Buff is happy to volunteer as the Chief Outreach Officer for Camp Eyas. She currently serves as the Chief of the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command’s Aviation Energy and Innovation Division. In this role, she leads efforts to develop innovative fuel savings and cost avoidance initiatives that efficiently leverage Rapid Global Mobility resources to effectively deliver passengers, cargo and fuel to joint and coalition warfighters across the globe. In her 25-plus-year career, she has served in a variety of operational and staff assignments around the world, accumulating more than 2,100 total flight hours. She most recently served as the advisor to the Afghan Air Force’s Director of Training. During her tour in Afghanistan, she was seriously injured in a NATO helicopter crash that injured four and took the lives of five NATO members, two of whom worked directly for Colonel Burkel. She holds an MA in Strategic Studies from the Air War College’s Grand Strategy Program, an MA, with distinction, in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School, an MS in Human Resource Management from Chapman University, a BS in biology from the University of Michigan, and is a distinguished graduate of the University of Michigan Air Force Reserve Officer Training Program. Her duties include planning and executing communications and outreach efforts to further the Camp Eyas mission.
Colonel Buff Burkel
Chief Outreach Officer, President Emeritus