Spouse, artist give some TLC to DCC walls

  • Published
  • By Airman Matthew Loken
  • 1st SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Whether walking through the deployment control center with a tour group or going through each of the stations for a real world deployment and preparing for service in a hostile nation, you'll notice once you get to the waiting room that there's now something to look at on the wall.

Jim Rahn, an artist from Navarre, is on the task of painting a mural at the DCC in the waiting room.

"I work on it a couple of hours a day, three days a week," Mr. Rahn said. "The mural was started April 9."

The mural started with an American flag in the background with an eagle. By the time it's finished, it will have Airmen on both sides of the eagle in front of the flag.

Mr. Rahn decides what is displayed; however the vision was started by Natalie Diel, wife of Tech. Sgt. Justin Diel, 20th Special Operations Squadron.

Mrs. Diel said she was attending a Heart Link Seminar when she noticed how bare the walls were. She got permission to go forth with some artwork from Chief Master Sgt. Tim Karsten, 1st Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron, at the DCC and got Mr. Rahn on the job.

"We wanted it to be patriotic and supportive. Choosing Jim Rahn to do the work wasn't hard, he's an amazing artist," Mrs. Diel said. "He's a very supportive man and has been in the business for 15 years."

Mr. Rahn grew up as an "Army brat" with his father retiring as a master sergeant.

"He's always had a strong connection to the military," Chief Karsten said. "He's a very humble man; he wanted to give something to the Airmen of this base."

The artwork is expected to be completed within the next week.