ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- The Arnold Community Council held its annual “DC Fly-In” from April 20 to April 23.
The ACC delegation and Tennessee Congressional Staffers met with U.S. Air Force leaders at the Pentagon on the morning of April 20. They also met with Congressional leaders and staff members at the U.S. Capitol on that afternoon through April 22.
On April 23, ACC members met with George J. Rumford, director of the Test Resource Management Center. The ACC delegation presented and discussed issues that are important to the 13-county Arnold Air Force Base community that supports the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, their eight geographically separated units located in Maryland, Ohio, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and California, and the other 22 Department of War test organizations who are members of the Major Range Test Facilities Base.
Rob McAmis, along with past ACC Presidents Lynn Sebourn and Jim Jolliffe, led the delegation in meetings with U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty. ACC teams also met with several of Tennessee’s U.S. Congressional representatives and their staff who represent the Arnold community, including Scott DesJarlais (TN-04) and John Rose (TN-06). The delegation also met with other Congress members and staffers who have AEDC geographically separated units in their districts or have test customers in their district who test at AEDC facilities.
The delegation addressed pertinent issues impacting the AEDC mission, including increases in locality pay, personnel recruiting, staffing and retention, and state-of-the-art technology development with accelerated testing and deployment of fielded weapon systems.
About the Arnold Community Council:
The ACC is a civic organization that supports Arnold AFB and AEDC. The ACC has 240 individual members representing civic, commercial and industrial entities in the 13-county region around Arnold AFB, Tennessee.
ACC supports awareness of AEDC by holding informational meetings with the Tennessee Legislature and Tennessee Congressional delegation, as well as annual advocacy visits to the Pentagon and Capitol Hill; donating to quarterly and annual military award winners; donating to the annual AEDC Veteran’s Picnic and the AEDC Children’s Christmas Party; supporting the Honor Flight of Middle Tennessee and Wreaths Across America; awarding two competitively selected STEM scholarships to high school graduates; and sponsoring receptions for visiting dignitaries. ACC is a Tennessee nonprofit corporation and an IRS 501(c)(6) organization.