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NEWSLINE

September 2012
In This Issue
New EVP for AFA
2012 Membership Awards
Moonlight Tour Reopened
IRS and Charitable Giving
2012 Convention Registration
Awards and Scholarships
Red Bank and CyberPatriot
CyberPatriot Call to Action
Election Year Cautions
Global Warfare Symposium
Region Review: South Central


AFA National Report 


  

An Air Force Cross recipient attended the Montgomery Chapter's Gathering of Eagles brunch.  Read about it in "AFA National Report" in September's Air Force Magazine, also online  at airforce-magazine.com.

 

 

 


Important Dates

14 September
Executive Committee Meeting

15-16 September
AFA National Convention

17-19 September
Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition

18-20 October
RP/SP Orientation

New Executive Vice-President for AFA

 

On August 28, AFA announced that Lt. Gen. Richard Newton, USAF (Ret.) would replace David T. "Buck" Buckwalter as Executive Vice-President.  .


"General Newton brings an outstanding military and academic track record, full of accomplishment," said Sandy Schlitt, AFA Chairman of the Board. "His time as Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel service as the Director of the Air Staff, his vision and his record of mission focus will extensively benefit AFA."   

 

Lt. Gen. Newton New EVP Lt Gen Newton checks out the September issue of Air Force Magazine, hot off the presses.  Send a photo of where you're reading Air Force Magazine to [email protected]

 

For more information and General Newton's full bio, click here

Membership Awards Announced for 2012 

 

The Air Force Association is pleased to announce the winners of 2012 Membership Awards.  Chapters are qualified for these awards based on their recruitment of new members during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011.   Congratulations to all winners. 

  

 

Moonlight Tour and Lockheed Martin Reception   

 

Due to the high level of interest in the DC Moonlight Tour, which had sold out rapidly, we have coordinated with the tour company to add a second bus.  Therefore, the tour is open again to any interested parties.  Sign up when you register, or contact Katie Storm at [email protected] with any questions.

Additionally,  the Sunday evening Lockheed Martin Delegate Educational Session at Lockheed Martin's facilities still has space available for interested delegates.  Sign up for both events now! 
IRS Status Confirmed for Charitable Giving
 

The Air Force Association recently received confirmation from the Internal Revenue Service that gifts, bequests, and other contributions to the Association and its listed subordinates may be tax deductible for the donor, as specified in the Internal Revenue Code.  Please see the letter below from the IRS and contact your tax advisor for details on specific deductibility limitations.

 

The original letter can be seen here. 

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.  

Awards and Scholarships Announced

The Air Force Association has recently announced its many 2012 Awards and Scholarships.  We invite you to view the winners of these honors at the following links:

Field Spotlight    

Red Bank Tops CyberPatriot  

 

New Jersey AFA and the Hangar One Chapter 192 got the word out about CyberPatriot in their area recently.  When Red Bank Regional High School took top place in a regional competition against 11 other teams at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The word went out in the Red Bank-Shrewsbury Patch, and included information about the local AFA organizations.  This is a fine example of an excellent way to spread the word about AFA and its mission.

CyberPatriot Call to Action

AFA Region, State, and Chapter Presidents,

 

Thank you for all you are doing to promote aerospace education.   This critical mission area represents a significant AFA contribution to the future of not only our Association and the United States Air Force, but to our nation as a whole.  We desperately need American youth interested in pursuing education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

 

Our flagship education initiative is CyberPatriot-The National High School Cyber Defense Competition.  With the hard work of many-including our wonderful volunteers and members-AFA's program has grown from a modest 2009 pilot program in Florida featuring just eight teams to our ENORMOUSLY successful CP-IV competition that last year drew over one thousand teams registering from all 50 states, DoD Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific, and Canada.

 

We are happy to report CP-V is shaping up to be even bigger and better than last year's competition.  CP-V team registrations-at this point in time-are greater than our last two years' combined.  More, we have significantly improved the competition through implementation of a new AFA-owned competition "engine," the Cyber Competition System (CCS), developed in cooperation with one of our founding partners, the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  We are adding a hardware competition, and have strengthened the "cyber forensics" aspect of competition this year as well.  The bottom line:  CyberPatriot is bigger and better than ever before.

