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NEWSLINE

October 2012
In This Issue
2012 Convention Summary
Global Warfare Symposium
Cyber Security and CFC
CP Spotlight
2012 National Aerospace Awards
Tidewater Chapter F-111
CyberPatriot V
Election Year Cautions
Region Review: Southeast


AFA National Report 

Teacher in Glider

  

Soar like a ... teacher. Read about Montgomery Chapter's field trip from Alabama to California in October's "AFA National Report" in Air Force Magazine. It's also online  at airforce-magazine.com.

 

 

 


Important Dates

18-20 October
RP/SP Orientation

11 November
Veterans Day

15-16 November
Global Warfare Symposium and Air Force Ball


2012 National Convention Summary   

 

 

The 64th Annual AFA National Convention was a huge success, thanks to the dedication of all the attending delegates.
The 211 delegates approved a Statement of Policy and Top Issues for 2012.  Additionally, elections were held for National Officers, three National Directors, and a number of Region Presidents.    

For all the election results, click here.   
 One of the highlights of the convention was the speech by given by the new Air Force Chief of Staff, General Mark A. Welsh, III, who addressed the group on the 18th.  If you missed the speech, or want to share it with others, a full video can be found below.

Video of CSAF's speech at the AFA Convention can be found here.

 

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 William L. Shelton

Commander, Air Force Space Command

 

Jamie Morin

(Acting) Under Secretary of the Air Force

 

Gwynne Shotwell

President, SpaceX

 

 

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. - 3:10 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.  


 

Cyber Security Awareness Month and the Combined Federal Campaign
 

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Throughout the month, the AFA Blog, the AFA facebook page, and the CyberPatriot facebook page will be bringing you information on how we're helping to train the next generation of Cyber defenders, and tips on keeping your home computers safe.  

 

Also, now is the time to sign up through the Combined Federal Campaign to support AFA (CFC#12214) and the Air Force Memorial (CFC#11953). Pass this information on to your chapters so we can spread the word as much as possible.

 

For a full color flyer to advertise our CFC numbers, click here

Community Partner Spotlight:

Houston Chapter Signs Up Unusual Community Partner 

 

 In order to support Chapters in their recruitment of Community Partners this year, we have decided to spotlight unique businesses recruited as new Community Partners.  Starting us off is Chapter 233, Houston, with a rather unusual CP:Top Drawer Lingerie.   This local shop has a surprising connection with Air Force history though.  It's owner, Dow Hickam II, is a descendant of Lt. Col. Horace Meek Hickam, a pioneer of airpower, and the namesake of Hickam Field in Hawaii.  It all goes to show that you never know where you might find a business that wants to support the the Air Force, airpower, and our airmen.

 

For the whole story, click here

2012 National Aerospace Awards

The Air Force Association announced its 2012 National Aerospace Awards last month, and many of the awards were presented at ceremonies during the 2012 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition. 

For a full listing of all the awards given at this year's conference, click here.


Field Spotlight    

Tidewater Chapter Restoring F-111 Cockpit   

 

Bill Cuthriell, President of Chapter 242, Tidewater, recently sent us an update on a project his chapter has tackled with the help of a matching grant.  He reports:

"I'm attaching some pictures of the F-111 cockpit  that we received a $1,000 matching grant for. We have spent approximately $2,000 on the project to date.  We purchased a trailer and mounted it on same. We are having it painted and the canopies installed, and we are replacing some instruments. It will be ready for the 6 AFJROTC units in Chesapeake to use in a couple of weeks.

The Chapter also used an Education Grant to fund a field trip for 200 AFJROTC cadets and volunteers to the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA. 

For pictures of the F-111 Cockpit project, click here.
CyberPatriot V Update

CyberPatriot celebrates National Cyber Security Awareness Month with the close of registration and the addition of some new sponsors. The University of Maryland, University College signed on at a Cyber Silver Sponsorship, USA Today signed on at a Cyber Diamond Sponsorship and Raytheon Company renewed at the Cyber Diamond Sponsorship. Registration for CyberPatriot V came to a close on October 6th with over 1200 teams registering for CyberPatriot.

