Meeting of Presidents
In his opening remarks at the orientation meeting for the Air Force Association’s new Region Presidents and State Presidents, Robert E. “Bob” Largent said that the association had been undergoing the “single most important” reorganization in its 60-year history. It merged operations with the Aerospace Education Foundation, changing its tax status, and had begun reorganizing and streamlining its leadership and field operations structure.

“Your input, your counsel, was very much appreciated” in the transition process, he told the 44 field leaders who attended the three-day orientation. “Now,” he said, “we can get down to the business of ensuring that we can carry out the AFA missions of educate, advocate, and support.”

Largent described an hour-long meeting held that week between AFA’s top officials and Gen. John D.W. Corley, the Air Force vice chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Lichte, the assistant vice chief of staff. AFA will continue working closely with USAF leaders, Largent told the region and state presidents. “We’re going to be on the same page.”

During information sessions, held at a hotel two blocks from the new Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va., field leaders learned about the various departments and functions of AFA’s headquarters; they received an overview of the association; and they listened to briefings on field operations topics.

Fourteen region presidents attended the orientation meeting, including newcomers Michael J. Peters (Far West Region), Marvin L. Tooman (Midwest), Maxine Donnelly (Northeast), Leonard Vernamonti (South Central), and Edward W. Garland (Texoma).

Among the 30 state presidents were new officers Thomas O’Shea (Illinois), Sunny A. Siler (Kansas), Glenn M. Shull (Minnesota), Jerry Needham (Nebraska), Al Smith (New York), Joyce W. Feuerstein (North Carolina), Terry Cox (Oklahoma), Grant Hicinbothem (Utah), Scott Van Cleef (Virginia), and Vic Johnson (Wisconsin).

Who We Are; What We Do
Next to its feature story about AFA Indiana State Teacher of the Year Kimberly Williams, the local newspaper printed an information box. It went right to the point: “Jim Fultz, aerospace education officer for the Southern Indiana Chapter and state Air Force Association, said the group seeks to educate the public about airpower.”

The second paragraph noted that AFA conducts a Teacher of the Year program. The third paragraph stated, “Fultz said the Southern Indiana Chapter always takes suggestions for nominees.”

Thus in one neat package, the state Teacher of the Year, the chapter, and AFA all received publicity in the Herald-Times, a newspaper serving Bloomington, home to Indiana University.

Marcus R. Oliphant, chapter president, said his group honored Williams at its September meeting. Williams teaches sixth-graders at University Elementary School in Bloomington and has been there for 20 years. Her students study aircraft and research flights of the 20th century and take a field trip to the Challenger Learning Center to participate in a simulated space flight. The newspaper article pointed out that Williams is the fourth consecutive state Teacher of the Year to have been nominated by the Southern Indiana Chapter.

The September chapter meeting also emphasized education through its guest speakers: Four AFROTC cadets and chapter member Lt. Col. Lori M. Bass, from Indiana University. Cadets Sarah Ricketts, Samuel Newlin-Haus, Kemper Kelly, and Samantha Schinder described their visits last summer to Air Force installations. Each spent five days at an active duty site as part of a freshman-year AFROTC program called Assist.

Iraq: An NCO’s Viewpoint
The Brig. Gen. James R. McCarthy Chapter sought a specific kind of Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran to be its guest speaker. “We called nearby Patrick Air Force Base,” wrote Chapter President Marguerite Cummock in an e-mail. “We specified we would prefer a senior enlisted person who was ‘boots on the ground’ in Iraq.”

That’s how CMSgt. David M. Lorenz came to address the chapter’s September meeting. A superintendent with the 45th Launch Group at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Lorenz volunteered for deployment and had served as the chief enlisted manager for the 506th Air Expeditionary Group at Kirkuk. He was, in short, the senior enlisted airman at the Iraqi base from August 2005 until February 2006.

Cummock reported that Lorenz showed photos to illustrate his presentation about the base and the USAF personnel stationed there. Lorenz, who entered the Air Force 25 years ago, also talked about medical treatment for the wounded and what it was like in the northern city of Kirkuk during one of its elections.

Cummock and the chapter aerospace education VP, David R. Cummock, also named three Doolittle Fellows: chapter members John D. Champlain and Robert Perry and the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach.

Hell Hawks in Iowa
In the newsletter for the Gen. Charles A. Horner Chapter in Iowa, President Richard Schlegel II billed it as “the biggest event we have had in the last 10 years.”

