Big fish in a big pond

Col. George Marty “Moose” Reynolds, a 1988 Absarokee High School graduate, was not alone when he was handed the command flag to the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command’s second largest air wing.
All six of his siblings joined his parents for the ceremony at Offut Air Force Base in Bellevue, Neb., on June 1.
“That was something special,” his father, Mike Reynolds, said. “The whole family only gets together once every few years at our place in Nye.”
About 600 guests and airmen from the 55th Wing watched as Brig. Gen. Greg Guillot handed over leadership of the 55th Wing to Reynolds – a big step for a rural kid from a family with little military background.
“I was offered a scholarship to play football at Montana State University, but I also had an offer from the Air Force Academy,” Reynolds said. “I asked my father for advice, and he said the MSU offer would still be around, but the Air Force offer was a one-time chance. I took that chance.”
Reynolds played defensive back for the Air Force team for three years before switching to rugby. He was commissioned as an officer after graduating from the academy in 1992.
He also has a bachelor’s in weather science from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s in business administration from Gonzaga University, a master’s in organization management from George Washington University,
a master’s in science from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a master’s of strategic studies from the Air Force’s Air War College.
A veteran pilot of C-130 Hercules turboprop aircraft, Reynolds joined the 55th Wing in 2001. His most recent assignment was with the 55th Electronic Combat Group at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, where he commanded five squadrons with about 850 airmen.
Reynolds has logged more than 2,100 flying hours for the Air Force, including flying the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft, an airborne tactical weapon system tasked with disrupting enemy command and control communications.
He has commanded three electronic combat squadrons, with three tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan and a mission in South America. Now he mostly serves a management role for more than 7,700 airmen.
“It’s fun to come to work everyday and work with all these great, highly motivated people who enjoy serving their country,” he said.
The Reynolds family – wife Deanna, an Absarokee native, son Marek, 9, and daughter Eliana, 6 – will accompany him to Nebraska.
“They’re great military kids,” Reynolds said. “Marek’s been to four different schools so far.”
Reynolds notes that about 40 percent of his graduating class in Absarokee went on to join the military.
“My advice to young people is, if you’re going to join the military, understand what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s a volunteer force, and we have high expectations. But there are so many opportunities for small-town kids. The Air Force has been very good to me.”