Olympians at Luke

Lt. Col. Steven Speckhard, 69th Fighter commander, helps Bryon Wilson, U.S. Olympic freestyle skier and 2010 bronze medalist, strap in before taking off in an F-16 Fighting Falcon April 16. Wilson also visited several Luke Air Force Base areas including the K-9 unit of the 56th Security Forces Squadron, 56th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and the simulators. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Sandra Welch)

Olympians at Luke

Staff Sgt. Kyle Alltop, 56th Security Forces Squadron military working dog handler, tries on a bronze medal belonging to Shannon Bahrke, a U.S. Olympic freestyle skier who competed and won medals in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, after the military working dog demonstration at the Luke Air Force Base softball fields April 15. Ms. Bahrke won a silver medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a bronze medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tracie Forte)

Olympians at Luke

Shannon Bahrke, a U.S. Olympic freestyle skier who medalled in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, Capt. Richard Orzechowski, an F-16 pilot with the 56th Operations Support Squadron, and Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz, members of the 2010 Winter Olympics gold-medal winning U.S. four-man bobsled team, warm up before a workout in the Combat PT Center April 15. Bahrke, Tomasevicz, Mesler and Bryon Wilson, a bronze medal winner in the 2010 Winter Olympics, toured Luke Air Force Base, including the simulators and the 56th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tracie Forte)

U.S. Olympic medalists witness Air Force life at Luke

Published April 23, 2010
By 2nd Lt. Ryan DeCamp
56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Four members of the U.S. Olympic team who medaled in the recent Winter Games in Vancouver visited Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., April 15-16. The trip brought the Olympians to the West Valley to meet Luke's Airmen and see activities the base performs each day.

The team U.S.A. Olympians included mogul skiers Shannon Bahrke and Bryon Wilson along with bobsledding teammates Curtis Tomasevicz and Steve Mesler.

"I want to thank you guys for what you do, and you make us proud everyday," Mr. Mesler said. "Hopefully for just one, five-minute period on February 27, Curt and I made you proud and two weeks before Shannon and Bryon made you proud. If we could give you that it makes it all worth it for us."

Mr. Tomasevicz and Mr. Mesler represented half of team "Night Train" who won the United States' first gold medal in the four-man bobsled since 1948. Mr. Wilson earned the bronze in the moguls in Vancouver, as did Bahrke. Her bronze medal was her second trip to the podium in the Olympics. She took the silver at Salt Lake City in the same event in 2002.

Their visit began April 15 with trips to the F-16 simulators, a military working dog demonstration, the explosive ordnance disposal team in action and a workout with military members to round out the day.

April 16 included a ride for each Olympian in a Luke F-16 Fighting Falcon and a warrior call where each medalist spoke to and answered questions from more than 400 base members in attendance.

Some of the other topics at the gathering Friday afternoon included what it felt like to compete on the worlds' stage and what inspires them to compete.

"After I won my medal in '02, that really gave me the fuel to go through the next eight years of my career, through the injuries," Ms. Bahrke said. "To know that feeling when you step up on that podium and represent your country and see your flag being raised is one of the greatest honors an athlete can ever have, so for me that was huge inspiration."

"A lot of times my inspiration is the American people, such as the men and women like yourselves," Mr. Mesler said. "We put on our uniform and it has U.S.A. written on it and a lot of times when you put something on everyday you get used to seeing it and you kind of forget it's the United States of America. When I think about that sometimes and the people in my hometown, all the things they've done for me to be here even though they know I'm going to get all the glory, really keeps me going.

Mr. Wilson, 22, stood as the youngest member of the quartet and began his comments to the crowd about how his experience went at Luke.

"The past couple days have been a pretty cool experience being able to be here and see what you do," he said. "I landed on an F-16 an hour ago and that was amazing, incredible. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Compared to mogul skiing it's fast and it's brutal, but it was fun."

Mr. Mesler commented on how his experience competing in the bobsled is similar to what he saw at Luke during his tour.

"There are four of us on our team, so we have to build camaraderie for us to be able to go into battle together," he said. "At the same time we have a coaching staff, we have office managers, we have all these people, but it's amazing that it's exactly the same environment in a completely different world at Luke. We're bobsledders and the work you do is so much more important than what we do, but in our world it parallels so well."