Texoma Region Profile

The Texoma Region is a 2-State Region encompassing Texas and Oklahoma. It has two healthy state organizations, and 16 Chapters, of which 13 are healthy and actively supporting the AFA Mission, 2 are in rejuvenation, and 1 is currently inactive.

For this update, I’ll begin with Oklahoma, which has seen a real resurgence in AFA activity in the past several years, and finish with Texas.

Eva Letha Lucas heads up the Altus Chapter. Located in the far Southwest corner of the state, the Altus Chapter services Altus AFB’s 97th Air Mobility Wing, has about 200 members hailing primarily from the City of Altus, but spread across the entire southwest quarter of the state. The Altus Chapter’s two largest events on their calendar are their Armed Forces Day activities and their Community Partner Luncheon.

The Altus Chapter chose Armed Forces Day to put on their annual leadership awards event to recognize the best leaders among the members of Altus AFB along with Air Force supporters in and around the City of Altus. The day consists of a Reveille ceremony, followed by the awards breakfast, and capped with a Golf Tournament. The Community Partner luncheon recognizes all the AFA community partners, and chooses the best among them as the Community Partner of the Year. The 97th Mission Support Group Commander keynotes the event by giving the Community Partners (and other AFA members) a truncated version of that year’s Base-to-Command briefing, affording everyone a tremendous synopsis of current and future military activity and infrastructure.

The Altus Chapter’s most recent project revolves around the city’s B-47. In the 1950s and into the 1960s, Altus AFB hosted a B-47 bomber fleet, and the city managed to obtain one of them before they completely departed from the inventory. This year, the City of Altus set aside funds to repaint the weathered aircraft. The Altus AFA Chapter, through some prodding by a former B-47 pilot (and chapter member), decided to memorialize the three Altus AFB B-47 crews that had died in service to their country. These crews’ names and crew numbers will be engraved on the back of the 9-foot marble edifice that commemorates the B-47. The chapter will dedicate the memorial upon completion of the ongoing B-47 restoration.

Altus Chapter has always had a strong program, winning the small chapter of the year, and the National Exceptional Service Award for Veterans Affairs in 2010.

ENID (Chapter 214)
Scott Northcutt leads the Enid Chapter, providing significant support to the military personnel stationed at Vance AFB and the 71st Flight Training Wing. The chapter has roughly 400 members and services the entire northwest quarter of Oklahoma. The Enid Chapter has always helped the 71 FTW recognize their quarterly and annual award winners, proffered the AFA Pitsenbarger Scholarships to deserving Community College of the Air Force Graduates, and sponsored numerous wing events (as do most AFA chapters); however, Enid has been able to step out and get some large-dollar items accomplished as well. Enid is a town of about 45,000 people with approximately 600 businesses, predominantly small family owned and operated. This relatively small community has more Community Partners (business memberships) than Washington DC or any other large metropolitan area. In fact, Enid has more Community Partners than any STATE or REGION of STATES in the United States! They have the strongest Community Partner program in the entire AFA and have held this distinction for over 20 years! This has allowed a relatively small chapter to those things of which only much larger chapters are capable.

The Enid Chapter teams with the City of Enid Chamber of Commerce each year to organize an Enlisted Appreciation Night for Vance personnel each year. This annual event grows every year and last year more than $18,000 was raised.

Additionally, the Enid Chapter was able to donate a marble monument in the base Air Park in honor of the Air Force’s 50th Birthday. They also raised $100,000 for the "Pioneers, Past, Present, and Future" statue mounted in downtown Enid depicting pioneers from three frontiers; land, air and space. The Enid Chapter also hosted this year’s Oklahoma AFA Convention, keynoting the event with a dinner featuring the Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor, Todd Lamb, who spoke at length on the strength of Oklahoma’s aerospace industry.

GERRITY (Chapter 215)
I am severely hampered by the length of this article to adequately relate all the great things that the Gerrity Chapter, led by Dr. Jerry MacMahan, has recently accomplished. They do not know how to do anything in a small way (I love these guys). Gerrity services the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and surrounding communities. With OKC’s retirement population, Tinker Air Force Base, numerous aerospace industries and associated Guard and Reserve Units, Gerrity sports the lion’s share of AFA membership in Oklahoma (over 1,200). Of these, 70 are AFA Community Partners, many of which are aerospace and technology industries which support Tinker’s logistics, tanker and air combat communications missions.

Gerrity sponsors a “Tinker and the Primes” event which focuses on the business needs of the base. Folks who do business on Tinker AFB don’t like to miss this meeting because the subjects covered by briefers during the event give contractors (and potential contractors) ideas as to which way to lean regarding their business in and around Tinker AFB.

