AFA D.W. Steele, Sr. Memorial Chapter Newsletter

Transcription

1 AFA D.W. Steele, Sr. Memorial Chapter Newsletter Educate Advocate Support Stay Connected June 28, 2013 D.W. Steele, Sr. Memorial Chapter Newsletter Northern Virginia AFA Chapter 239 Dear DW Steele Members, From the President Donald W. Steele, Sr Contact Us Chapter Contacts As the summer begins it's time for your chapter to take a breath from a busy quarter. During the last 3 months we distributed $14,000 in scholarships and selected two Chapter Teachers of the Year. Through the AFA matching grant program, we were able to present one of our Jr. AFROTC units a $1000 grant for a leadership program over the summer at Andrews AFB. We also presented awards to the HAF Quarterly and Annual award winners and presented two CAP Cadet of the year awards!

2 Quick Links Steele Chapter Home AFA Home Join AFA! Purchase Chapter Coin Here In May, Mrs Paula Roy the AFA Director of Airman and Family Programs attended our ExCom and briefed us on AFA's new efforts with the Wounded Airman and Transition programs. If you have read our newsletter during the past year and a half you have heard me talk about the Wounded Airman Program before. Since we were a benchmark chapter helping to create this program I am delighted to see AFA National moving out. In fact, this past month I was honored to represent the chapter at the Adaptive Sports Camp at Andrews AFB. Mrs Roy along with Caitie Craumer have been doing great work in coordination with AFW2 to find ways to support them through our Wounded Airman Program. The Adaptive Sports Camp is a training camp with games set up similar to those held at the Warrior Games and many of the coaches and mentors are people who have already gone through the program and are giving back to newer Wounded Airman. It's a resilient group of people and I was humbled to attend. Upcoming Events 9 Jul - Distinguished American Dinner Hosted by Nation's Capital Chapter 10 Jul - Chapter EXCOM AFA Headquarters, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 2 Aug - Play Your Own Ball Scholarship Golf Tournament, Renditions Golf Course 7 Aug - Chapter EXCOM 1130@ AFA Headquarters, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA We also had two great events our salute to AF A-3/5 and our 3rd Annual CSAF Membership lunch with our very own USAF Chief of Staff, Gen Mark Welsh as our guest speaker. Finally, congratulations to several members of our chapter who won National and State Awards. Kevin Lewis - AFA Exceptional Service Award Chris Cordes - AFA Medal of Merit (and DW Steele Member of the Quarter) Nick Abate - VA Presidents Award JR Robinson - VA Leadership Recognition Award Bill Rushing - VA Leadership Recognition Award Dave Uzzell - VA Citation of Achievement Joe D'Ambra - VA Citation of Achievement Miles Sawyer - VA Citation of Achievement Rachael Samples - VA Citation of Achievement 14 Sep - Chapter EXCOM AFA Headquarters, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA And Congratulations to the VA State AFA named by AFA as the best state organization! Sep - VA State Quarterly Meeting Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD F Gavin "Mac" MacAloon President, DW Steele Sr. Memorial Chapter 239 Air Force Association Sep - AFA National Convention, Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD Sep - AFA Air and Space Symposium, Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, MD Membership Luncheon 18 Oct - Scholarship Golf Tournament, The Courses at Andrews On 12 June, the Steele Chapter held its third annual Chief of Staff Luncheon. With 125 attendees, this year's luncheon was our largest and most generously supported luncheon since the Chapter established it three years ago. Visit Our Community Partners! General Mark A. Welsh, III, the 20th Chief of Staff, of the Air Force was our featured speaker. Following the presentation of the Colors by JROTC cadets from VA-821, Mr. Peter Jones and General Welsh presented a $1000 grant to the Cadets and their Commander, Lt Col (ret) Bill Conley. The Chapter also presented a $100 check to VA- 821 in General Welsh's name. Both grants will be used for summer cadet activities.

