GRAVETTE — Air Force Lt. Col. Bryan K. Huntsman, formerly of Sulphur Springs, was honored in a retirement ceremony held May 31 at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Huntsman is the son of J.C. Huntsman and the late June Huntsman.
Following is biographical information from the official retirement ceremony program.
Lt. Col. Bryan K. Huntsman was born October 13, 1965, in Rockledge, Fla., while his father was helping to build the space rocket Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, Fla.He and his family moved three times before settling in Sulphur Springs, where he grew up and graduated with honors from Gravette High School. He continued his education at the University of Arkansas and in 1989 finished a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and was commissioned a distinguished graduate and 2nd lieutenant through the Air Force ROTC program. Since then he has earned two masters degrees, attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base (AFB) and is anAir War College graduate.
Lt. Col. Huntsman was assigned to the 505th Training Squadron, Hurlburt, Fla., where he was the chief of standardization and evaluations for the U.S. Air Force’s only Air Operations Center Formal Training Unit schoolhouse. While at NATO Air Command, Izmir, Turkey, Lt. Col. Huntsman accomplished leadership duties while working on the NATO staff, directly supporting a Greek two-star general.
At the 603rd Air Operations Center at Ramstein Airbase, Germany, he was the director of staff and the chief of air tasking order production, where he was responsible for the final operational linkage of the GDSS and TBMCS command and control systems.Also at Ramstein, he deployed to Kosovo and was the commander of Air Force personnel supporting the NATO KFOR mission. At Mc-Chord AFB, Wash., he served as Air Mobility Command’s RODEO 2007 (war games) director, the 10th Airlift Squadron’s operations officer and chief of Wing Plans and Programs. At Scott AFB, Ill., he served as chief of the Executive Decision Support Division in the Tanker Airlift and Control Centerresponding to the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
At Altus AFB in Oklahoma, he helped stand up the 58th Airlift Squadron while performing schoolhouse instructor pilot (IP) and evaluator duties and served as chief of Wing Training. At Charleston AFB, S.C., he was a squadron and group executive officer, chief pilot and an IP flying the C-141 and C-17. In Dec., 2000, he deployed to the NATO Combined Air Operations Center in Italy for Operation NOBEL ANVIL. In January, 2007, he deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, to fly combat missions for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. In 2008 he deployed to Kosovo as a commander supporting NATO operations there.
Lt. Col. Huntsman is a command pilot with over 4,200 flight hours flying into over 80 different countries around the world.
Huntsman’s awards are many, including meritorious service and achievement awards, commendations, national defense service, Southwest Asia, Kosovo Campaign, Humanitarian Service, AF Expeditional Service Ribbon, NATO medal and the Kuwait Liberation Medal issued by the Government of Kuwait.
He has been married 22years to the former Carolyn Smith and they have three children, Stephanie, 17; Lindsey, 15; and Daniel, 12.
Huntsman wrote to the Eagle Observer: “I thank the Gravette and Sulphur Springs communities for their support. It is people like you I would remember when the military career got really tough. I would remember I was there for all the people back home who loved America and enjoyed liberty and freedom and who really set me on the right path of life.
“Even though I do not get back to northwest Arkansas very often, I fondly remember the great Americans there; and that memory made the tough times away from family and in foreign lands much easier. I was proud to serve in ‘their’ United States Air Force.”
Community, Pages 12 on 07/18/2012