AEDC hosts community tour to educate, build support for Air Force

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  More than 20 civic leaders from communities around Arnold Air Force Base departed June 11 for a two-day community relations tour to Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Ga., and nearby Robins Air Force Base (AFB). 

AEDC Commander Col. Art Huber, who was stationed at Robins prior to AEDC, hosted the event and was accompanied by both Aerospace Testing Alliance and Air Force public affairs staffs. 

"The civic leader program allows us to take civic leaders from one base, usually with a particular mission and a particular locale, and expose those leaders to how other Air Force bases and other military installations and their communities support teams do what they do," he explained. "So, it allows for a transferring of lessons learned from different perspectives and a sharing of experiences." 

However, this trip differed from most with the inclusion of Lockheed-Martin, concentrating mainly on the F-22A manufacturing plant. 

Seeing how the Air Force's newest fighter is assembled from nose to tail, inside and out in a facility that is kept spotlessly clean seemed to impress the group. 

In addition to the plant, a few civic leaders got to "fly" the aircraft in an F-22 cockpit simulator prior to departing. 

Impressed as they seemed to be about the trip's first stop, the tour group also seemed to speak in one voice about day two at an Air Force base dramatically different than Arnold. 

They agreed that learning about Robins provided insight into the big picture of how the base helps fulfill its part of the Air Force mission, its ties with AEDC, and how it serves to help meet the ultimate objective of protecting the nation. 

"There's just a tie-in between the two [bases]," said Mike Stanton, alderman with the City of Tullahoma. "[Also] I am absolutely overwhelmed with how capable, how competent, how determined the people are who are building these planes, securing them and making them safe for the pilots who fly them. High tech was never more obvious when you go through these plants and see the different systems come together - it's just remarkable.

"[The other highlight was] the assemblage of the F-22," he continued. "What a plane. Watching the simulation was really neat, too. Just seeing the capabilities of this plane was just extraordinary." 

Bill Comer, Arnold Community Council (ACC) vice president, and former AEDC instrumentation engineer, said he gained a lot from the tour. 

"I've learned a whole lot more about the mission of Warner Robins and the sustainment capabilities," he said. "It will be helpful to me next year as president of the ACC to understand more about the total Air Force mission and not just the Arnold Center mission, which I am very familiar with having worked there for 47 years. This trip itself is a means of communicating to the community because there are representatives on this trip from throughout the AEDC community, including several surrounding counties." 

For Bill Rutley, former AEDC commander from 1991 to 1993, the tour was a homecoming of sorts having served at Robins for three years after leaving Arnold. 

"Community tours existed while I was [AEDC] commander, and we did those, but there was no Arnold Community Council then," he said. "I am absolutely delighted that exists. I think that's been a tremendous development since I left and I think it's incredibly important because so many people in our own area around Tullahoma don't really understand the AEDC mission that well. 

"At Warner Robins you get to see an operational mission unit and you get to see how the backstage of the Air Force works, he continued. 

"[Robins Air Force Base] has advanced so far in being very efficient and effective in turning these airplanes around for the warfighters, delivering them back in really top quality, and their numbers show that. That technology has changed, but what hasn't changed is the absolute dedication at this place. The commitment is incredible, it's a 100 percent every person all day and this place functions 24 hours a day, seven days a week." 

Rutley said that everyone on the tour can now make the connection between AEDC, Robins and the rest of the Air Force. 

Tony Langeland, a senior special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration Customs Enforcement out of Nashville, said this was his first community relations tour. 

Speaking about the tour of Lockheed Martin, he said, "This is good to see, of course, the assembly line and all that, how it all comes together. That's impressive in itself, but it is really more impressive to me that [the people at Robins are] able to keep the airframes going, 30 or 40 years and you can't just go buy a new war fighting plane." 

Langeland said he learned more than he thought he would. 

"I didn't realize the extent that the partnership between the Air Force and the aircraft manufacturer has - they're hand-in-hand together [with] these Air Force folks in the plans, making sure that the planes are mission capable when they leave. 

"It really made me think back to the things I've read and seen about World War II, where there was so much concern and effort put into doing the job right to make sure the war fighter has what they needed," he added. 

Tullahoma High School Principal Mike Landis said the tour impressed him on several levels. 

"One thing I've gotten [from the trip] is the commitment and passion on behalf or on the part of our military and civilian contractors doing their job to the best of their ability and doing it supremely I might add," he said. "I've seen supreme effort and fantastic enthusiasm for what they do and so that's been very impressive. 

"I've been amazed at Warner Robins to see the variety of different operations going on and as a principal I think about our school, the coordinating thing with 1,200 kids. I couldn't imagine coordinating things with 8,000 employees and that many operations, but they obviously do it and do it very well." 

He said there were lessons to share with his students. 

"I would tell my students to really focus on technology, that the world is becoming very innovative and the need for technical training is greater than it ever has been," Landis said. 

Caren Gabriel, president and CEO of Ascend Federal Credit Union and ACC member, said she was impressed with both how the Air Force manages its aircraft assets and the attitude and expertise of the people, contractors and government personnel, who make it happen. 

"To see the whole life cycle of the airplanes and the functions of the Air Force, was a highlight for me," she said, emphasizing she was also impressed by the work force. "They're so incredibly smart and love their jobs, you can tell what they do really matters and that's impressive."