Air Force Won't Disclose Causes of 17 Deaths at Tinker Air Force Base This Year

I have a family member there (Maj, UAAF). I'll try to get his take on this.

Bizarre....and they won't even say if they are military, civilians or family members

Having served at Tinker as ABW leadership, it should be noted, Tinker is a HUGE Air Force base (in terms of personnel) and the 30K personnel figure stated in the report is not accurate (more than double that actually). I once observed an asbestos notification hearing for specific buildings (to notify folks who were currently serving or previously serving in those facilities) that there is a chance they MAY have been exposed to asbestos. It was just for their awareness, in case anyone developed symptoms and such over the years. People showed up out of the woodwork, demanding the presenters compensate them, and the hypersensitivity I observed was eye opening.

This report speaks of 17 deaths over the year which I'm not trying to dismiss, but not all died at one single event, and no causes were given. Seeing that there is a HIGH ops tempo for Tinker (AWACS, Navy Wing One, and then some), I would imagine suicide can be one significant culprit. But there is also a huge Air Logistics Center there too, where accidents can and have happened. To some, Tinker can be a depressing location to be assigned to. If you don't hunt, fish, or have a boat, OKC had very little to offer (in my opinion). My wife and I bought a boat because we were so bored while living there for 4 very long years. We couldn't wait for our vacations and on some weekends, we HAD to drive three hours to Dallas for a little more "civilization." You can only go to Brick Town in OKC (where we initially lived) so many times before it gets really old.