Gerrity has also made a particular effort to engage young Air Force personnel in the AFA with their “Back The Blue” program. At this event, the chapter has senior officer personnel and famous AF personalities address young Air Force members regarding the benefits provided to the Air Force by AFA, and the importance of their participation. Community Partners help enhance this experience by providing give-ways that are presented to selected attendees.

Additionally, Gerrity led the Oklahoma effort in its participation in Cyber Patriot III. They were able to partner with Rose State College to provide training for any Oklahoma team that wished additional help in the science and art of cyber defense. By the time we were finished, two Oklahoma teams made it to the National finals. Both of these teams received mentoring from Rose State College. Through this simple partnership, made possible by the Gerrity Chapter, Oklahoma showed the country that we have what it takes to defeat cyber warfare. Gerrity also arranged a huge send-off for both of the teams as they departed for the finals.

Most recently, Gerrity organized and sponsored the 10-year 9/11 commemoration event in Oklahoma City. Approximately 400 people attended the event. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin provided opening remarks followed by a panel discussion among key leaders who were active the day of the attack including the former Center Commander, Lt Gen Johnson (USAF, Ret), AWACs Wing Commander, Brigadier Gen Ben Robinson (USAF, Ret), the Royal Canadian Air Force AWACs Commander, and the commanders of the other operational wings on Tinker AFB as well as an air traffic controller supervisor who provided the national air space perspective on how we responded to the attack…going from over 8,000 aircraft flying to only the military in just over two hours…an amazing air traffic control accomplishment. Gerrity also secured TV, Radio, and multiple newspaper coverage of the event. This was a massive undertaking performed nearly flawlessly by the Gerrity Chapter with significant help from some of their terrific Community Partners. Thanks Gerrity!

TULSA (Chapter 268)…on the Rebound with 400 members spread across the entire eastern half of the state, the Tulsa Chapter is the second-largest chapter in Oklahoma, but it has historically been the most difficult to keep afloat. Located in a huge area with no active duty Air Force affiliation, the Tulsa Chapter has found it difficult to obtain and maintain an executive council to provide service to (and support from) the local community.

However, the City of Tulsa is the home of the ANG 138th Fighter Wing, and no fewer than 12 aerospace businesses. The chapter also services 5 CAP Units and the Air Force ROTC unit at OSU. There is a lot of potential work for the Chapter to accomplish, and they have recently found the leader to head them in the right direction.

Damon Bowling took on the mantle as president about 6 months ago, and is well on the way to showcasing the chapter. Damon is the Vice President of Marketing of Tulsa’s Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology. He is quickly using his contacts with the local aerospace industry, along with his familiarization and partnership with the 138th Fighter Wing to get the chapter back into the fight. We’ll be seeing great things from this chapter in the near future!

Now on to Texas:

Texas has 11 Chapters of which 10 are active. Our State organization is divided into two Geographic Areas, the North Area, and the South Area, each lead by a State Vice President for that particular area.

Alamo is without a doubt our “lead-the-fleet chapter in terms of their support for the AFA mission. They have a very active program in all three of our mission areas, with active contact with local Congressional representatives, an aggressive program of support for local USAF, Reserve and Guard units, And a robust education program. Alamo conducts an annual Symposium with AETC which exposes the area airmen to professional development seminars, lectures and exhibits. It also helps fund their Chapter Aerospace Education Foundation, which now has a funding balance approaching a half million dollars. They also have an aggressive and successful Community Partner program, which includes regular activities involving these businesses. They also support several significant awards programs each year for local USAF units, both military and DAF Civilian.

Continuing with the South Area, our San Jacinto (Houston) Chapter has rebounded nicely over the past several years and has developed a close relationship with the University of Houston AFROTC unit, and encouraged them in establishing both Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings units at the school. The Chapter recently funded travel for officers of the Silver Wings unit to the AFA State Convention held in Fredericksburg, TX. The Chapter has also been very active with the local Air National Guard unit, as well as local JROTC units. This has yielded very active participation in CyberPatriot in their chapter area.

The Del Rio Chapter has an aggressive program of support for the 47th Flying Training Wing at Laughlin AFB. They provide awards for both outstanding student and instructor personnel. They also have an aggressive education program which has yielded both Visions participation and CyberPatriot teams from the area. They are in a geographic area which is ripe for our education programs since the local schools tend to be under-resourced by comparison with those in the larger metro areas of the state.

The Austin Chapter has tended to concentrate their activity around the University of Texas AFROTC unit and the Texas Air National Guard, headquartered at Camp Mabry in Austin. The Chapter provides awards and scholarship money local students, and support for the Guard in any way they can.

