Mr. Mike Cleveland

Master Sgt. Tara Brown was a great NCO, coworker, volunteer, daughter, sister, wife, aunt, and warrior. Tara came to us (manpower and personnel) in June 2009 and continued her outstanding efforts where she was selected as the Command Communications and Information NCO of the Year.

Of all her attributes, the on thing everyone comments on was her smile. The photos you see of her are so true to her. Rarely would you see her without that smile. It was contagious and genuine, people would come by daily just to speak and say “hi.” Room C202 was considered Grand Central Station because of the traffic she generated. Sergeant Johnson, Chief Black, Sergeant Jackson along with others would often be found in her office mentoring or discussing things with her.

She was a big-time Giants fan and…she always took one for the team, even when they had a bad night. I have to admit I did take great delight in asking her how they did after suffering their defeat to the (at the time) lowly Cleveland Browns. She for once didn’t have a lot to say other than the Browns got lucky.

Tara was a loyal person; she enjoyed every minute of life every day, and took advantage of every moment. She was always on the move – fixing computers, printers, network issues, or checking in with friends and coworkers. Of course, she was responsible for keeping me up and running, and I presented challenges to her – but she always succeeded.  When I did give her a challenge, it was “come on Mr. C, why are you doing this to me?” Then she would go out and produce.

Tara was always on schedule/mission. Most days unless she had an appointment, she was at the gym by 6 a.m. and at work by 7:30 a.m. She had to eat her breakfast at 8 a.m., snack at 10:00 a.m. and by 11:30 a.m. she was eating her organic chicken salad.

Her willingness to help others at any given moment was commendable. She would adjust her schedule to fit yours. Sometimes I would just tell her to take a break, because before one project was completed, she was already scheduling another project.

If someone in DP had a computer problem and she couldn’t solve it, she was on the internet, calling someone or doing research, and she was focused on not letting the machine beat her. It was her passion. With her great desire to learn, she was always coming to me wanting more programming and system training to improve her capabilities.

Of course, she volunteered for numerous OSI activities – the annual picnic, children’s Christmas party, and washing the Vietnam Wall memorial.

She volunteered for the deployment and, once on it, she was so proud of being part of a historic event, training Afghanistan Air Force students how to manage computer systems and trouble shooting.

She enjoyed the simple things about life, but her faith, family and friends were always her pride and joy. Her love for her niece and nephews was shown with all the pictures on her desk and wall, and her conversations about what she has done with them or a story about what they were doing in the future.

At her Wing Top 3 induction, she was so proud of being selected for promotion, and her family in attendance showed the same pride.

We had a few conversations where she would talk about the love of her life, Ernest Brown. She had been with him fro several years and he was her best friend. Then last year, in 2010, she realized he was more than just her best friend – he was the man with whom she wanted to spend her life and raise children. She was so happy when she got married, and showed up with her new name on her uniform.

She loved the Air Force and all the opportunities it provided and gave her. Tara’s dedication and motivation were the main ingredients that propelled her to volunteer to fight for her country.

She felt this was a stepping stone in her career that would make her a better supervisor and mentor once she got back, and headed to the wing.

Her determination would have taken her to become the “chief” she was striving for. She fought the good fight. She ran and finished the race. Above all, she kept the faith. Tara will be forever missed by all of us.