Flight Line Air Force Association Chapter 105 2017-4 Tucson, Arizona October 2017 FROM THE COCKPIT….. “Thunder & Lightning Over Arizona” Air- Chapter Officers show. Mark your calendars: the Airshow President Well, I THOUGHT Fall was here when will be held next 17th and 18th of March. Mark Koechle [email protected] we dipped into the 80s in late September, We held our Chapter Board Elections at but it looks like we have summer temper- our September Luncheon. While most of the Vice President Wally Saeger atures for a little while longer. Between names are the same, there has been a little [email protected] monsoons and the heat, your AFA Chap- shuffling of positions. Our new Chapter ter continues to be active in many activi- President is Wally Saeger, and the new Vice Secretary Mark Lindsay ties supporting our Airmen, and we have a President is Mark Koechle. Replacing [email protected] newly elected Board as well! It’s time to Sandy Spoon as Chapter Secretary is SSgt put together our plan for the rest of this Mark Lindsey, and Marie Lankford remains Treasurer year and what we want to do as a chapter on as the Chapter Treasurer. CONGRATU- Marie A. Lankford [email protected] for next year. Hopefully you had a great LATIONS to all board members! They will “summer vacation”, whether you traveled certainly be reaching out for help on the VP Aerospace Education the world or stayed here in Tucson, but VP CyberPatriot many appointed positions we need to fill to Wally Saeger now we need your input! Over our continue our support to our Air Force Fami- [email protected] “summer vacation”, your Board Members ly. In addition to our regular events over the attended several Changes of Command, VP Government Relations coming year, we will also need help with the Joseph Cuffari Airman Leadership School Graduations, Annual Golf Tournament in April and the [email protected] supported a Senior NCO Induction Cere- Southwest Region Conference, which will be VP Leadership Develop. mony, a Quarterly Awards Ceremony, Air in Tucson in June. After the elections, we Force Retirements, the annual POW/MIA received an outstanding mission brief from VP Membership Ceremony, a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremo- Major Carl Chen on the 55th Electronic Vickie Jo Ryder [email protected] ny, and the 9/11 Tower Challenge at U of Combat Group, to include some capabilities A stadium, as well as other support activi- of the EC-130 and the future airframe and VP Veterans Affairs ties for Davis-Monthan’s Airmen. The Bill Goodall mission for the group. AFA National Conference and Conven- [email protected] Our next luncheon is planned for Friday, tion was held in Washington DC a few 27 October at Club Ironwood (normal loca- VP Military Liaison weeks ago, and our own Chapter Vice Maj. Carl Chen tion), and we are very privileged to have President, Wally Saeger attended as part [email protected] Congresswoman Martha McSally as our of the AZ delegation of 12 individuals. VP Programs / Communication guest speaker. Look for an announcement Our previous State President, Ross Lam- Marie A. Lankford soon that will ask for an RSVP and provide [email protected] pert from Cochise Chapter was elected as more details. This is a unique opportunity the AFA National Secretary. CON- VP Community Partners and should be very interesting. Dave Carrell GRATS Ross!! [email protected] There is always plenty of opportunity for Our AZ State Convention was held in you to help our chapter, so please get in- VP Community Outreach August in Prescott, attended by Mark and volved. Check out our website at https:// Heidi Goldman Carol Koechle and Wally and Joan Sae- [email protected] afatucson105.wordpress.com/ for more in- ger. Among all the administrative busi- formation and keep your eyes open for an- VP Aerospace Education ness covered, we elected our State Board nouncements of special events and opportu- (ROTC) Cadet Dylan Brummett for the next year. Joe Marvin will remain [email protected] nities. The new CyberPatriot season is just as State President, with George Castle kicking off, and you can find information VP Awards stepping in as Vice President. Our own Larry Herndon from anyone on the board or at Capt Sandy Spoon will start her tenure as [email protected] www.uscyberpatriot.org. Remember, EDU- the State Secretary. Congratulations, CATE, ADVOCATE, and SUPPORT!! VP AFA Golf Fundraiser Sandy! And rounding out the board is Bob Scott Van Valkenburg [email protected] Curry as State Treasurer. Then one week later we held our monthly Chapter Mark Koechle, President VP Public Affairs / Newsletter Dick Roberts Luncheon, where Lt Col “Tucker” Kump, [email protected] 355th Fighter Wing Chief of Plans and 2018 Airshow Director gave us an in- depth look into plans for the DM Tucson Chapter’s August Meeting Presentation Lt