It’s Change of Command season, and the reality is starting to set in. I know I have written about how the folks “downtown” don’t quite realize the impact the change of commands has on the Minot Air Force Base community.

On the military side, it’s kind of business as usual. Families packing up and headed out to new assignments. From the community side, we meet new families coming to the community. Although I have to believe that much of their focus is on getting settled in a new home and getting acquainted with Minot Air Force Base in general, we tend to forget the challenge of taking on the command of an entire bomber or missile wing, group, or squadron command. That being said, there isn’t another base in the Air Force that houses two legs of the nuclear triad like Minot. Once again, hard to comprehend when you aren’t part of the military fabric that keeps Minot Air Force Base as one of the top bases in the Air Force.

Now we’ll talk community, or maybe communities. I have lived in Minot since 1976. Quick math? Almost 50 years. For most of those 50 years I didn’t really understand the dynamics of trying to combine two completely different communities, into one cohesive community. What are those dynamics? Well first and foremost, knowing that a vast majority of the Minot Air Force base command team(s) will be limited to two years at Minot Air Force Base, or if they choose, the community of Minot. What does that mean? In our neighborhood we once had four different military families who owned homes in our neighborhood.

We have had our home on 22nd Street Northwest for 44 years. When we moved into our home, we were they young kids on the block. Today we are the old couple whose kids have grown and left the nest, so’s to speak. Yep, we are Grandpa & Grandma Wilson.

So, what about those military families. All are gone. One to Montana, one to Texas, one to Las Vegas. We watch through our living room window as moving vans arrive and families leave. Next door to our home, we have had three different military families purchase and live in the home. Today there is another for sale sign in the front yard, and with a “Sale Pending” banner. We are waiting patiently to see who moves in. They may be a military family assigned to Minot Air Force Base, but we won’t know for a while. Buying a home takes time.

Just because I am familiar with PCS season, I think it could be a military family. And if it is, where did they come from? One family had been in Germany. Can you imagine packing up and moving your family across the ocean? Like I said, business as usual for a military family. Our reporter, Erin Beene, moved their family to Hawaii. She talked about belongings going into storage for a while. They moved into temporary housing before they received their moving schedule. Again, hard to imagine for someone who has roots, and I mean really deep roots, in North Dakota.

So yeah, there is a season for everything, and now is PCS season at Minot Air Force Base. In downtown Minot it is also PCS season. It’s a time to make sure we say goodbye and best of luck to those moving on. And to those who are arriving, we should have a routine for welcoming these new families not only to our neighborhood, but to the organizations in the community that might make these families feel welcome.

My wife and I try to bake (well actually my wife bakes and I just kind of watch) cookies or bars and knock on the door of new families and welcome them to the neighborhood and offer our help in getting acquainted with Minot. Back to Amy Allender and her Hotdish Land mentality. Making people welcome is part of Hotdish Land. But so is sheading a teer or two as the moving van rolls away and realization of someone leaving sets in.

So, let’s just end our visit today with an agreement that it’s PCS season, on both sides of the fence. Minot Air Force Base and Minot are one community, going through the loss of several families knowing that in time another family will move in and want to connect. Let’s help them. After all, it’s PCS season.

Best Kept Secrets
I am going to go with fat tire bikes, and fat tire bike trails. Check them out at Fort Stevenson State Park, just south of Garrison.
Shrek is coming! The Mouse River Players will be hosting a summer production of Shrek. I met one of the younger members of the cast recently. She was singing and practicing her dance moves. More information on mouseriverplayers.com.
All Shook Up- June 11th starts the MSU Summer Theater with All Shook Up. It a great musical with familiar music. Tickets available on the MSU Summer Theater web site.

Today’s Chuckle
Future politicians won’t be able to brag about being raised in a log cabin, but they will complain of growing up with only a flip phone and one flat screen TV in the home.