have the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence up in running in one year's time.

"Our initial and primary purpose was to serve the environmental needs of major commands, and I'm proud that we have done it ever since and continue to do so to this day," Cole said.

The official ceremony closed with the first agency-wide photo since AFCEE re-located from Brooks City-Base in 2010 and was followed by a cake-and-punch reception. Former AFCEE Director Gary Erickson - the agency's longest-standing leader - was on-hand to cut the cake.

State and local leaders also recognized AFCEE's 20th anniversary milestone with Texas Governor Rick Perry and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro sending certificates commending the agency's contributions. The congratulatory letters, along with others from two former AFCEE directors, were on display at the reception while a slideshow produced by Rich Perry, chief of AFCEE visual information, paid tribute to AFCEE employees and provided a visual chronicle of the center's history.

For more information about AFCEE across the years, visit the unit's 20th Anniversary web page at http://www.afcee.af.mil/news/anniversary/.