Airman: Combat boots and cowboy hats: volunteers swap battle dress for blue jeans during a 10-day rodeo billed as the "Daddy of 'em all"

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Combat boots and cowboy hats: volunteers swap battle dress for blue jeans during a 10-day rodeo billed as the "Daddy of 'em all"

Mark Kinkade

You can't separate F.E. Warren Air Force Base from nearby Cheyenne, Wyo., any more than you can separate a cowboy from his hat, a bull from its horns, a roper from his--well, you get the idea.

They began together, they exist together and the base and the town will go on together until whatever end.

The base and the town form a kind of fraternal twin community best described as "bucolic," and people living there like it that way. They are Wyoming residents with roots that go back generations, or Air Force people who inevitably did a tour at the base long ago and decided it was a good place to raise a family. The community practically drips with old-time values and the kind of peaceful, naive lifestyle seen only in old television programs.

But the community also has a not-so-secret identity. For 10 days every year Cheyenne and F.E. Warren open the doors and invite the world in with the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. During those days, more than 100,000 visitors will show up, tripling the town's population and causing more than a few locals to take extended vacations away from the area.

Interlocking Pieces

Before there was a Cheyenne, there was Fort D.A. Russell. The Army established the fort in 1867 to protect rail lines planned to run through the area to help move livestock. F.E. Warren's museum curator and local historian, Paula Taylor, said the commanding general plotted both the post and the town on the same day.

"He knew the fort needed the town as much as the town needed the fort," Mrs. Taylor said as she sat in her office--once the post commander's headquarters. It stands in a long row with 27 other red brick buildings the Army built in the 1880's to house eight infantry, regiments.

The rodeo got its start when the commander closed off part of the post and let the men have a go at riding wild horses and bulls. Since then, the rodeo has grown to a monster of an event with an international reputation, a gigantic prize purse and an Air Force pulse heating throughout.

CFD, as the rodeo is known, has "put Cheyenne on the map," said retired Col. Craig Whitehead. Until recently, the colonel commanded the 90th Mission Support Squadron at the base, and is one of hundreds of Airmen who annually volunteer to help the community put on the rodeo.

"People come from around the world," he said during a break at the 2004 event in July. Earlier that morning, he was part of the opening ceremonies and rode, on horseback, with about a dozen military, and community leaders as they greeted the assembled crowd in a large stadium built especially for the rodeo.

"We get spectators from Australia, Europe and all throughout the United States here to see a professional event with a $1 million purse, the largest outside the National Finals [held in Las Vegas]," he said. "It brings in thousands of people, and is really part of the community identity. That's why they call it the 'Daddy of 'Em All.'"

Bluesuit Volunteers

For 108 years, the military has been a part of the rodeo, most of it in the form of volunteers. Colonel Whitehead estimates roughly 65 percent of the hundreds of volunteers working the event are military. Most come from F.E. Warren, but many are former Warren-ites who volunteered during their assignments at the base, and keep coming back for more.

Tech. Sgt. Greg Schaffran, a medical technician at Wilford Hail Medical Center in San Antonio, volunteered to be a "cowboy medic" in 1995. Since then, he hasn't missed a rodeo, traveling from as far as Japan to be part of the team of military and civilian medics who take care of rodeo competitors.

"Once you get involved in this and with the people, you discover it's a really good feeling," he said. "I love the rodeo."

For some, the rodeo is their first taste of the wild, wild West. Missile maintainers, security forces and other Airmen from parts of the country that think "rodeo" is a street in Los Angeles, find themselves drawn to the festivities that envelope Cheyenne during the event.

"The first time I ever put on a cowboy hat was for Frontier Days," said Airman 1st Class Jason Fernandez, a self-described "beach kid" from Tampa, Fla. A medical technician like Sergeant Schaffran, the Airman volunteered to join the cowboy medics and says he'll likely keep coming back.

"It's one of those things," he said. "If you would have told me years ago that I'd be wearing boots and a cowboy hat while patching some guy in the middle of Wyoming, I would have said you were crazy. This place grows on you."

In total, the cowboy medics team of 24 volunteers puts in an average of 3,000 hours during the event, said Master Sgt. Larry Mason, one of the medic team leaders. On any given day, six medics from the F.E. Warren medical clinic are on duty, often paired with local medical technicians and doctors.

Air Force volunteers work everything from concession stands to security for the event, Colonel Whitehead said. And those that leave the Air Force often come back to Frontier Days. Arnie Lutz, for example, retired as a Senior Master Sgt. in Cheyenne. He began working rodeo events while a civil engineer at the base. Now he handles security during the rodeo.

Mr. Lutz said the lifestyle the rodeo projects is the main reason people who get involved stay involved.

"It's about traditional values like being with your family, acting in an honorable and honest fashion, courtesy and clean competition," he said. "These cowboys out here represent a way of life. It's my life, and it's the life a lot of people who call this area home."

If Frontier Days is the defining event for the Cheyenne community, it's also the defining event for F.E. Warren. The Air Force Thunderbirds launched their demonstration career with a show in 1957, and come back every year. And where other bases open the gates to the public during air shows, the 90th Space Wing at Warren hosts "Fort D.A. Russell Days" in conjunction with the rodeo. Locals and tourists alike get a chance to see the Air Force and the history of the base.

After a few days in Cheyenne, it becomes crystal clear that the base and the community are one, Mrs. Taylor said.

"Would there be a Frontier Days without F.E. Warren?" she pondered. "Probably not. In fact, if F.E. Warren wasn't here, I don't think there would he a Cheyenne."

F.E. Warren AFB at a glance

Mission: One word: Missiles. The host unit 90th Space Wing manages intercontinental ballistic missile complexes in Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado.

Location: Colocated with Cheyenne in southeast Wyoming, approximately 90 minutes north of Denver and 30 minutes north of the Colorado border.

Getting around: Small commuter aircraft service Cheyenne's Municipal airport, with connections from Denver. Interstate 25 runs through Colorado to Cheyenne and 1-80 cuts across the lower portion of the state from Nebraska to Utah. And of course, you can always ride horseback.

Population: F.E. Warren boasts about 4,800 active duly and civilians as of 2004. More than 53,000 live in Cheyenne. Wyoming is file least populous U.S. state with about 450,000 people living in the 10th largest state.

History: F.E. Warren began in 1867 as Fort D.A. Russell, an Army Post built to protect a new railroad in the area. Cheyenne was established at the same time. The Army turned the base over to the newly created Air Force in 1947. F.E. Warren is the oldest continuously active military installation in the United States.

Climate: Wyoming is known for bitterly cold winters and mild-to-hot summers. The average temperature during Frontier Days, held in June or July, is about 74 degrees at its peak. Rain is common in summer.

Cost of Living: Community housing is reasonable, with the average 3-bedroom home running about $850 per month. Modernized base housing gives would-be renters an attractive home option. Farming, mining and tourism are the major industries in the state.

Recreation: From fishing to snow skiing, hunting and just about every other sport, Wyoming has a place and a time for it. Being close to Colorado, Cheyenne is the gateway to winter sports.

Want More Information?

Learn more about F.E. Warren Air Force Base at www.warren.af.mil and www.afcrossroads.com