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Justin R. Mace, a 1995 Johnson City High School graduate, was promoted to the rank of Captain in the United States Air Force on May 29, 2009. Following are the words from Colonel Barker upon Justin’s promotion. “Good morning, I would like to thank everyone for joining Justin on this special day and celebrating his promotion to Captain. Tex’s promotion to Captain is a result of hard work and the increased responsibility the Air Force is placing in him. Tex’s journey in the Air Force started after graduating high school in 1995. It was a tough decision between the Air Force and the Navy, but an eight hour fishing trip filled with seasickness helped him make the decision to join the Air Force. He enlisted in September of ’95 and left for basic in late November. After basic, Tex headed to Sheppard AFB for 5 weeks to attend C-17 maintenance training. Upon completed training, he did a brief stint as a recruiter assistant in Austin before heading to Charleston AFB in April of ’96. Tex started his time at Charleston as a crew chief on the C-17 where he contributed to multiple C-17 support missions including, being hand-picked to support the 50th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift by participating in an Air Show at RAF Mildenhal, England. He also prepared the C-17 for the mission which moved Keiko, the killer whale (star of Free Willy movies), from Oregon to Iceland. While working as a crew chief his attention to detail allowed him to find a hairline crack in a C-17 main landing gear avoiding a potentially disastrous accident. After 3.5 years, Tex volunteered to move to the Hazmat section in the backshop so he could devote more time toward obtaining his Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) and Bachelor’s degrees. Some of his responsibilities in the Hazmat section included being a first responder to major hazardous spills on aircraft and flight line vehicles and managing the hazardous maintenance facility for the squadron in the absence of his supervisor. In 2001, then SRA Mace applied for the Scholarship for Outstanding Airmen to ROTC Program (SOAR), for which he was accepted and got to pick the school to attend for his degree. It was off to the University of Texas San Antonio, while serving as the Vice Wing Commander for his ROTC detachment. He earned a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Marketing in May 2005 and was commissioned the same day. Tex headed here to Scott to start his career as an Air Force Officer. He first worked in A5QP, the policy and procedures branch, for a year. During this time, he was the Air Mobility Command (AMC) liaison to the Mobility Air Forces Requirements and Operations Counsel (MAFROC), was A5/8 POC for Airlift/Tanker Association (A/TA) and served as the Vice President for the bases Company Grade Officers Council. Tex then moved to A5QA, the airlift requirements branch, and worked on both the C-17 and C-5 programs for 1.5 years. As the Chief C-17 Requirements, Tex was responsible for all requirements on the $73B acquisition and modification effort, also, as a key C-5 Re-Engining and Replacement Program (RERP) team member, he helped guide the program successfully through Nunn-McCurdy while once again being the A5/8POC for A/TA. For the last year and a half, in an effort to capitalize on his requirements expertise, Tex has worked in A5QX, as the Assistant Chief, Tanker Programs, on the Air Force’s #1 acquisition program the KC-X. Tex was vital to the work being completed on the $200B tanker recapitalization effort with the program office. He aided in the re-write of the Systems Requirement Document (SRD) to make it more measureable and streamlined for the upcoming source selection. The SRD development process was lauded as a model for other Air Force programs to use. As you can tell, throughout his career Tex has a record of outstanding performance and is ready for the increased responsibility which comes with the rank of Captain. He is up for the new challenges that await him as he moves on to work in the Delta Launch Vehicle Program Office at Los Angeles Air Force Base.” Justin, wife Carol and children, Kaitlyn and Dylan, will be leaving for LA this month. He is the son of Rod and Colleen Mace of Johnson City.