Freedom Flyer Sep/Oct Celebrate Freedom Foundation Newsletter 2020 “HIDDEN WOUNDS”: The documentary Volume 3 Issue3 Is being filmed in part at the CFF hanger. It is being produced by Amelio Media LLC which received a series of national awards for their previous documentary, titled “The Journey Back to Normal”. Inside this Edition An overwhelming 20% of military veterans experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD. These veterans are wounded with injuries that we • Press Release pg. 1 cannot see, a tragic 20 veterans commit suicide every day. • Sponsor Highlight “Hidden Wounds” will chronicle the impetus behind creating impactful pg. 2 organizations like Celebrate Freedom Foundation, and how they have grown • Chairman's Corner and what they are accomplishing everyday. pg.3 CFF is recognized for it’s highly effective program for veterans to help • President’s Press heal from PTSD and TBI outside the four walls of a therapist’s office and pg. 3 several of our veteran members, individually and in a group setting, will be • Unit History Highlight interviewed for “The Hidden Wounds Documentary”. pg. 4 • STEM Team Report and schedule pg. 5 • Meet our staff pg. 6 • CFF Special News pg. 7—9 • CFF Contact Information pg. 10 • Sponsors pg. 11 Nicole Amelio-Casper at the Universal Film Festival,2019. Page 2 Sponsor Highlight Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative THE MISSION OF MID-CAROLINA ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC., A NOT-FOR-PROFIT MEMBER-OWNED ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION UTILITY, IS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF OUR MEMBERS BY PROVIDING QUALITY ELECTRIC SERVICES AT COMPETITIVE COSTS WITH A COMMITMENT TO MEMBER SATISFACTION. We are owned by more than 40,000 member-owners who reside in Lexington, Richland, Newberry, Saluda and Aiken counties of SC. MCEC is the fifth largest of the twenty electric cooperatives in South Carolina. Together these cooperatives serve more than 500,000 members in over 70% of our state. Electric cooperative members in South Carolina enjoy some of the lowest rates and highest quality electric service to be found anywhere in the country - and MCEC is proud to be a part of that equation. Mid-Carolina is a member of the South Carolina Power Team, a unique electric marketing alliance created expressly to provide service to the businesses of South Carolina. The Power Team consists of Santee Cooper, a state-owned electric generating utility; Central Electric Power Cooperative, a generation and transmission cooperative and twenty distribution electric cooperatives. With electric service in every county, Central Electric Power Cooperative has the largest transmission system and service area of any electric utility in the state and serves more than half its population. The generation capacity is predominantly coal and nuclear power. The Power Team is connected throughout South Carolina with Dominion, Duke and the Southeastern Power Administration. Santee Cooper is also a member of the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council, which includes all power suppliers in the region with a generating capacity of 25 mega- watts or greater. MCEC offers a variety of information and incentives, from scholarships, donations, youth tours and summits, solar energy , and how to save money concerning your electric bill. MCEC is a strong supporter of the Celebrate Freedom Foundation’s education and veterans programs. For more information visit MCEC on the web at; mcecoop.com Page 3 Chairman's Corner A few comments in these extraordinaries times. CFF is managing to move forward all be it at a significantly slower pace. The STEM outreach program for K-12 is suspended due to Covid-19. Of course , this impacts our short term revenue. However, we are modifying our volunteer work effort to exercise the CFF expertise in a contract helicopter refurbishment. Currently, under the leadership of our executive director Stephen Seymour, we are restoring a Vietnam era HU-1 “Huey” that is privately owned. This job will help enable us to pay the bills into 2021. This will be our fourth restoration in the past two years. A final word of thanks and appreciation to all our volunteers and program managers whose dedication helps to keep the doors open. Stay safe and we’ll eventually ride out this Pandemic. President’s Press CFF Soldiers on! The Celebrate Freedom Foundation with a twenty-one year success record remains strong and solvent during this Covid-19 situation. While adhering to the government mandated business shut down earlier in the year our professional staff met by telephone, text, and email to establish clear Foundation priorities and they were given autonomy to implement them. Our number one priority is the safety of our personnel and the constant communications with our sponsors. Podcasts are conducted weekly with the business community and schools to learn of their plans and to develop and offer our supporting options. Team