It was the chapter’s September banquet, with nearly 140 guests. It featured music by a Big Band group of two dozen musicians and singers; former astronaut Thomas D. Jones as keynote speaker; and, as special guests, the chapter’s namesake along with several P-47 pilots, in town for a 365th Fighter Group Hell Hawks reunion. This combination gala-reunion had been a year in the making, Schlegel said—“a big event for a small chapter.”

Banquet speaker Jones served in the Air Force as a B-52 pilot and made shuttle flights on Endeavour, Columbia, and Atlantis. Schlegel said Jones used photos from these flights to illustrate his hour-long presentation to the chapter. Jones was invited to the event because he is co-writing a book, with Robert F. Dorr, about the Hell Hawks and welcomed the chance to interview the pilots.

At the banquet, chapter namesake retired Gen. Charles A. Horner presented each Hell Hawk with an autographed copy of Every Man a Tiger: The Gulf War Air Campaign, a book he co-authored with Tom Clancy. The chapter gave a year’s AFA membership to the World War II fighter pilots and, as part of its role as their reunion host, arranged for them to visit the 132nd Fighter Wing (ANG) at Des Moines Airport.

Looking back on this chapter’s gala-reunion Schlegel commented, “The most rewarding thing a chapter can do is help sponsor a segment of a veterans’ reunion.”

130 Percent
TSgt. John Wharton III of the 333rd Recruiting Squadron, Patrick AFB, Fla., took home the John C. Meyer Chapter’s Recruiter of the Year award in Florida, in August. He was a shoo-in, having signed up 130 percent of his quota.

Other awards presented at the Meyer Chapter meeting went to Member of the Year Kathryn L. Robinson; Robert A. Polhemus, for his longtime service as chapter president and treasurer; Peter J. Goutiere, who traveled to China for a ceremony commemorating the end of World War II; Richard H. Trout II, for service as chapter secretary; Diane Polichek of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce; and Billy Murphy, for service to veterans in his role as director of the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell. Murphy was guest speaker at this chapter meeting, providing information on veterans benefits.

The Recruiter of the Year award originated with Florida State Area VP Robert F. Cutler, who is from the Gen. Nathan F. Twining Chapter. Meyer Chapter President Dennis E. Foley, who had been a Reserve admissions liaison officer for the Air Force commissioning programs, and “always considered recruiters vital to the Air Force mission,” followed up by collecting nominations. He zeroed in on Wharton, based on recommendations from the 333rd. Wharton is trained in aircraft electro-environmental systems and has served at McGuire AFB, N.J., and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. He recruits in three high schools in the Inverness area, north of Tampa.

Some of the NCO’s recruiting ability must have rubbed off; Chapter President Foley said he gathered three new members from this meeting.

Texas Two-Stars
Two retired Air Force major generals were guest speakers at the October Texas state AFA meeting, hosted by the Denton Chapter.

Retired Maj. Gen. Mary L. Saunders addressed the awards luncheon audience, describing some of her experiences during her three decades in military transportation and logistics. Saunders was vice director of the Defense Logistics Agency at Ft. Belvoir, Va., before her retirement in October 2005. She also talked about her work today as director of the Leadership Institute at Texas Woman’s University—her alma mater—in Denton.

Among the awards presented at this luncheon was the Charlotte Loos Fellowship, sponsored by the state aerospace education foundation. It went to Robert S. Seidel and Helen S. Seidel, both from the Dallas Chapter.

The second two-star guest speaker at this fall state meeting gave his perspective on the F-35 Lightning II. Retired Maj. Gen. Wilbert D. Pearson Jr. had firsthand knowledge of the strike fighter’s development, having been commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., before his retirement in January 2005.

More AFA News
Sponsored by the Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker Memorial Chapter in Columbus, Ohio, Westland High School’s AFJROTC cadets held their annual memorial service Oct. 28 at the gravesite of the chapter’s namesake. Rickenbacker, the World War I ace and Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Columbus in October and is buried at Green Lawn Cemetery there. The ceremony of remembrance has been carried out for at least two decades and includes the reading of a summary of Rickenbacker’s life, placing of a wreath, a volley of rifle fire, and the playing of Taps.

The Thomas W. Anthony Chapter (Md.) received an autographed print of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds aerial demonstration team in action. RCAF Maj. Cory Blakely, who flies the inner left wing position, presented the gift to Chapter President Charles X. Suraci Jr. and William H. Thomas, chapter communications VP, as thanks for the chapter’s hosting of the Snowbirds when they were in town in May for the annual joint services open house at Andrews AFB, Md.

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