 

But we need your help.  School is in session now in most every district, and we need you to spread the word.  Even if our ambitious goal of registering 1,500 teams this year is met, we will have barely scratched the surface of the 40,000 high schools in America. 

 

We ask you to please encourage all of your chapters and members to visit AFA's excellent CyberPatriot website www.uscyberpatriot.org and learn all you can about the program.  And then I would encourage you to send them to the web page explaining how AFA chapters fit in the recruiting process and exactly what they can do to recruit teams in their areas:  http://www.uscyberpatriot.org/HowYouFit/afachapters.aspx

 

Timing is critical.  Team registration closes September 30th, and practice rounds begin on October 1st.

 

CyberPatriot is an outstanding opportunity for high school students to learn about cyber security and to prepare themselves for promising STEM educations and careers.  We need every student in America to know about our competition, and the only way to make that happen is for you to reach out in your community and spread the word.  Our CyberPatriot Program Office can help with any questions:  [email protected], 703-247-5806.

 

Our thanks to our Presenting Sponsor the Northrop Grumman Foundation, our Founding Partners SAIC and CIAS, and all of our fine sponsors listed here: http://www.uscyberpatriot.org/about/Pages/sponsors.aspx

 

George Muellner

Vice Chairman of the Board for Aerospace Education

 

David T. "Buck" Buckwalter

Acting President

ELECTION YEAR CAUTIONS     

 

One of the easiest ways for a chapter or individual AFA member to harm AFA as a whole is to violate the prohibition on intervening in a political campaign.  There can be NO suggestion that AFA, as a tax-exempt organization, endorses ANY political candidate for ANY elective office (and this prohibition is exactly the same whether the organization is a (c)(3) or (c)(19).) 

 

That does not mean that AFA members are prohibited from exercising their rights as citizens to participate in political activity, but rather that the organization cannot be portrayed as favoring one candidate over another.  The IRS publishes more than sufficient guidance to make the defense: "I didn't know" not even remotely credible.  It is worth your time going to the website by clicking here.    

  

The first link on that page (Stay Exempt Mini-Course) is a 16-min discussion with slides and voice that outlines all you'd even need to know about permissible and non-permissible activities.  Slide 17 in that presentation discussing permissible personal activities is among the most valuable.  It is probably worth 16 minutes of your time to familiarize yourselves with the rules on this issue in case you get any questions. 

Field Leader Access to Online Directory

 

As you know, in order to free up funds for an improved online community, we did not renew the "Harris Connect" online community contract and the online directory was no longer available.

 

We received e-mails from six field leaders who assured us that they really need that access.  Therefore, we're opening a "back door" to the online directory on a case by case basis and have arranged with Harris to keep the data updated weekly.  If you would like that access, please e-mail Susan Rubel on [email protected] with your name, field leadership position and e-mail address and she'll give you a login and password to access that information.

 

Global Warfare Symposium

The Air Force Association's 2012 Global Warfare Symposium will be held in Los Angeles, CA, November 15-16, 2012, at our new location, The Hyatt Regency Century Hotel, 2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

 

AFA will repeat last year's successful two-day format, part of the evolution of this Symposium's emphasis from Space to Global Warfare. Topics include Space, China, the Pacific, Syria, and the Air Force's global responsibilities. We have invited multiple speakers to inform our audience on these topics, and look forward to hosting the top echelon of USAF senior management and commanders, the aerospace community and academia.

