Lt. Robert Warren Bartkowiak Jr., son of Nannette and Robert Bartkowiak Sr., began his journey shortly after his academic life ended locally. Bartkowiak walked into an Air Force recruiter’s office in Jamestown and asked, “What can the Air Force do for me?” The recruiter’s reply was “Sky’s the limit.”

While in school, he loved outdoor sports and excelled in snowboarding. In addition, he worked part time at his father’s hardware store, Service Hardware in Dunkirk’s First Ward.

Following graduation, he married his high school sweetheart Jordyn Mancuso on Oct. 6, 2012, at the Dunkirk Lighthouse and Veterans Park Museum. In December, the newlywed couple moved to Texas where he returned to school for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base.

From there, the Air Force sent him to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for training to be a biomedical equipment technician. In February 2013, with orders to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, his duties were maintaining the facility and equipment for a $150 million medical complex across 13 buildings.

Lt. Robert Bartkowiak

During that time, his wife gave birth to their first daughter, Scarlett Jaye, who was born on Aug. 2, 2017.

In 2020, after seven years at Peterson, he received orders for Camp Bullis in San Antonio, Texas, where his duties were non-commissioned office in charge of operations which later led to a promotion to section chief of medical logistics for the 128-acre readiness training campus.

After nine years as clinical engineering manager, he became a technical sergeant. Aiming to reach for the sky, Bartkowiak applied to a highly competitive board for the opportunity to attend Officer Training School.

Being accepted to Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama was bittersweet for the couple. On Dec. 2, 2022, Sophia Rose, their second daughter arrived and along with Sophia Rose came new orders to Report to Maxwell AFB on Jan. 8.

Bartkowiak had to leave his 36-day-old Sophia along with her sister and his wife Jordyn to start his officer training. He was now going from and an enlisted airman to a commissioned Space Force Officer.

Upon completion of Officer Training School he was offered a commissioning opportunity in the United States Space Force as a Space Operations Officer — an astronomical responsibility of directing the U.S. assets in space to maintain our freedom and way of life. Duties include overseeing space surveillance operations, space lift, space warning, and satellite command and control. By assessing the effectiveness of all Space Operations and incorporating new technology as it becomes available, they develop future plans for systems, facilities, and personnel in order to defend our nation.

He is now attending officer undergraduate space training at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California where he will receive a broad overview of his new career. As a member of this new military branch, Bartkowiak has become a county trailblazer.

OBSERVER contributor John Fedyszyn was a source for this story.