The 'Mayor': Robert Steele a huge figure in Air Force Reserve logistics

  • Published
  • By Eugene Vandeventer
  • Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command
ROBINS AFB, Ga. --  (Editor's note: In 2008, the Air Force Reserve will celebrate its 60th anniversary, having been established in 1948 as an organization separate from the regular Air Force. This is the second in a series of six articles leading up to this celebration that honor some of the people who are responsible for where Air Force Reserve Command is today and how it got here. The articles are based on the personal experiences and fond memories of Gene Vandeventer, who served as an aide-de-camp at Headquarters AFRC from 1986 to 1990. Mr. Vandeventer currently works as a civilian in the Directorate of Historical Services at HQ AFRC, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. People of diverse ranks and grades are listed in no special order. By telling these people's personal stories, Mr. Vandeventer hopes to both recognize their outstanding sacrifice, determination and foresightedness while expounding upon the Reserve's prestigious history to the next generation of Citizen Airmen.) 

To many people who knew him, retired Chief Master Sgt. Robert Steele was affectionately known as the "mayor." For years, Robert served as a city councilman in Warner Robins, Ga., and filled in at times as "mayor pro tempore" when the presiding mayor was out of town. Robert left his mark as a transplanted "New Englander" in love with the Warner Robins area and, in particular, Robins Air Force Base. 

I met Robert when he was working as a civil servant in the Headquarters Air Force Reserve logistics area. Robert was a huge figure in logistics, both in stature and importance. He had that distinguished gentleman look about him. He was tall, fit and well dressed, and communicated in a polite, discretionary way. His Massachusetts accent made him stand out even more, especially in central Georgia. Robert had a full, thick head of hair, and it was as white as snow. When he walked into a room, your eyes were naturally drawn to him. 

Along with those talents and characteristics, Robert was a man who wasn't shy about expressing himself. He'd tell you exactly how things were. People respected his contributions and honest talk. 

One of his areas of interest was all of the billboards that dotted the streets of Warner Robins. He suggested more than once that a good tractor could take care of all of those eyesores in a day or two. As one might expect, the business owners who had the signs put up weren't quite as excited as Robert was about that idea. 

Robert served on the city council for nearly 10 years. He did this while holding down his supply duties in the headquarters. He was a constant figure in the local community, working hard to put Warner Robins on the map and contributing significantly to its successful growth and future development. 

His involvement extended to a variety of organizations. Robert was a board member of the Happy Hour Workshop, a Little League baseball coach, president of the Warner Robins Touchdown Club and an ambitious member of the Exchange Club. He was an active member of Central Baptist Church, serving as a deacon, Sunday School teacher and in a variety of capacities within the church's administrative office. It would be an understatement to say that "the man was involved." 

In 1975, after retiring from the Air Force, Robert served as a Junior ROTC instructor at Warner Robins High School. He came on staff at Air Force Reserve headquarters as a civil servant, and, after he retired from his logistics post, he went on to serve as director of business development at Ranhill Technologies. 

I really didn't know too much about Robert's younger days other than the fact that he had served in the Marines -- before transferring to the Air Force -- and that he possessed a fantastic sense of humor that would go far beyond just a punch line and a laugh. In 1950, he married Mary Dunlop, also from Quincy, Mass., and through their Air Force years, they raised three boys and one girl, traveling around the world. 

One of his assignments was to Bien Hoa, Republic of South Vietnam. It was there, in 1968, that he was awarded the Bronze Star, not once but twice, with a "V" for valor device for his unselfish devotion to duty in an explosive ordnance disposal squad. As one of his award citations read, "During a clearing and reconnaissance mission, Sergeant Steele, while under fire, checked for hidden explosives and de-armed unexploded munitions." 

I heard Robert tell many a story, but I never heard this authentic piece about him until his daughter Leslie relayed it to me in 2006, three years after he passed away. 

What else didn't I know about this white-haired warrior? That he finished his active Air Force career at Robins as the superintendent of the Air Force Logistics Command NCO Academy and Leadership School. That he was a sports enthusiast and loved to play intramural basketball, football and tennis. When he was stationed in England, he was the only "Yank" on a local English tennis team. 

What I do remember him telling me about was his early service days participating in boxing competitions. He said his boxing years didn't last too long and that he would go down in history as the first fighter ever to enter the ring ugly and leave it a handsome man! 

Whether he saw you while glancing over his spectacles from behind his desk or when he passed you in the hallway, he always had a story to tell. One story I remember was about a young nephew and his dying old aunt. The nephew grudgingly went to visit her in the hospital where she lay in a deep coma about to die. The nephew noticed some peanuts in a dish left by her bedside, no doubt given to her by a visitor. The nephew thought, well, she'll never eat those salty nuts. So, he decided to help himself. 

He got down to the last few when miraculously his aunt awoke from the coma, sprung up in the bed and shouted out his name. He was so spooked by the incident that he could only manage to blurt out how sorry he was for eating her peanuts. To which she replied, "Nuts, can't stand them. That's why I suck all the chocolate off them and stick them in that dish over there." Robert would finish that line with a Jack Benny-like straight face as you laughed yourself silly. 

More than his story telling and gentlemanly air, Robert Steele was a patriot through and through. He expected more from his senior NCOs because he was one. He would exude pride because he was a proud man. Moreover, he honored and praised his family, nation and God because he knew the tangible qualities of even the most inanimate objects would get him to see future days in an even greater, positive light.
Robert "Bob" Steele might have been a Yankee by birth, but he was a Southern gentleman by nature.