Bully Beef, McGuire, and the Berlin Airlift Published Sept. 17, 2008 By Capt. Ryan Bradford 6th Airlift Squadron McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- This year's Air Force Ball commemorates a lot of Air Force history beginning with our Army Air Corps roots, pausing at the birthday of the Air Force as a separate service, and continuing on to celebrate the storied Berlin Airlift before bringing our attention to the present day. McGuire AFB has been a fixture in military aviation from its humble beginnings in 1926 to the present day serving first as a support base, for what was then known as Camp Dix, then expanding dramatically in the 1940s to support the war effort. After the war, the renamed Fort Dix Army Air Base was placed on inactive status until its services were once again needed as the Cold War began to dominate global politics two years later. As the Cold War got off the ground, the Soviet Union flexed its political and military muscles by cutting off supply routes to West Berlin -- the allies responded with the Berlin Airlift. At first, the airlift effort was unable to adequately supply the people of Berlin, but it rapidly evolved from a stop-gap measure to a hugely successful long-term air bridge. Eventually the airlift efficiently provided more goods to the isolated city than had formerly been available through the previous combined system of rail, air, and cargo barge becoming the benchmark for future airlift operations. Before the first shots were fired in the Global War on Terror, another air bridge was formed to deploy our military to the Middle East. McGuire's own 6th Airlift Squadron answered the nation's call and, continuing to add to its 75-year history, Team McGuire and the 6th AS continue to support the fledgling governments of Afghanistan and Iraq despite the best efforts of a determined and dangerous insurgency. So what should our history mean to each member doing the job every day? In short, Airmen like Col. Gail Halvorsen, of the Berlin Airlift, and Maj. Thomas B. McGuire, America's second leading ace, left us the Air Force of today. We must look to their examples as we train the next generation of Airmen and then take our places in the blue line that must continue to define the best traditions of the United States Air Force.