 

Invited speakers include:

 

Michael Donley

Secretary of the Air Force

 

General Mark Welsh

Air Force Chief of Staff

 

General C. Robert Kehler

Commander, Strategic Command

 

Jamie Morin

Under Secretary of the Air Force

 

Gwynne Shotwell

President, SpaceX

 

Dr. Dalia Dassa Kaye

Senior Political Analyst, RAND

 

Jeff Moss

Director and Founder of Black Hat

 

The Symposium will be held on Thursday, November 15, from 1:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. and on Friday, November 16 from 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. The annual Air Force Reception and Ball will be held Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. Since it is important for AFA leaders to have the opportunity to attend the symposium, a special "AFA Leader" registration fee for National Officers, Region Presidents, Directors, State and Chapter Officers and designees has been established. Registration is now open. Please go to https://registration.afa.org/events/la2012reghome.aspx for more details.

 

If you plan to stay at The Hyatt Century Plaza, the AFA discounted rate is $225 single/double plus tax. To make your hotel reservation, please either book online by clicking here or by call the hotel directly at (888) 421-1442. If you call, please mention you are with the Air Force Association's Global Warfare Symposium to receive the special symposium rate. The deadline to receive these rates is Monday, October 22 or until the group block sells out, whichever comes first.  

Region Review: South Central Region    

 

Editor's Note: This report has been abbreviated for space.  To see the full version, click the link at the bottom of the report.  

 

Welcome to the South Central Region (SCR). Our region is comprised of the five states (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee), as well as 16 chapters within these States. The last figures reflect the total SCR Air Force Association membership at 6,816.

 

As with many States within AFA, the South Central Region does not possess a significant number of active Air Force installations or, for that matter, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve installations. Despite this limiting factor, the 6,816 members of the region continually provide outstanding results, as well as measuring up to the grass roots effectiveness of AFA to further the Mission of the organization -- Educate, Advocate, and Support.

 

Monthly AE/STEM News Updates are sent to entire region for AFA AE information, as well as current AE/STEM opportunities for all chapters' consideration for involvement

 

The South Central Region conducted their annual Region Conference, 4-5 May 2012. This was the second consecutive annual AFA conference held in the South Central Region. On Friday, 4 May, a "burger burn" social was hosted by the region president and his wife. We had four out of the five State Presidents in attendance, as well as 23 individuals attending the business meetings on 5 May 2012. Following the business meetings, an outstanding dinner hosted by the Montgomery Chapter was conducted; 24 individuals were in attendance. This conference was a total success, and exceeded the objectives of an AFA Region Conference/Workshop.

The South Central Region is working to expand its outreach initiatives via the Aerospace Education mission of the AFA.

 

Regional Activities:

  • Vice President of AE, Susan Mallett, sends out a minimum monthly electronic communication to all SCR state and chapter presidents and VPs for AE in an effort to disseminate:
  • Current notices and information from national AFA and Aerospace Education Council
  • Current AE information pertaining to AFA awards, grants, scholarships, and programs (such as Teacher of the Year, Grant Programs, Chapter Matching Grant Program, Visions of Exploration Program, CyberPatriot Program and CAP's AE Support Programs)
  • Continuous updates of the CyberPatriot program's developments, as well as recruitment and registration initiatives
  • Current AE information from other aerospace and educational organizations pertinent to AFA chapter promotion of AE grants, contests, awards, resource sites, and other opportunities
  • Requests to SCR chapters and states to share AE activity information to promote throughout the region- and the nation via the AFA AE Newsletter

 

State Activities:

  • Each state is working on or has already selected a Teacher of the Year
  • Each state has submitted nominees for AFA's variety of       AE awards, scholarships, and grants
  • Each state has educator recipients of the National AFA Educator Grant, and some states have recipients of CAP Unit and Educator Grants, all of whom are sent a letter of commendation for initiating a grant proposal for AE/STEM projects
  • Each state strongly promoted the CyberPatriot IV program, as noted on the chart below. Each state has already begun initiating promotional initiatives to increase participation with all types of school teams for CyberPatriot V. It is important to know that the number of region teams increased from a total of 47 CyberPatriot III teams registered in 2010; and 74 teams were registered for CyberPatriot IV. For the region, the aforementioned represents and increase of 64 percent of teams registered in 2011.

The South Central Region has a lot more to report. Check out the full document here. 

 

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