President's Perspective

Members,

Having just completed the 35 th Annual Joseph P. Cribbins Aviation Product Symposium 11-12 February, I can report that it was the finest effort to date. We had over 450 participants, sold out the Industry Booth space and offered the finest speaker agenda we have ever had. Exceeding what we did this year will be difficult at best, knowing it is your expectation, we won't let you down in 2010.

Our Scholarship Team did well in collecting funds for our 2009 Scholarship program. Please note the, 1 May 2009 , cut off for applications to be in the hands of the AAAA National Committee. You must request an application from National and return it to them directly; our TVC does not get involved in the application process. This year we added the “Paul Bogosian Tennessee Valley Chapter” Scholarship to our perpetual portfolio and were delighted with the inaugural contribution results. Three young students were introduced at dinner as the winners of our 2009 TVC Aviation Challenge Scholarships.

Our Symposium speakers covered the Army Aviation spectrum of “Maintaining Aviation Excellence in a Wartime Environment”; ranging from the Aviation Soldier, across Material Development and Life Cycle Support, to the future strategy decisions of our senior leaders. We are a focused Aviation profession - One Team (Redstone); One Fight; One Future; just as Mr. Cribbins envisioned 35 years ago.

Each of our PM, Directorate, Unit of the Year and Industry awardees reminded us of the importance of each individual contribution, their sacrifices and the dedication to the Aviation Warfighter. The Outstanding Aviation Logistics Support Unit was the 412 th Aviation Support Battalion. Our Industry awardees were: L-3 Vertex CFS , Battelle, L-3 COM, Boeing CCAD, and Hawk Enterprises LLC. The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the Gold Order of St. Michael to BG (R) Stu Gerald. The Tennessee Valley Chapter is proud to support these awards and extends our congratulations to all our 2009 awardees.

We started our year with several key Army Aviation events, all leading up to the AAAA National Convention which will be in Nashville May 3-6. Please note our Membership Luncheon on 12 March, Spring Bass Classic 27-28 March and a “pre-convention” Social late April.

Thanks to all for the success of our Aviation Product Symposium.

“We Serve Because We Care”

Bill Weaver

President

Tennessee Valley Chapter AAAA