Check out the final list of teams here. A big "Thank you!" to every AFA volunteer who helped recruit a team for CyberPatriot V!

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. 

Region Review: Southeast Region     

 

The Southeast Region consists of 14 chapters located in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Georgia has 3033 members in 4 chapters; North Carolina has 1998 members in 6 chapters; and South Carolina has 1564 members in 4 chapters. Each state and their associated chapters live the AFA mission of Educating, Advocating, and Supporting our great Air Force in their own unique way. Whether it is our smallest chapter of 66 members from Kitty Hawk, NC or the Region's two largest chapters each with 1,000 plus members from Georgia (Dobbins Chapter in Atlanta and Carl Vinson Memorial Chapter in Warner Robins), each chapter does the best they can to support AFA-and as Region President I'm supported by a very dedicated core of volunteers.  

 

 

The Region supports several major installations: Robins AFB and Moody AFB in Georgia; Pope Field and Seymour Johnson AFB in NC; Charleston AFB, Shaw AFB, and McEntire JNGB in SC: as well as the Air Force Climatology Center near Asheville, NC. The chapters within the Region actively support 15 Air Force ROTC detachments at colleges and universities, and over 50 AFJROTC units and Civil Air Patrol squadrons.

Georgia

State President: Dudley Bluhm

 

The Savannah Chapter 137 is led by Sarah Barber (acting)

The Carl Vinson Chapter 296 is led by Michael D. Trotter

The Dobbins Chapter 331 is led by Dr Arthur Johnson

The South Georgia Chapter 381 is led by Nick Lacey

North Carolina

State President: Joyce Feuerstein (acting) for Louis Emond (recently deceased)

 

The Scott Berkeley Chapter 131 is led by Michael Hartsfield.

The Tarheel Chapter 207, is led by Patrick Yanke

The Cape Fear Chapter 366 is led by Norm Melton.

The Harley Pope Chapter 386 is led by Brian Wilson

The Blue Ridge Chapter 424 is led by Alicia Hughes.

The Kitty Hawk Chapter 425 is led by Dwight Wheless.

South Carolina

State President: John Allen, Jr

 

The Columbia Palmetto Chapter 383 is led by E.G. "Buck" Shuler III.

The Charleston Chapter 297 is led by Linda Sturgeon.

The Strom Thurmond Chapter 153 is led by James W. Dowis.

The Swamp Fox Chapter 298 is led by David "Bush" Hanson.  

 

If you look at the Region as a whole, you can see that Educating the Public, in fact, Aerospace Education, is right at the top of our mission. The region provides a large number of scholarships and grants to individuals and schools in support of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The chapters near USAF bases all participate heavily in sponsoring and presenting Pitsenbarger Awards to CCAF graduates. Also, several chapters near USAF bases provide direct support to STARBASE programs. Seymour Johnson AFB just celebrated their 21st year of STARBASE-a fantastic milestone for a program that educates rising 5th graders about the Air Force. In addition, all three State organizations have robust Teacher of the Year recognition programs. In 2009, 2005, 2003, and 2001 the top AFA National Teacher of the Year award winners came from the Region. Chapters within the Southeast Region sponsor over 70 Visions of Exploration classrooms, led by the Swamp Fox Chapter in SC which alone sponsors 10 Visions programs in several schools in the Sumter area. Even chapters that are not near Air Force installations work tirelessly in supporting Aerospace Education.  

 

The region is continuing the hard charging attack that was epitomized by Louis Emond, the North Carolina State President, who recently passed away in May, 2012. Our region believes strongly in Aerospace Education, and we believe Cyber Patriot is THE crucial cog to AFA's support of STEM.

How many Cyber Patriot 4 teams did the region have? NC had 40 teams compete. SC had a finalist in the All Service Division: South Aiken High School won the Top Service Award for all Navy JROTC units in the country.

 

One more thing: if your chapter is looking at raising more money, the Wreaths Across America is a great fund-raising program that our Region is doing. For more information, please go to http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/store/individual-wreath-sponsorship/ 


Submitted by: David Klinkicht, Southeast Region President

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