3 San Antonio Bar and Grill 1664 Crystal Square Arcade Arlington, VA (703) Ruth's Chris Steak House 2231 Crystal Drive 11th Floor Arlingon, VA (703) Continuing our tradition of awarding our Open and Moorman scholarships during the luncheon, the chapter provided $13,500 in scholarships to 10 Open Scholarship winners and one Moorman Scholarship recipient. Awards for the Open Scholarships ranged from $500 to $1500, while the Moorman scholarship is an award of $3000. Additionally, the Chapter honored the 2013 Teachers of the Year. This year the AFA HQ added the option to select two TsOY, one for Kindergarten through Middle School and one for High School. This year the Steele Chapter awarded $500 grants to Mr Jason Pittman from Hollin-Meadow Elementary School in Fairfax and Ms Dawn McCoart from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington. The Grants are to be used to further Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in the classroom Lee Highway Arlington, VA Following the award ceremonies, General Welsh spoke for about 20 minutes on the state of our Air Force. He noted that we started a readiness decline in That was followed in 2005 by $200B reduction in Total Obligating Authority. The BCA then took $487B. 900 S Orme St Arlington, VA Now, with Sequestration, we have gone over the cliff. So, we have had to stand down squadrons Wiehle Avenue Reston, VA (703) He also mentioned that the cost of manpower has been climbing since 2003 and the number of flying units has been declining. "We can't stay on that trajectory. It is unsustainable." He added that everyone will have to chip in and help reduce costs, including industry. "We need to focus on what we want the Air Force to be in It will be painful for 10 years but our Air Force will be better for it in the end if we do things smartly."

4 2461 S Clark St Suite 810 Arlington, VA (703) Kevin R. Lewis Vice President, External Affairs 8707 East Quarry Road Manassas, VA Airmen Helping Airmen Program The D. W. Steele, Sr. Memorial Chapter is one of eight AFA chapters across the U. S. that will pilot the new AFA Airmen helping Airmen program designed to help transitioning Airmen and their spouses through networking and mentoring them as they move to a new career and/or location. The Steele Chapter will team with the Nation's Capital Chapter (Washington DC) and the Anthony Chapter (Maryland) to launch this program locally. In the coming weeks, the chapter presidents and their representatives will coordinate with the various local Transition Assistance Program (TAP) offices to determine how best to establish the program locally. The current plan is to establish networking events that are coordinated with TAP and provide transitioning Airmen the opportunity to meet with fellow Airmen who have made the transition and are willing to provide advice and share their experiences. The goal is to strengthen a transitioning Airmen's network and help ease the career change through the lessons learned from those already in new careers. Cristof Cordes Treasurer Air Force Memorial Foundation 2013 A3/5 Salute These are tough times for the Air Force and I want to commend the men and women of A3/5 for their hard work and dedication. We are here this afternoon to award some outstanding individuals for their accomplishments and superior efforts". With these words, Lt Gen Burton Field, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans, and Requirements, kicked off this year's Salute to the A3/5 Community. This was also the last Salute for our outgoing Chapter President, Mac MacAloon. Many thanks to Mac for a couple great years hosting the event. This year's Salute to A3/5 took place on Thursday, May 9th and once again Ruth's Chris in Crystal City provided the perfect atmosphere complete with great food, drink and some of the best views anywhere in the DC area.

5 Congratulations to this Year's A3/5 Hero Award winners: Maj Robert Whisenant, MSgt Annika L'Ecuyer, Mr Barry Beard, Maj Dianne Dreesman, MSgt William Bai, Mr Gregory Snyder, Maj Justin Sutherland, CMSgt Rodney Reyes, Ms Christian Aimable, Lt Col Jennifer Jeffords, TSgt Angela Asuelo, Mr Grant Takahashi, Maj Brent Carpenter, MSgt Agustin Casis, Mr John Doneski, MSgt Rudenia Douglas, Mr Tyrone Eddins, Maj Ryan Ismirle, SrA Matthew Bolden, Mr Terry Tallent. Along with the award winners, the AFA would like to extend its appreciation to everyone in A3/5 for the outstanding job they are doing in service to our country and the Air Force mission. A special thank you goes out to Lt Col Brian Wilkerson and his staff for their help in organizing this event and to our Industrial Participants whose support made this and all our Salutes possible. Our next Salute is in October to the A6 Community. If it's anything like last year's Salute, it's one you won't want to miss. Watch your and our chapter website at for details. Tom Veltri Vice President, Salutes AFA Honors Air National Guard Members The Air Force Association's D.W. Steele Sr. Memorial Chapter hosted the 11th Annual AFA Salute to the Air National Guard recognizing personnel assigned to the National Guard Bureau during a recent ceremony in Arlington, Va. "The AFA awards recognize your unsung heroes, the folks out there doing the grunt work and doing great things every day," said F. Gavin MacAloon, AFA chapter president.

