'Growing where you are planted,' new Med Group Commander takes root at Team Minot

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Jose Davis
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  "I'm very happy to be here; this is the part of the country I wanted to come to," said Col. Bill R. Tyra, the new medical group commander for the 5th Bomb Wing.

Tyra assumed command of the medical group in July.

Tyra is a native of Lexington, Ky., and attended Eastern Kentucky University on a football scholarship in the early 1980s until his junior year. His successful career in the Air Force would come by fortuitous happenstance after his football stint at EKU.

After some of his friends decided to join the Air Force, Tyra agreed to drive them to the nearest Military Entrance Processing Station. It was there where Tyra would make a fateful decision that would herald a successful career to come.

"So I'm sitting there at the MEPS station reading a magazine when a recruiter starts talking to me," recounts Tyra. "I talk about my scholarship and he mentioned how the Air Force offers this, that and the other. Next thing I know I'm going to basic training getting a buzz cut!"

Tyra served as an enlisted Airman in medical administration for nearly six and a half years. Thereafter, he successfully applied for a commission into the Medical Service Corps.

As Tyra's career progressed, he received his associate degree from the Community College of the Air Force, a bachelor's degree in Industrial Technology and a master's degree in Management.

Tyra's career has spanned numerous assignments, from serving as a military liaison officer for the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C. to serving as a commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska and 375th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. He has also deployed 20 times.

"I've enjoyed all my assignments in unique and special ways," said Tyra. "They all have been my favorite in their own way. You grow where you are planted."

Before coming here, he served as the commander for the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group in southwest Asia. He brings vast leadership experience to Minot AFB.

"I really want to be the guy I work for," Tyra said. "You will come across good and bad leaders, and you learn from them all. I try to take the good and emulate it in my own style."

Tyra would like to begin an Airman mentorship program here. He is also prepared to do whatever is needed to support the mission of Minot AFB. \

Out of all his personal and professional attributes, his most notable is his straightforward personality.

"I'm a very candid person," Tyra said. "I don't claim to be the best, but I always claim to do my best. And I will always do that."