cohesion and innovation has been a tangible positive outcome from dealing with the Covis-19 which will further strengthen the Foundation going forward. Unit History Highlight Page 4 Marine Corps Aviation Marine Corps Aviation is Born Marine Corps aviation officially began on 22 May 1912 It was a couple years earlier in 1910 that Captain Washington Irving Chambers of the United States Navy would push the Navy forward toward pursuing aviation. Chambers built relationships within both the Navy Department and an aircraft builder named Glenn Curtiss. Using those connections, he worked to get a Curtiss test pilot to become the first recorded takeoff from a ship’s deck, the USS Birmingham, on November 14, 1910. Curtiss offered to train a Naval officer how to fly one of his aircraft at no cost and the Navy accepted. The Navy Department sent Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson to Curtiss’ flying school. He soon qualified as the U.S. Navy’s first officer pilot. In 1911, the Navy Department purchased two planes from Curtiss and one from the Wright Brothers. Each manufacturer trained a pilot and a mechanic, who would then return to their units to train other pilots and mechanics. In 1912, two Marine officers would arrive to train to become pilots, the first of them being A.A. Cunningham. Marine Aviation 1917 and WWI In early 1917 the Marine Corps had five officers and 18 enlisted men in the Marine section of Naval Flying School. By February 26, 1917, upon orders of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, that number was bumped up to 10 officers and 40 enlisted to outfit the new Marine Corps Aviation Company. That date would also include Cunningham being promoted to Captain and tasked with organizing the company. WWI would see the Marine Corps expanding to a company size unit in the Azores hunting German U-boats and a squadron in France, which provided bomber and fighter support. By the end of the war, the Marines had 8 squadrons consisting of 282 officers and 2,180 enlisted men. In 1919, the Marine’s first aviation squadron was established from these officers and men and still exists today as VMA-231, the oldest USMC active fighter/attack squadron. WWII and Marine Aviation During World War II, the Marine Corps would reach a peak of five air wings consisting of 145 flying squadrons. The air arm of the Marine Corps would greatly develop and refine their mission of close-air- support of the Marine’s fighting on the ground in the Pacific campaign. Marine pilots were credited with shooting down 2,355 Japanese aircraft, had 120 aces, and 11 Medal of Honor recipients. Following WWII, the Marine Corps air wings were reduced to 21 active duty squadrons and 30 reserve squadrons. Jets and helicopters After World War II, most propeller aircraft were gradually phased out as jet aircraft improved and helicopters were developed for use in amphibious operations. The Korean and Vietnam Wars saw the size of Marine Aviation rebound from its post-WWII lows, emerging as the force that exists today. Marine Aviators deployed to the Middle East for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, then to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2006 saw Marine Aviation at its highest operational level since the Vietnam War, flying more than 120,000 combat hours to support operations in and near Afghanistan and Iraq. Despite their aging aircraft and high operating tempo, Marine Aviation has maintained a 74.5-percent mission-capable rate. Marine One – call sign for any U.S. Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States. Most often it is associated with the Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King belonging to Marine Helicopter Squadron One, also know as HMX-1 Nighthawks. Any Marine Corps aircraft carrying the Vice President has a call sign of Marine Two. FIXED WING AIRCRAFT ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT TILT ROTOR AV-8B Harrier AH - 1W Cobra V-22 Osprey EA-6B Prowler CH-46 Sea Knight F/A-18 Hornet CH-53 Stallion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter UH-1N Huey KC-130 Hercules STEM Team Report Page 5 Celebrate Freedom Foundation’s exciting STEM Outreach Program visits dozens of schools across the Southeastern US every year with more than 10,0000 students participating annually. CFF’s STEM Outreach Program, emphasizes the necessity of STEM Subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in middle schools and high schools. It connects the classroom with real world jobs and career fields. The program’s mission is to help build a workforce that can compete globally for jobs in the future, and to ensure America’s technological advantage in a global environment. STEM subjects provide skills and competencies greatly needed here in the Southeast, across the nation and globally. How can you help the CFF STEM Outreach Program? We are always looking for volunteers to assist in these visits and if you have a school that you want us to visit, let us know.