Some quail and a whole lot of perspective

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Robert Gunn
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  You can't deny that there's a certain power in our nation's capital.

You can feel it looking up at the monuments. It truly is a unique location. Rich with history, Washington has a way of making you really think about our nation and its future.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Washington with both the leadership of Altus Air Force Base and the City of Altus, and what I saw was nothing short of amazing.

I watched as Col. Bill Spangenthal and Chief Master Sgt. James Powell visited with members of the Oklahoma delegation. I saw military leaders who made it a point to let members of Congress know about the great things Altus AFB is doing.

While there was business to discuss, one thing constantly came up, and that was Altus' capability. Altus AFB continues to train the next generation of global mobility. There isn't a KC-135 Stratotanker or C-17 Globemaster III mission in the world that Altus hasn't touched. Our capability won't stop either.  Soon we'll look out on the flight line as the first KC-46 Pegasus comes in. Never did the question come up that we weren't ready or we weren't capable.

I also saw Altus as a city invested in the future of our Air Force. The culmination of days of Congressional visits and meetings was the Annual Altus Quail Breakfast and as I looked out across the room I saw Air Force members both new and old meeting with members of the community and Congress. Altus, a small farming community in the deep left pocket of Oklahoma, has the ability to bring all these people together in one room. Former wing commanders, squadron commanders, command chiefs and the list goes on.      

And that's when it hit me and I saw the bigger picture.

When I say "power" you may think of something with incredible destructive force thundering through the sky. But there was another power at work throughout this entire visit, the power of community. The City of Altus and Altus AFB are providing to the future of Air Force Global Mobility, and together they are securing the future of our nation. This energy doesn't start at the top.  It starts at the volunteer event on the corner of Main and Broadway. It starts in the schools where Airmen read to children in the Head Start Program. It starts in the familiarization flight for local farmers during Farm City Week. It starts at the Committee of 100 dinners. 

What starts here in the community has lasting effects, effects that can be seen and can be felt 1,500 miles away. So the next time you're out volunteering or conducting a tour with local school children, know that you're contributing to a power that brings congressmen, senators, commanders, Airmen, and civic leaders together as one force. 

A force with the ability to do more than any bomb or airframe, a force to shape the future of a community, a nation and the world.