I'm Rob Branting and I'm a webmaster/researcher (perhaps still the 551st SMS mascot?) for Lincoln Air Force Base. I started a Geocities site back in 2000 with the aim of preserving the extremely fascinating heritage of the base when I was 15 years old. It helped not being extremely active in school so that time could be committed to this project.
A few years later I pushed forward with attempting to write a book on the base which many of you submitted information and photos for. It has yet still to come to fruition as my first draft somewhat lacked the literary and English-usage mastery that a teenager usually possesses.
Between 2003 and 2009 I regret to say that research was neglected while only minimal updates occurred to the geocities site, partly due to time constraints but also due to Geocitie's restrictive space and usage policies. Between then and now I had graduated high school and attended college before moving to another community in Nebraska for a time working in computer support. When my father died from Leukemia developed from Agent Orange exposure, I returned to Lincoln to help care for my family and return to school towards a bachelor's degree in Parks and Tourism with a focus on Historical Tourism. Through work and school projects there was unfortunately little time to be had to work on the website.
When Geocities announced the site's closure in October 2009, panic would be a word that I experienced (especially losing the little 10,000 site hit button! Thanks all!). An all out effort to locate a new web hosting service eventually brought me to Yola, who I must say have been excellent hosts by offering new tools and space unknown in the 2000-vintage Geocities world.
While I am immersed within several volunteering and internship positions, I have made it a priority to rebuild a Lincoln Air Force Base site and continue to gather information from veterans. (By the way, if you have filled out a questionnaire in the past, you may sure fill out a new one if you feel like it).
I bid you all a happy new year and a promise that I will build this site better than ever. Its a whole new decade coming up, and I'm looking forward to working with you to preserve the base even more.
