Employer flight draws support for reserve

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matt Moorman
  • 916 ARW/PA
Seymour Johnson AFB, NC --  “It makes me think I’m proud to be an American,” Mr. David Anderson said about his trip to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Mr. Anderson took part in an Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve flight hosted by the 916th Air Refueling Wing on June 8-9. 

Mr. Anderson is a captain in the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Department in Lenoir, N.C. He serves as a patrol division supervisor. 

After being welcomed to the 916th here, the group boarded a KC-135R Stratotanker and flew to Charlotte Air National Guard Base, N.C., from which the trip was staged. 

All parties were greeted on the morning of June 8 by the 145th Airlift Wing of the N.C. Air National Guard in Charlotte. The group consisted of about 40 employers from across North Carolina, a handful of volunteers from the ESGR organization, 916th Mission Support Group Commander Col. Harry Woodson and the flight crew of the KC-135R.
Upon arrival at Kelly Field, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, the group was greeted by the 433rd Airlift Wing, given a tour of a C-5 Galaxy and took a ride on the C-5 flight simulator used to train C-5 pilots, of which Kannapolis business owner and city councilman Mr. Randy Cauthen said, “Oh, it was very realistic!” 

That evening the group wined and dined at the San Antonio riverwalk, experiencing what thousands of Airmen do every year after they graduate basic training. 

The next day the group toured the 149th Fighter Wing of the Texas Air National Guard at Randolph Air Force Base. While viewing the static displays of the T-6, T-37 and T-38 training aircrafts, Maj. Tim Shermer of the Raleigh Police Department said, “What we need to do, as Americans as well as employers, is to support and help keep up the morale of these folks.” 

On the bus ride back to Lackland, University of North Carolina at Wilmington Vice Chancellor Patricia Leonard said the guardsmen and reservists she’d met on the trip were “a highly competent, professional, educated group of folks – first class – who are sophisticated in what they do.” She then said, “What is the most impressive of anything is the passion of the reservists.” 

On the trip as a whole, Mr. Paul Brooks, assistant fire chief in Greensboro, said, “It just reinforced that the Guard and Reserve are a vital part of our military mission today.”