By Bob Arnold
It may be a circus, a baseball game or rodeo, a light show or fireworks display, perhaps a shopping extravaganza or exhibition, or charity ball, among other events. If you’re looking for something special to do around here, thank Chaston Bullock, Director of the Lincoln County Civic Center, who books the events.
His journey to the job that he started last year included a career as a fire fighter interspersed with service in the Army, National Guard and Air Force over more than 20 years; five years with the Kansas City Southern Railroad and three years with Mississippi Emergency Management.
Local folk who like having fun are happy he found his way here.
Born April 9, 1975, at Hazlehurst, Bullock spent the first five years of his life in the Jackson area, where he went to Sykes Kindergarten, and then landed in Mendenhall with his parents. He started 12 years at Mendenhall Attendance Center there in the first grade, and graduated from its high school in 1993.
Bullock recalls his childhood and youth revolved around country living, surrounded by horses, chickens and other animals, and learning to hunt and fish -- “things I still like to do, but don’t have time to pursue.” During high school, he also worked as a stockman at the Walmart store in Magee.
Recognizing that college wasn’t affordable, he chose the military instead at age 18 and went to U.S. Army basic training in February 1994 “after the Air Force passed me up,” rising in rank from an E1 private to E7 Sergeant First Class. He first shot cannons as a member of a cannon crew, was a supply clerk for three years, and then a parachutist after graduating from the Army’s airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia, instead of the ranger he aspired to being.
“I had more than 100 jumps to my credit at special ceremonies and in training for warfare scenarios,” Bullock says. “I jumped for President Clinton in one ceremonial jump.”
In 1997, he returned to live at Mendenhall with his first wife -- “a lady I met in Kansas,” joined the National Guard as a military policeman at Brandon, Mississippi, and the Ridgeland, Mississippi, Fire Department, where he served off and on until 2014. Over the next seven years, the National Guard checkered Bullock’s fire fighting career with deployments to Nicaragua and Karshi Khanabad Air Base in Pakistan and for service in Iraqi Freedom. Divorced in 2001, he left the National Guard in 2004 to study to become a paramedic and earn an Associate’s Degree at Holmes Community College.
In 2005, Bullock returned to the military -- this time to the Air Force where he rose from an E5 Staff Sergeant to an E6 Technical Sergeant. He trained at Shepherd and Nellis Air Force Bases in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Las Vegas and the Water Survivor School at Pensacola, Florida, and Sea School at Spokane, Washington, before becoming a medic and Licensed Practical Nurse for service in the 183rd Air Evacuation Unit based at Jackson, Mississippi.
After he completed flight school in 2006, the Air Force deployed him on patient pickup missions in Germany, Hawaii and Japan; and for four months service at Kandahar, Afghanistan, transporting wounded soldiers to Germany. He received the Air Medal for his role in seven urgent, 113 routine and 29 priority medical evacuations.
In addition to service as an Air Force medical specialist, he also worked as an equal opportunity specialist and a licensed mediator trained to interact with people regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin or sexual orientation.
From 2014 to 2019, Bullock was a conductor and engineer on the Kansas City Southern Railway. In 2019, he went to work for Mississippi Emergency Management as an operations specialist and assisted local emergency managers in responding to disasters as an area coordinator before coming to Lincoln Country Civic Center in 2022.
Now remarried, Bullock and his wife Stephanie, a friend since childhood, live on 16 acres in Lloyd Star, and over the past ten years have shared in rearing his son and daughter, aged 26 and 24, and her three sons, aged 21, 20 and 16 from previous marriages. She is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Mississippi Institute of Higher Learning, which works with the state’s four-year colleges.
What are your hobbies?
I still enjoy hunting and fishing on my 16 acres, and nurturing the land where I am growing pine trees -- maybe for a business in the future. I like to travel -- anywhere. My wife and I cruised in Caribbean last year, and I hope to travel to Alaska. I am also Associate Pastor at Center Point Baptist Church at Brookhaven.
Are you a reader?
I am not an avid reader, but enjoy the Bible and conducting Bible studies. When I was serving in Afghanistan, I recall the pleasure of reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen about a veterinary student who joins a traveling circus.
Do you have a special interest in music.
I don’t sing, but would like to learn to play the saxophone, violin or banjo. I like Country, Gospel and even appreciate Christian rap, or at least its message.
How about movies or theater?
When I travel, I will take in a play. I like Brookhaven Little Theater. My preference is comedy. I want to laugh!
What would you do with the winnings if you won the lottery?
I would tithe, giving 10 percent to the church. I would also become a philanthropist, blessing people who need financial help as I am able.
How would you change the world?
That’s easy. Bringing people to Christ and his love.