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NEWSLINE

July 2012
In This Issue
2012 Awards Announced
CyberPatriot
AFA Spouse Scholarships
2012 Convention Registration
Visions of Exploration Lunch
The Benefits of Membership
Region Review: Northwest


AFA National Report 


This P-51 warbird visited Hanscom AFB, Mass., thanks to the Paul Revere Chapter. Read about it in "AFA National Report" in July's Air Force Magazine, also online  at airforce-magazine.com.

 

 


Important Dates

10-11 August
Executive Committee Meeting

14 September
Executive Committee Meeting

15-16 September
AFA National Convention

17-19 September
Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition



2012 AFA Individual and Unit Awards Announced 

 

 

The Awards Committee proudly announces the 2012 Air Force Association Field and Individual Award Winners. The list of award winners in both categories are listed on AFA's website under Field Resources, or you can download the complete list by following these links:

 

2012 Field Award Winners

 

2012 AFA  Individual Awards  

 

The 2012 Air Force Association Membership Awards are currently being tabulated and will be announced at a later date. 

Changes to Congressional Events at Conference   

 

As determined by the Congressional Engagement Committee, AFA national headquarters will not host a Congressional Morning Reception during the 2012 Air and Space Conference. However, we will be providing issue briefs and transportation via a scheduled bus service on Tuesday morning, September 18th for AFA members who wish to schedule meetings with their respective Congressional delegations. Additional scheduling and logistical information will be provided in the near future.

CyberPatriot Registrations Still Needed

 

 

Registration for CyberPatriot V has reached nearly 500 teams in 47 states, and continues until September 30th. We are still in need of teams from Iowa, Montana and West Virginia (hint, hint). To see what teams are already registered in your area, please visit either our Registration Map or the List of Registered Teams (which is sorted by state). Be sure to check back next month for some exciting technical developments relating to the competition. For more information on CyberPatriot please visit our website: www.uscyberpatriot.org.

2012 AFA Spouse Scholarships Awarded

The Air Force Association recently awarded three education scholarships of $2,500 each to assist the spouses of Airmen in their pursuit of college and graduate degrees.

This year's winners were Jennifer Forness (Andover, KS), Jenny Moore (Suisun City, CA), and Lauren Widmer (Annapolis, MD).

The scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, recommendations, and community involvement.  For the full press release, including full information on the winners, please use this link .

2012 National Convention and Air & Space Conference Registration Open 

 

A reminder that the registration page for the 2012 National Convention and Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition is open.  Both will once again be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.  The National Convention will be September 15-16 and the A&S Conference and Tech Expo will be September 17-19.  Please note that some of the pre-conference meetings have changed on the schedule this year. 

 

For more information about the Convention and Conference, and instructions on how to register, click here.  

Visions of Exploration Marketing Luncheon

Registration is now open for the Visions of Exploration Marketing Luncheon, sponsored by USA TODAY.  The luncheon will be on Saturday, September 15th, during the National Convention.  Attendance will be limited to two attendees per chapter, plus Region or State leaders, so RSVP early.   
 
 
 

Member Benefits Highlight   

New Member Benefit - Worldwide Hotel Discounts 

 

Feel free to pass this information on to your members:

 

The hospitality industry pricing has confused customers for many years. If you book directly with the hotel, are you getting the best rate? Do you pay more to book over the phone than booking online? What about online hotel discount services like Hotels.com, Booking.com ... and online travel services like Travelocity and Expedia? It seems you have to research 5 or 6 sites to feel comfortable you're getting the best rate available. Many hotels offer another discount that they do not make publicly available; they can only be accessed on secure, password protected sites.  

 
AFA is pleased to be able to help with this maze through a new system which aggregates multiple hotel reservation networks to provide AFA Members with substantial savings.  
 
Our analysis shows savings averaging 10-20% better than "Online Travel Agents". There will be an occasional exception, but the AFA rate beat the leading online discount sites 98.6% of the time. The system provides the best worldwide hotel inventory, room availability and rate-type options.  
 
See for yourself and book with confidence at www.afavba.org/hotels. 

 

Login and password are both "afa".

 

Region Review: Northwest Region    

 

 

The Northwest Region includes the states of Alaska (State President - Harry Cook), Idaho (no state organization), Oregon (Mary Mayer) and Washington (Fran McGregor). Within this area are 8 Chapters ranging in size from just over 100 members to almost 1200. Total membership in the Region including those not affiliated with a Chapter exceeds 5100 members. Five major USAF installations and numerous smaller facilities, USAF Reserve locations, ANG installations and AFROTC detachments are located in this Region.

 

Alaska is the home of two AFA chapters, which cover a large and isolated geographical area (over 20% of the area of the CONUS!) but with a relatively small population of less than 700,000 inhabitants. The Edward J Monaghan Chapter is located in Anchorage and is involved with activities on and around Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The Midnight Sun Chapter is in Fairbanks and is focused on the activities at Eielson AFB.

 

Idaho has only one Chapter, Snake River, which is located near Mt. Home AFB. There are 97 members affiliated with the Chapter and 465 unaffiliated members in the state, many in the Boise area. This is an opportunity for forming a new chapter if sufficient interest can be generated, perhaps around the ID ANG unit located there. The Chapter's focus is on two important programs, Teacher of the Year and a Military Appreciation Picnic held in July during which it serves a BBQ lunch to several hundred military personnel and their family and friends each year.

 

There are two Chapters in Oregon. The Columbia Gorge Chapter near Portland is significantly involved with the OR ANG at Portland IAP and the Bill Harris Chapter in Klamath Falls is associated with the OR ANG at Kinglsey Field.

 

Washington State has three Chapters. The Greater Seattle Chapter, while not near an active USAF installation has focused its efforts on supporting the AFROTC program at the University of Washington. In addition, it works with the local Navy League Council and the Association of the US Army chapter to conduct an annual Armed Forces Day ceremony at the Museum of Flight, in which flags for each of the services are presented for display at the Museum. The largest Chapter in the NW Region is the McChord Field Chapter located near Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In addition to providing strong support to the USAF, USAFR and ANG units at the base, they have developed an outstanding Pilot for a Day program. This activity provides seriously ill children in the local area the opportunity to experience the life of a USAF pilot for a day. The Inland Empire Chapter in Spokane is near Fairchild AFB. They are active in many local civic programs, most notably the annual Military Persons of the Year awards program. Their support of the Cyber Patriot competition in the Chapter's area was part of the reason that 7 teams from the Spokane area were National finalists in Cyber Patriot IV.

 

A significant focus for the NW Region is Aerospace Education. Under the guidance of the NW Region VP for Aerospace Education, Dave Reinholz the region supports and interacts with 7 AFROTC programs, 18 Jr AFROTC units and 72 Civil Air Patrol Squadrons.

 

-Rick Sine, Northwest Region President 

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