CAF Summer Advisory Meeting
Odessa, Texas on July 15, 2006
by Col. RODNEY ROBINSON

Fellow RGV Wing Members

Just a few words to let the membership know about the Summer Advisory Meeting of the CAF that was held at Odessa, Texas on July 15, 2006.

June and I drove up and arrived Friday afternoon and prepared ourselves for the next day's sessions. Also arriving from the Rio Grande Valley Wing were: Col. David Hughston, Col. Chris Hughston, and Col. Bill Godwin. We saw many friendly faces and had a wonderful time Friday evening.

Saturday morning the General Staff met. Several announcements were made. Among the most important was an announcement that Col. Charles Hutchins, Tora Lead, will step down as Tora Lead at the end of the year and will be replaced by Col. Jim Ryan as new Tora Lead. I have worked with Jim on several shows and in my opinion; Jim is an excellent choice and will be a pleasure to work with. We want to wish Jim well in his new assignment.

The Advisory Board met following the General Staff meeting and it was attended by approximately 20 people. Col. Gena Linebarger was given the dubious honor of chairing this meeting….She was approached about 5 minutes before the meeting began and she had not much time to think about it!!! Gena did a magnificent job!!!!!! A word to anyone who has not attended an Advisory Board meeting…. Chairing the meeting is relatively simple….Giving the report back to the General Staff can be very intimidating. Gena held her own and worded our concerns back to the Staff in a very professional manner. Great job, Col. Gena!!!

The Advisory Board's concerns, you might ask….just what were they????
1. The soon to be released CAF Directory. Concerns were the cost,
the confidentiality issue, and whether or not members could opt out,
the bottom line cost to the CAF, and finally, if it was not too late,
could we just abandon the project.
2. The July 2007 Gathering at Las Vegas. Again the concerns were the
cost, how many members would actually attend, and would this be the event
in 2007 that we as an organization want to celebrate our 50th. Almost all in
attendance indicated that they would most likely not attend this function due
primarily to it being cost prohibitive for the average Colonel. It was also
questioned that why not have the "gala" during Airsho 2007.

These two topics took up the majority of the discussion time allotted the Advisory Board, but the following issues were also brought up.

The issue on selling CAF planes was mentioned. It was noted that several had not realized that the original Zero had been sold. Where else, besides the minutes of the General Staff meeting is this information presented?

Airsho 2006…. Again, the issue of "starting the war and ending the war" was brought up; That is, when the Airpower Demonstration starts let it run through without interruptions - - - notably acro acts and flip flops that interrupt the flow of the message. Issues relating to golf carts and how they could be better utilized to assist those in need (elderly and disabled) whenever possible.

These concerns were then presented to the General Staff and Headquarters Staff AFTER they had given glowing reports on both the directory and the 50th Celebration. Gena had a tough act to follow!

These topics and how they were answered will be in an upcoming Contrails issue, but a summation of what was discussed there follows: The General Staff and Headquarters Staff responses were, in brief:

Directory … This is just a "yearbook" if you want to perceive it as such. It is not intended to be a directory and anyone wishing not to be included can still opt out by contacting HQ and their name, address, email, etc. will be excluded. HQ said that no confidentiality will be compromised as only CAF members will have access to this book. Cost for the book is approximately $100 for the Hardbound copy and $90 for the softbound (including shipping charges). The CAF will incur no expense whatsoever and the more copies that are sold, the more "profit" the organization will get.

Las Vegas…..The General and HQ Staff were sort of taken aback as to why no one would want to attend this gala function to celebrate our anniversary. This is an excellent opportunity to meet and greet and solicit new members to join. Having the celebration at the Homecoming show would ultimately add additional burden to the Airsho staff.

On the topic of selling of CAF planes, it was noted that all this information is published in the minutes of the General Staff meetings which are always printed in the Contrails. Headquarters staff acknowledged that they could and will in the future, try to make the general membership a little more aware of these types of transactions.

Airsho issues will be forwarded to the Airsho Committee and they will work toward addressing all the concerns noted.

As was previously mentioned, a full description of the Advisory Committee meeting will appear in a future publication from the CAF. Speaking for June and myself, we had a great time at the meeting and enjoyed visiting with all the participants.


Col. Rodney Robinson