Col Michael “Tucker” Kump, USAF Director, 2018 Open House & Air Show Davis-Monthan AFB Tucson Chapter’s Sept. Meeting Presentation Major Carl “Snickers” Chen, USAF Thunder & Lighting Over Arizona Maj. Carl “Snickers” Chen, a 2006 graduate of the Air Force Featuring: The Blue Angels Academy, is a pilot on the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft in the 55th Electronic Combat Group stationed at Theme: Honoring the Past…..Inspiring the Future D-MAFB. The 55th is part of Air Combat Hero Day: March 16, 2018 Command and 25 AF. Their job is to Event Dates: March 17 & 18, 2018 deploy combat-ready EC-130H crews to Lt Col Kump noted that the mission of the air show is “To safely exe- unified combatant commanders: CENT- cute an open house and air show (OHAS) that highlights military air- COM & EUCOM. craft/capabilities and displays other civilian aviation-related performanc- es while providing exciting entertainment to friends The EC-130H Compass Call is an elec- and guests” and with a vision “To create excitement for military and civilian aviation while highlighting tronic attack aircraft flown by the USAF. Based on the Lockheed the stellar Airmen and Joint Partners at Davis- Martin C-130 Hercules, the aircraft is heavily modified to disrupt Monthan AFB.” enemy command and control communications, perform offensive counter information operations, and It is expected that over 150,000 will attend the show that has an economic impact to Tucson of over do other kinds of electronic attack. $500,000. Also Food Bank donations during the Based at Davis-Monthan AFB in show are expected to bring in close to Arizona, EC-130Hs can be deployed 3,000 lbs of food along with cash donations. worldwide at short notice to support Over 1,600 volunteers, along U.S. and allied tactical air, surface, with 200 of the OHAS team, will and special operations forces. be on hand to run the air show that is expected to have 72 There are presently 14 EC-130s in the Compass Call fleet and aircraft, 11 flying acts, 53 static are all from the 1973 era. It is anticipated that Compass Call will displays, and 1 ground act (jet- be transitioning to the Gulfstream G550 within the next couple of powered truck). years. Plans for the air show are: Confirmed: The Electronic Combat Group trains “Professional Aviators” in 11 different crew positions and instructor upgrades as the Air USN Blue Angels Forces sole EC-130H formal training unit. The Group graduates USAFA Wings of Blue approximately 200 students a year and provides qualified experts USAF KC-135 Static Display to support AF & DOD requirements. USAF MQ-9 Static Display Compass Call has been involved in many operations, including USAF T-1 Static Display Just Cause, Desert Shield/Storm, Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom Desert Lightning Capabilities Demonstration and Inherent Resolve. Requested: Heritage Flight INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A USAF Single-ship Demonstration MEMBERSHIP SURVEY CBP Capabilities Demonstration As you may have read in our August newsletter, we’d like your participation in our member survey so that we can learn Other Warbird and Civilian Acts more about our readers’ interests and demographics. Ground Events: It is important for every organization to periodically update the Desert Lightning Team History/Mission Display information they have about their membership at large. This EOD Display information helps us shape our many programs, communica- tions, member benefits and even impacts our success in attract- Jet-powered Truck ing the vital support of sponsors and advertisers. MWD Demonstration The link below will take you to the short survey. The survey Recruiting Booths should take less than five minutes to complete. Be assured that the link is not a scam and your personal information will Ground Venues: never be associated with the survey results. Concessions To show our appreciation for your time we are giving away $25 Beer Garden (expanded) gift cards in a random drawing to members who complete the Kid Zone survey and choose to enter. You’ll see instructions at the end of the survey. Programs and other Vendors Thank you in advance for taking your time to complete the Reserve Seating (expanded) survey to help make AFA even better! Larry O. Spencer President http://go.afa.org/e/285922/r-MNAFA/6d13n/123157445 2 AFA Announces 2017 National Teacher of the Year September 01, 2017 - McKinnon Pearse AFA is proud to announce Benjamin Barkey of the Warsaw Community School System in Warsaw, Indiana, as the 2017 National Teacher of the Year Presented by Rolls-Royce. As part of AFA’s mission to encourage education in Aerospace Education and STEM, the Teacher of the Year program ensures America ’s aerospace excellence by supporting the teachers that carry out that mission in the classroom.