Cannon Air Force Base invests in quality of life for airmen and their families

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (KCBD) - Cannon Air Force Base offers a range of on-base amenities designed to support the well-being of airmen and their families, from recreational facilities to housing and a new mobile grocery option.

Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Gunnell of the 27th Special Operations Wing said the facilities serve a purpose beyond convenience.

“We don’t look at these places just as amenities,” he said. “These are more to us than that.”

Cannon Lanes is a gathering spot where airmen meet for lunch and recreational bowling. Gunnell said the facility plays a role in building unit cohesion.

“Our bowling alley is a facility that has a lot of tournaments and leagues and allows us to continue to grow and foster camaraderie and some esprit de corps outside of the office or outside of training,” he said.

Gunnell described the base as self-contained.

The base also features several turf recreational fields. Gunnell said the facilities are intended to offset the challenges military families face, particularly children whose parents are deployed.

“Military kids are already resilient with what we’re asking them to do and to move and change locations, change schools, all these things,” Gunnell said. “But when we can give them back a little bit and make them feel safe and provide amenities for them here on base that make them kind of stand out and we can kind of foster them and help grow them.”

Multiple Human Performance Training Centers are located across the base, including gyms, weight facilities, pools and an indoor playground. Gunnell said the investment in physical and mental fitness reflects a core principle of the command.

“One of the first soft truths that we abide by is people are more important that hardware,” he said. “And so Preservation of the Force and Families is a program that started many years ago that we try to help continue to get after resiliency, well-being and taking care of families as well as members. And that program continues to pour into us with Strength and Conditioning Coaches, this incredible facility that you see.”

Gunnell said the commitment to that principle requires ongoing attention from leadership.

“If we want to actually be about it, the leadership that we talk about, and being there for our families, and taking care of folks, and living up to that soft truth, and doing the preservation of the force of families, then we actually need to be thinking about this on a constant basis,” he said.

STARBASE program brings STEAM education to area students

A new facility on base is extending the base’s community reach to schoolchildren. STARBASE, a hands-on science, technology, engineering, arts and math program, recently opened at Connon in partnership with Clovis Community College.

Beginning in the fall, the program will serve fifth graders from eight area school districts. Students are expected to spend approximately 25 hours at STARBASE during the next school year, with about 1,000 students projected to participate.

Interactive lessons cover topics including robotics, physics and computers, delivered alongside military and civilian professionals. Students also tour base facilities and equipment to see how STEAM fields apply to military careers.

“The spend three hours in this classroom talking about how STEAM career fields across the Air Force integrate into that and how they can be a part of it,” a base official said. “It gives us the other opportunity from some community outreach to show them what we do, not only in the military, but in the United States Air Force.”

House and grocery access

Cannon provides approximately 700 homes, including on-base units and the detached Chavez Housing area. A new mobile mart, stocked by local S&S Supermarket, serves residents across the community.

Gunnell said the relationship between the base and the City of Clovis contributes directly to mission outcomes.

“We have a shared commitment to this community as well as a mutual benefit from what they’re doing across the board,” Gunnell said. “And it leads to overall mission success. It leads to our readiness, resilience and it also helps us to just continue to give back to them and to us to make us overall mission success.”