Texas AFA spring 2013 - Texas Air Force Association

CyberPatriot V Spring 2013
Official Newsletter of Air Force Association Texas
President:
Bill Lawson
Exec. Sec.: Joan Lopez
Exec VP: Gary Copsey
Treasurer: Bob Gehbauer
VP Communications: Norm King
SPRING ISSUE
March 2013
Spring State Meeting Held
in College Station
The Fall State AFA meeting was held in College Station. The meeting was hosted by the
Aggieland Chapter who provided an excellent location and things to do.
The dinner speaker was Dr. Thomas Hilde
who gave a lengthy talk on Climate Change
and provided extensive scientific data that
refutes the theory that mans use of fossil
fuels causes global warming. Warm and cold
global temperatures have occurred in cycles
for the last 50 million years.
Highlight of our state meeting in College Station was that
we got to meet Lt Col Don Pardo, a famous Vietnam War
F-4 Phantom pilot. He is best know for "Pardo's Push"
where he used his fighter to literally push his wingman’s
fighter that had been hit and lost power over North Vietnam. His wingman lowered his tail hook and connected
with Pardo’s aircraft right in front of the canopy which kept
his aircraft in the air until they were out of North Vietnamese territory where both crews ejected and were rescued.
He was later awarded the Silver Star for his action. You
meet some very interesting people at Air force Association
functions.
Future Meetings
Summer 2013—Wichita Falls
Fall 2013—Austin
Spring 2014— Alamo
Summer 2014—San Jacinto
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News From National
Texas Dominates CyberPatriot V Na onal Finals Compe
on! All Service Division Na onal Champions! Marine Military Academy, Harlingen, TX (MCJROTC) Marine Military Academy Marine Corps JROTC team members with (from le to right) AFA Chairman of the Board George Muellner, Brig Gen Ed Wilson, Coach William Beckman, and Chaperone Robert Fracasso. Best In Service Awards Navy: Flour Bluff Corpus Chris , TX Marine Corps: Marine Military Academy Harlingen, TX Air Force: John Jay High School San Antonio, TX 3
Air Force cuts aviation support at public events
WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- As the Air Force braces for
potential sequester, leadership has cancelled all aviation
support to public events for at least the remainder of the
fiscal year and is standing down the Thunderbirds aerial
demonstration team to save flying hours to support readiness needs.
Effective today, active-duty, Reserve and Guard units will
cease all aviation support to the public. This includes the
cancellation of support to all air shows, tradeshows, flyovers (including funerals and military graduations), orientation flights, heritage flights, F-22 demonstration flights and
open houses, unless the event includes only local static
assets.
Additionally, the Air Force will cancel the Thunderbirds' entire 2013 season beginning April 1.
The Thunderbirds and Heritage Flight crews will complete their certification procedures for safely flying
aerial demonstrations in case the budget allows resumption of scheduled events in 2013, but and the
Air Force will cease participation in Heritage flights following certification.
The Air Force will reduce flying hours by as much as 18 percent -- approximately 203,000 hours -- and
impacts will be felt across the service and directly affect operational and training missions.
"While we will protect flying operations in Afghanistan and other contingency areas, nuclear deterrence
and initial flight training, roughly two-thirds of our active-duty combat Air Force units will curtail home
station training," said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III.
Since all aerial support to public and military events is flown at no additional cost to the taxpayer using
allotted training hours, the Air Force had no choice but to cancel support to these events.
"Engaging with the public is a core Air Force mission and communicating and connecting with the public is more important today than ever before. However, faced with deep budget cuts, we have no choice
but to stop public aviation support," said Brig. Gen. Les Kodlick, the director of Air Force Public Affairs.
"The Air Force will reevaluate the program at the end of the fiscal year and look for ways to curtail the
program without having to cancel aviation support altogether."
The Air Force will continue to seek additional ways to remain engaged with the American public.
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National Reports— Ed Garland, AFA National Secretary, reported that AFA National is looking at redoing the Wounded Warrior Project program. Due to USAF budget cuts, future AFA national conferences and symposiums are “up in the air”. USAF has cancelled attendance at most
conferences for now. There are major changes to the AFA web sites in process with most being
complete in the next 90 days. The Navy annex near the USAF Memorial has been closed and
most of the parking in the area has been eliminated.
Region President– Bob Slaughter said we are not going to close chapters near an active
USAF base, just keep them idle. The new Field Operating Guide is on line and is a good resource. The support letters from the USAF Chief of Staff and JAG office on USAF/military Associations have been sent out. While not perfect they should clear up some long term issues.
Secretary– 1st quarter reports are due by 15 April. Make sure to use the 2013 form.
State President– Bob Lawson stated to make sure and put the Chapter number in the file title
of support submissions. This will help in avoiding confusion.
Awards— The 2013 awards deadline April 1. Be sure to get nominations in on time.
Texas Aerospace Education Foundation— Larry Martwig was elected as Texas AEF Chairman. Funding doing OK but license plates sales or renewals are down 15-20% from last year.
Teacher of the Year nominations are due by May 15.
Community Partners— 2013 is the Year of the Community Partner nationwide. Chapters can
compete for national awards for this program.
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