farragutpress

Dyer exemplifies service, sacrifice

November 11, 2026 by Jake Nichols

Throughout his lifetime, Robert Dyer has lived the service and sacrifice he grew up seeing. A son and nephew of Korean and Vietnam war veterans, Dyer learned to appreciate the impact one can have as a member of the U.S. military.

“My dad and uncle Joe were in the military,” the Farragut business owner reflected. “My dad was in the Army in Korea, and my uncle was in the Army in Vietnam. I wanted to be in the military because of them.”

At 18 years old, Dyer enlisted in the Army and served at Fort Bragg as a combat engineer. Six years later, he transferred to the Air Force.

“I went all over the world,” Dyer said. “I started out in Prime BEEF, which is a combat engineer battalion in the Air Force, and ended up in the air refueling squadron as the flight records guy in Kansas, South Dakota then Germany and England.”

For reference, Prime BEEF stands for Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force.

“In the Air Force, they have Prime BEEF and Red Horse,” Dyer explained. “During the Gulf War, we built the burrs to protect the F-16s from the sand. It was 12, 14 hours a day, and we didn’t get a day off except the Fourth of July.”

Within those grueling days, Dyer suffered an ankle injury during Desert Storm. That injury, combined with a back complication, led Dyer to a medical retirement in 1999. He left the service with multiple honors, including achievement medals, accommodation medals, a United Nations medal from his service in Tuzla and good conduct medals. That same year, he married his wife, Kendra Barnard-Dyer. Together, the couple opened Bahia Tans in Farragut and became part of the principal ownership group of the Knoxville Ice Bears. And even though his military service has ended, Dyer has found other ways to contribute. He was named the 2024 Wanda Amos Service Award winner for the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), having volunteered for the American Red Cross in multiple natural disasters across the country. In that work and his daily occupations, Dyer puts his military background to use.

“It teaches you to be respectful, grown up, disciplined,” he said. “(Kendra) runs the business here, and I come in and relieve her and just clean beds. With the hockey team, it made me more open and friendly, treating people with respect.”

The same can be said of Dyer’s military colleagues, two of whom flew in from Missouri and Ohio to surprise him three years ago. And last Thursday, Nov. 5, one of those same men walked into Knoxville Civic Coliseum to surprise Dyer again for the Ice Bears’ 2026 Veterans Night.

“One of them came in Thursday night to surprise me, too, for Veteran’s Night at the hockey game, so we got to spend some time together,” Dyer said. “It was such a surprise and I almost cried when they came in three years ago. I hadn’t seen them in 30-something years.”

For Dyer, each interaction reminds him of the

experiences he shared with

so many men and women who make that same sacrifice. 

But he also remembers the work he witnessed from his family members.

“To see veterans at the game, we had World War II vets, Korean vets, Vietnam vets. They were the reason I went,” Dyer said. “And now it’s Afghanistan and Iraq. Especially the ones who are combat injured, that touches me more than anything. They have given their pride, their dignity and their livelihood to serve their country overseas. To me, Veteran’s Day is a representation of people who served their country, who died and fought for it. To see other veterans and talk to them, it makes you smile.“