Just leaving the Air Force Association Aerospace, Space & Cyber (ASC) Convention held at the Gaylord Conference Center, Wash DC. I’ve attended 10 of these conferences in the past 12 years. My overriding objective for involvement with AFA is twofold:
- Support a dominant U.S. Air Force
- Business development
I rejoined AFA in 2004 after retiring from the Air Force in 1994 and returning to Arizona and the defense industry, my thinking began to change. The Air Force was my life. I was born on an Air Force base and grew up as an Air Force brat. Conditions in the country during and immediately following the Vietnam War shaped my high school years. I remember telling my dad, “I what nothing to do with your Air Force” as he settled us in Tempe, AZ for his follow-on assignment to Vietnam in 1971. That assignment was as a Professor of Aerospace Studies at Arizona State University. Over the next few short years, I would be exposed to many AFROTC Cadet activities which mostly served to strengthen my defiance that the profession of arms wasn’t for me. That would change.
As dad completed his assignment at ASU Det025, AFROTC, I was finishing high school and preparing to become a Sun Devil myself. A pivotal moment in my life was about to happen. Even though college wasn’t nearly as expensive in those days as it is now, I suddenly found myself on my own. Dad had made his case that an ROTC scholarship was a good way to fund my education. Beyond that, he and mom bid me farewell to figure out college on my own just as they had been motivated to do. Wasn’t long before I found myself in the AFROTC application line. After declaring I wanted nothing to do with the military, I found myself “all in” and working toward a commission under a 3 year scholarship.
The diversion into my story above serves in contrast to what I would become. Serving on active duty, my views changed as I matured. I saw my place as a contributor to something much larger than myself. Opportunity to grow personally and professionally motivated me and stories of great accomplishments by those who passed before replaced indifference with motivation. I want special after all and actually had a long way to go towards proving value. As a result, I spent a career in our Air Force leaving with bittersweet experience, but equipped for civilian life. Like so many others, the seed of “what can I do to give back?” had been planted deep.
That seed would germinate some years later when I decided to find out what is going on with AFA in and around Luke AFB near where my family had settled and very close to my work at Lockheed Martin in Goodyear. The rest of my story toward Support to a Dominant Air Force (objective 1 above) is tamped into activities of AFA at the chapter and state level in AZ over the past 10 years. Small contributions made by attending meetings, planning and participating in chapter activities, and promoting programs focused on education, advocacy and support by serving in chapter and state officer positions along the way. Over the years, my small contributions have been validated and recharged at the AFA National Convention always followed by the ASC Symposium. This year’s convention and ASC Symposia was no different for me, but it was over the top in Support of a Dominant Air Force.
For starters, Captain Jared Marvin, our son and Air Force F-16 Instructor Pilot, attended his first AFA ASC Symposium. Simply put, the highlight of everything AFA and Air Force I’ve ever experienced. It is one thing to support our fabulous men & women in the Air Force. All sons and daughters of someone, but when it is your son, it gets to a new level.
Second, this was the largest ASC Symposium on record. Lots of active duty Airmen who not only support a Dominant Air Force, but are actually making it so with a duty to country that transcends all else. The ASC program was excellent with keynote addresses by the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Staff, Command Chief and Major Command Commanders. The concentration of the finest in the Air Force, excellent programming and lights out exhibition hall centered on the Air Force’s 71st birthday, was capped off by Vice President Pence’s visit on Sep 18. His message was a Thank You from the Commander in Chief and a declaration that the administration is committed to providing the resources for our Airmen to remain as the best Air Force in the world.
Second, this was the largest ASC Symposium on record. Lots of active duty Airmen who not only support a Dominant Air Force, but are actually making it so with a duty to country that transcends all else. The ASC program was excellent with keynote addresses by the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Staff, Command Chief and Major Command Commanders. The concentration of the finest in the Air Force, excellent programming and lights out exhibition hall centered on the Air Force’s 71st birthday, was capped off by Vice President Pence’s visit on Sep 18. His message was a Thank You from the Commander in Chief and a declaration that the administration is committed to providing the resources for our Airmen to remain as the best Air Force in the world.
So this convention and symposium was the best ever for this AFA member. My plan is that this convention and symposium is last for a while. I’ve convinced myself that my time is better spent concentrating on business development at Prime Solutions Group, Inc. (PSG). But now what? I’ve now had my annual AFA rush and reinvigorated for the coming year. My last conference for a while? Likely not. I can still contribute to AFA while leveraging what I learn from AFA to inform business interests. This is the first year in many that I’m not a chapter or state officer. I won’t miss the administrative overhead of those positions. What I did do at the convention was to volunteer to work on the Field Operations Advocacy Committee. I’ll I’ll see how that goes, but working in the area of advocacy has business development implications for a company in the defense industry. Here is an example. While in DC for the conference, I took part of the last day to visit Lockheed Martin, a current customer. Lockheed Martin takes support to AFA and the Air Force seriously as the below picture from the exhibit hall shows.
There are many other examples of business value to me and PSG, my defense software supply chain small business. For example, I met representatives from Air Force Energy a couple years back. That resulted in a visit to their Tyndall AFB office to discuss our DOE research. Networking with other defense industry businesses is perhaps the best reason for attending the ASC. Finally, situational awareness of what is important to the Air Force is a huge business value. At this ASC Conference, I met the Missile Defense Agency Director of Business Outreach and learned about AFSIM at the Air Force Research Lab on the exhibit floor. Attend the ASC Symposium with an open mind willing to learn. You won’t walk away with a contract, but you will come away informed about business development opportunities.