AF cartoonist draws donations from fans

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mike Andriacco
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  An Air Force cartoonist, with the help of his fans, has raised $600 for the Air Force Assistance Fund.

Capt. Timothy "Beetle" Tryon, 2nd Operations Support Squadron flight commander and creator of the military-themed comic strip, Crew Dogs, began raising donations through his website in May 2011. He earned his call sign at his first assignment, when his coworkers felt his military-themed comic reminded them of another classic, Beetle Bailey.

When his computerized drafting tablet began to wear out, Tryon went back to hand-drawing the comics on paper. Having a unique product in the form of the comics he then scanned and uploaded, Tryon decided to sell them through his website, www.thecrewdogs.com and donate the proceeds to the AFAF.

Though splitting the proceeds from the comic slowed his efforts to replace his worn equipment, Tryon considers it worth it.

"Most of my readers are Airmen," he said. "I felt the money came from Airmen, if it was going to go anywhere, it should go to other Airmen who needed help."

He's never needed to use any form of Air Force assistance in the past, but Tryon saw how it impacted one of his fellow Airmen.

"While we were deployed, there was an Airman who needed to go home on emergency leave," Tryon said. "Last minute tickets were several thousand dollars, but the Air Force Aid Society was able to step in and help him get home. The Air Force can't always help, but that's when we need to be there for each other."

Tryon can't remember when he started drawing, but he's been creating comics since he was in high school, before websites were prevalent. Now that anyone can have a website his audience has grown, largely by word of mouth since he started Crew Dogs in 2007.

"I've been TDY to Minot before and had people seek me out when they heard I was there," he said. "They just wanted to tell me how much they enjoy the comic."

His fans have helped him through times when he wasn't as motivated to create as he used to be due to mission requirements and operations tempo. The outpouring of support on his website and social media channels helpe keep him going, he added.

Tryon is getting ready to move to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he will attend the Air Force Institute of Technology, but he doesn't have plans to stop cartooning anytime soon.

"I don't think I'm going to make a career out of cartooning, but it's something I enjoy and will keep doing in different ways," he said. "Crew Dogs will have to come to some type of conclusion, but I don't know when or how that will be."

Tryon is considering putting together all the Crew Dogs comic strips into a book so it can continue to raise funds for charities he cares about, all of them military related. His father and grandfather were both in the Air Force, and he feels it's a goal they would be proud of.

"If I can continue to raise money with this, then it should go to something worthwhile," he said.

Just prior to publishing this article, Tryon let Public Affairs know his computer has malfunctioned and it may be some time before Crew Dogs is updated, but please be patient, he thanks his loyal readers and will have it back as soon as possible.