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January 2009 Membership Meeting

The membership meeting and luncheon was conducted at the Gateway Club, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas.  Chapter President Jon Simms called the meeting to order, welcomed all and led the group in citing the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.  Next, Harry Reese, Chapter Board of Directors, provided the invocation.  Afterwards, Simms introduced new members and guests and Clarence Teat, 2nd Vice President, provided a Chapter membership report.  Teat also reminded everyone that the "TwoFer" Program (two new members for the price of one) was still in effect.

After lunch, Simms introduced special guest speaker, Colonel Vincent J. Feck, Chief, Joint Base Implementation Office, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command.  link to biography

The following briefly paraphrases Colonel Feck's presentation:

Feck opened saying that a chaplain had described Joint Basing as a four-letter word.  After a brief burst of laughter fom the audience, he went on to provide a brief history of how Joint Basing had been mandated by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) committee and gave a short explanation of its purpose.  Feck went on to say the Joint Base, San Antonio, will consist of Ft. Sam Houston (FSH) (including Camp Bullis), Lackland AFB (including the Kelly and Medina Annexes) and Randolph AFB.  The unit, he said, will designated as the 502nd Air Base Wing (ABW), which will be headquartered at FSH and commanded by an Air Force one-star general.  The new Wing, he went on to say, is scheduled to stand up in August of this year.

Feck further explained some of changes brought about by Joint Basing and some of the challenges to be overcome.  Army civilians in the Joint-Base Wing will become Air Force civilians which will, of course, present some issues to be resolved, as will the active-duty military rating chain.  A Memorandum of Agreement covering these and many other issues is slated to be signed by a four-star general of each Service on March 31, 2009

Colonel Feck continued by covering some of the details and scheduling of the joint base "merger."  The wing, he said, will consist of 49 functions with a total of 265 currently existing performance standards--standards that cannot be lowered under Joint Basing.  Due to other BRAC realignments, there will be an increase in the mission of San Antonio military installations, especially that of FSH.  As an example, all medical training for the enlisted personnel of all military Services will be conducted at FSH with field training at Camp Bullis.  FSH population, which now stands at 75,000, will increase to 82,000 to coincide with the number of supported units increasing from 64 to 96.  Construction to handle the mission and population increase at FSH is expected to cost $2.5 billion.

The initial operating capability of the joint base operation, Feck said, is scheduled to take place in January 2010 with full operating capability in October that same year.

Following a short period of questions and answers, Jon Simms thanked Colonel Feck for his presentation and presented him with a Pen Set (in a wooden Case with the NDTA Logo and San Antonio Chapter inscribed) as a token of appreciation.

There being no other business, Simms adjourned the meeting.

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