Air Force Ball committee creates night to remember

  • Published
  • By Airman Emily E. Amyotte
  • 460th Space Wing Public Affairs
Every year, the Air Force celebrates its birthday with a formal military ball and festivities many remember for a lifetime. Buckley Air Force Base wished the Air Force and the 460th Space Wing a happy birthday with dinner, a guest speaker and a nighttime celebration.

This celebration, however, did not come together on its own. The Air Force Ball committee members put in countless hours of their time to make sure the event ran smoothly and would be something that people would never forget.

"I think the ball turned out amazing," said 2nd Lt. Justin Kitt, 460th Comptroller Squadron deputy budget officer and a member of the Air Force Ball committee. "All the prep and planning, the minute details and all that, to watch it come together was like a work of art."

More than 290 people attended the Buckley Air Force Ball Sept. 26 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denver. The ball was located on the 38th floor, overlooking the sunset and city lights of Denver.

The 25 active committee members started planing and organizing all aspects of the ball in June 2014.

They made sure that the location was off-base and in a location that overlooked the night sky of Denver. They also partnered with other agencies to assure the advertising, photo booth and disc jockey performance ran smoothly.

The formal dinner concluded with guest speaker Retired Maj. Gen. Ronald M. Sega, astronaut and former undersecretary of the Air Force, who spoke on the Air Force's history in space and wished the 460th Space Wing the best.

"'It is difficult to say what is impossible. For the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow,' Sega said, quoting Robert Goddard, a U.S. physicist and pioneer rocket engineer.  "Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 460th, may all those here and those in the 460th in the future, may your hopes and dream become reality."

Members of the Air Force Ball committee agreed that although planning the event was a lot of time and hard work, it was worth it when they saw how much fun everyone had.

"I felt the ball turned out amazing," Kitt said. "Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better end product. I hope members who attended the event felt the same way.  My main focus from the beginning was to design an event that would appeal to our younger Airmen -- an Air Force Ball that would set the standards for future Air Force Balls here at Buckley -- and I think we did that."