6 This year, the AFA honored 26 members of the ANG staff for their leadership contributions and dedication to the overall success of the ANG and Air Force mission. The awardees were nominated for exceptional performance across a broad range of specialties including, personnel and manpower, intelligence, operations, logistics, plans and requirements, communications, installations and mission support, financial management, safety, medical services and human resources. "I am really proud of the people who support the Air Force mission in the Air National Guard," said Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke III, director of the ANG. "These are the best of the people who are doing the mission day in and day out." Gen. Clarke went on to describe the important role the ANG staff plays in ensuring ANG units are combat ready by providing a critical channel of communication between the National Guard Bureau, the 54 states and territories, and the Air Force. "When you talk about global power, reach, and vigilance, when you talk about nuclear and cyber, we are involved with all of it," said Clarke. "What that means to a staff like the Air National Guard is you are involved with everything at a MAJCOM level, a national level, state level and unit level. It's all tied together, and all of you on the staff have to pull this together every day to make it happen. There is not a single program or activity the Air Force is engaged in that we're not engaged in somehow." The ANG is a great organization, Clarke added, and the opportunity to recognize our superior performers is integral to our continued success. Support from partners like the AFA helps strengthen the resiliency of the Total Force, he said. The AFA is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association that promotes a dominant Air Force and a strong national defense, and honors Airmen and Air Force heritage. SMSgt Jerry R. Bynum Air National Guard Special Staff Public Affairs Steele Chapter has a New Twitter Account! The D W Steele Chapter has a new account on Twitter, at The account will report happenings for the chapter, local information, and news from AFA national (@AirForceAssoc), as well as other organizations. You can follow the chapter's reports on Twitter by bookmarking the link above. If you have a Twitter account, you can to get chapter news in your personal Twitter feed. Some may know that the chapter had a Twitter account in the but it hasn't been active in several years. The new name helps connect our chapter with AFA, and uses a name convention that some other chapters have adopted. If you have questions or suggestions about our Twitter account, please contact Jon Dagle, j.dagle@gmail.com.

7 AFJROTC Steele Chapter Scholarships Recognized for the outstanding academic and leadership accomplishments, Cadets Christopher Cox (left) and Jeric John Mibale (right) received $1500 in scholarship awards from the DW Steele Chapter at the 2013 AFROTC Det 330 Awards Banquet on Apr 19, David Uzzell from the Steele Chapter presented the awards. Jr. ROTC Recognition I was honored to present the AFA Outstanding Cadet of the year to Cadet Maria E. Rodriquez at the CD Hilton High School Air Force Jr ROTC, (VA 20062) Dinning Out and Awards Banquet. She has been a member of the program for 4 years, moving up the ranks to become the Group Commander during school-year She participated and led VA efforts to support the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Shelter in Woodbridge with warm clothing for the children and parents who use the shelter. She also arranged a trip to the shelter for other cadets so they would get a better understanding of what underprivileged people endure. Additionally, she volunteers for the Special Olympics program at Hylton every year. As the Drill Team Commander she took a 1st and 2nd place trophy at the Monticello High School Drill Competition in Charlottesville, VA. Academically, Cadet Rodriquez, maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her first three years of High School, however, as a testament to her perseverance through some very adverse personal challenges she once again maintained a 4.0 in her senior year as well. These challenges prevented Cadet Rodriquez from accepting a Navy ROTC scholarship in Nursing at James Madison; however she will attend NOVA majoring Political Science in the fall. Kevin Lewis Vice President, External Affairs Welcome to a New Community Partner!

8 Our newest Community Partner is Payne Publishers, 8707 East Quarry Road, Manassas, VA. ( ). Payne Publishers is known for high quality printed products, and also serves as our chapter newsletter publisher. Pictured is Mr. Larry Lunceford, Printing Plant Manager, receiving the Community Partner's Plaque from past president Nick Abate. Air Force Association D.W. Steele Chapter D.W. Steele Chapter c/o Miles Sawyer 4914 Waple Lane Alexandria, VA Educate Advocate Support Copyright All Rights Reserved.