Fireworks season in full swing

On a stretch of U.S. 70, where Clovis fades into Portales, sits a yellow fireworks stand.  

Tractor-trailer rigs whizz by. Wind-whipped plastic flags flutter about. The Fourth of July is rapidly approaching.  

And inside this fireworks stand is Seth Tischler, a senior airman at Cannon Air Force Base, hoping that a car will veer off into the gravel lot and make a purchase. That's because money from the purchase will help provide Tischler and his Cannon 5/6 private organization funds to host social gatherings – like this week's Fourth of July party – and the Airmen's Attic food bank. That, in turn, provides community at an essential time and sheds the narrative that Cannon doesn't provide a high quality of life.  

"They always just say, 'Oh, (Cannon is in) the middle of nowhere. Nothing to do,'" said Tischler. "Out of all the places that I had been to in the military in the U.S., I think Cannon has one of the strongest communities." 

Tischler said he understands where Cannon's negative stigma comes from. How, to many, the social aspects can pale in comparison to other Air Force bases located in bigger, more populated cities with more activities and picturesque views. Say, the liveliness of Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas or the novelty of an Air Force base in Japan or Italy.  

After all, Cannon's located in the desert ... social activities are limited ... and when the High Plains winds mix with smells from the local dairy farms and feedlots, it can remind one just how far they are from home, potentially leading to feelings of isolation.  

"I still get homesick sometimes. Especially because it's nowhere near the environment that I grew up in," said Tischler, who noted that he doesn't speak for all Cannon AFB members.  

Raised in Buena Vista, Ga. – a small town surrounded by woods, smothered in humidity – Tischler would take trips to a nearby lake "stocked with bluegill, largemouth bass and catfish" with Zeus; his goofball of a flat haired retriever. 

"It's stuff like that. You know, being here I'm like, 'Man, I missed that so much,'" Tischler said. 

Though Tischler has enjoyed his time at Cannon, that longing intensified last November when he got word that Zeus – who loved playing with plastic bottles and eating bitter lettuce heads – had passed. 

"It's hard to hear," Tischler said. "Especially when it's a childhood friend."

This is why raising money for holiday gatherings is so vital, Tischler said. It can build the community necessary for Cannon airmen who're dealing with homesickness. 

"It's not a reactive tool. It's not something that we look at airmen and go, 'Oh, they look sad' and then do something for them," said Cannon AFB Tech. Sgt. Joseph Vaughan.  "It's more of a preventative tool ... we don't want them to have those feelings of isolation, loneliness, any kind of feelings of despair." 

So, with each purchase of a TNT-manufactured "smoke ball" or massive firework, Cannon 5/6's entertainment options increase. 

Vaughan said the fireworks stand has been there since June 22 and that private organization Cannon 5/6 is composed of Cannon members, but is not directly affiliated with Cannon. The goal is to raise $2,000.  

"In the military, there's kind of an unwritten code where this might be the airman's first time away from home. Private organizations, and just individuals, try to cater to those airmen to make sure that they have a place to go," Vaughan said.