The Aggieland (College Station) Chapter is very much wrapped up in its relationship with Texas A&M and their AFROTC unit. They also provide a good deal of support to the school’s Silver Wings program, and these folks have been very active in our state program to get out the word to local schools about the CyberPatriot competition. The Chapter has also been working on closer relationships with local Congressional Representatives.

The final Chapter in the South area is the Concho Chapter in San Angelo, TX. Although co-located with an active duty USAF Training Center at Goodfellow, AFB, the Concho Chapter has been inactive for several years. We have been hesitant to close the Chapter, given its proximity to such a large USAF facility, and are exploring ways to revitalize the organization. They also have a local AFROTC unit at Angelo State University, which has, from time to time, expressed interest in assisting in that revitalization. This will be a subject of continuing interest for the Texas State organization.

North Texas Area

The North Texas area has 4 Chapters in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, and one in Wichita Falls, one in Greenville, and one in Abilene. Abilene is a rejuvenation work in progress. Lt. Col Mary Gould has recently taken the Chapter presidency, and under her leadership the Chapter is revitalizing its relationship with the active units at Dyess AFB, and planning to begin actively supporting the AFA mission. The chapter has historically worked to maintain a close relationship with their local Congressional Representative.

The Donnelly Chapter in Wichita Falls has recently benefitted from the arrival of Mike Winslow, a very active AFA leader formerly a member of the Wright Memorial Chapter (thanks Ohio!!). Mike has led a rejuvenation of the Chapter and is actively working to establish closer relationships with both the 80th and 82nd Training Wings at Sheppard AFB, and with Congressman “Mac” Thornberry and his staff. Congressman Thornberry sits on both the House Select Intelligence Committee and the House Armed Service Committee. Then Chapter is working to rejuvenate a dormant awards program for students at both the 82nd Training Wing and the 80th Flying Training Wing.

The Northeast Texas Chapter is very active in Aerospace Education. They support some 50 Visions classrooms over a large area in Northeast Texas, and have actively promoted CyberPatriot in the area. They are also very active in the local community, and have one of the best Community Partner programs in the Region. Their relationship with their local Congressional Representative, Congressman Ralph Hall, is a model for other Chapters to emulate. They also have a very close relationship with the Defense Industry, with many Chapter members being current or former employees of L-3 Communications in Greenville, which provides tremendous support to the DoD and the USAF, particularly in the area of ISR.

The Denton Chapter heavily supports the “welcome home” program for returning troops who transit through DFW airport on a weekly basis. The Chapter meets every aircraft and supports the DFW USO organization who organizes the welcome activities. They also have a close relationship with the University of North Texas AFROTC unit and the local JROTC units. This has yielded active participation in CyberPatriot by several of their local High Schools and interest in fielding more teams. They also have a very close relationship with Congressman Michael Burgess, who has several Chapter and State functions. The Chapter places a member on the Congressman’s Service Academy Selection Panel each year. The Fort Worth Chapter is one of our “youngest” Chapters in terms of leadership. Being collocated with the Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth has given us the opportunity to draw leadership from the 301st Fighter Wing and the 136th Airlift Wing of the Texas ANG. As a result, the Chapter Executive Committee is heavily populated by energetic young members of the Reserve and Guard. The Chapter strongly supports activities which are aimed at supporting our troops and their families, especially given the heavy deployment commitments of reserve and guard units at the base. They continue to work toward penetrating the local education systems to promote both Visions and CyberPatriot, efforts which have had limited success to date.

Finally, the Seidel (Dallas) Chapter has an active education program particularly aimed at local CAP units. They provide funding each year for CAP cadets to attend Summer Flight Encampment. At the conclusion of the encampment, the cadets attend one of the Chapter’s quarterly meetings to give a briefing on their experiences. This program has been a very good source of non-traditional memberships from grateful parents, and is a good way to get the AFA message to a broader audience. In addition, the Chapter has begun to ally itself with the other local military organizations in the area to strengthen both its operations and those of the Navy League and MOWW.

The Texas State organization is active in all phases of the AFA mission. With its own Aerospace Education Foundation, the State gives some $6000 in scholarships each year to Texas High School seniors. The AEF is funded through a combination of funds from the sale of the Texas AFA license plate program, and a Texas AEF Fellowship program. Both these sources are growing, and we expect the fund to increase in size and give us the capability to do other things, such as subsidize schools CyberPatriot entry fees and send more CAP cadets to Summer Flight Encampment. Our priority for next year is to inject more energy into our Texas Congressional relationship program. We need to find ways to personally engage those Congressional Representatives who are not collocated with an AFA Chapter, and to do better in those Chapters which have multiple Congressional Districts in their area.

Submitted by: Dave Dietsch, Texoma Region President

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