Airlift/Tanker Association Conference

I’ve had the opportunity to attend the 43^rd annual Airlift/Tanker Association (A/TA) conference at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center (I assure you it’s just as posh as it sounds). This convention could best be described as a family reunion for ‘flyers’ and the military aviation community at large. So far I’ve attended a number of seminars and socials, grazing topics like the post 9/11 GI Bill, the defense budget cuts, lessons learned from ‘Operation Odyssey Dawn’ (the recent Libyan air mobility campaign), the narration of the Berlin Airlift told by the “Candy Bomber” himself Col. (Ret.) Gail Halvorsen, and even a Command Chief Q&A panel. Some topics more exhilarating than others as you’ve already surmised but I’ll leave that to your own imaginations.

When I got the email in August telling me I was scheduled for this TDY I thought out loud, “What the heck is A/TA and why am I going?” The question remained mostly unanswered until I arrived and was baptized in the nearly 4,000 flight suits, ABUs, and sports coats attending the conference. By- and-large it seems that the conference is mostly about showcasing the latest aviation innovations and keeping airlift heritage alive through education, inspiration and networking. Speaking of networking (well -crafted segway…boosh), a very deliberate emphasis is also placed on creating a social networking theme, and not that of the Facebook and Twitter variety but rather of stand-up receptions where attendees are deprived of assigned seating and forced to circulate the room with their refreshments in hand. I’ve witnessed Airmen with one stripe and Airmen with four stars mingling side-by-side in same ballroom, at the same booth, and even at the same “beverage counter”. What a neat opportunity to be in an environment where a 21 year old aircraft mechanic or a late 20s aerial photographer (guess who) can rub elbows with MAJCOM commanders and strategic level planners and directors. This conference is definitely a positive career experience, a unique ‘old fashioned’ social networking opportunity and the free food and four star resort venue ain’t bad either.

Songs of San Antonio

Walking through the streets of San Antonio, I found it remarkable that upon every corner and venue the scene was energized by the sound of music. Musicians, vocalist and entertainers seemed to overflow into every inhabited space of this metropolis of nearly 1.5 million. Music, with its ‘eclectic’ ability to inspire and sedate, to energize and lull characterized every turn of my journeys through San Antonio’s historic byways.

I was first greeted with this realization upon entering my hotel in which the lobby and common areas where electrified with festive melodies of the Latin variety, not the pre-packaged jazz synonymous with American hotel lobbies and elevators My evenings in San Antonio ushered me through a smorgasbord of restaurants, pubs, martini lounges, and even a gospel revival service, each new environment offering up to me its own slice of musical variety. Many of the restaurants employed table roving musicians who serenaded guest, the British pub was home to a ‘Best of the 80s-90s’ live band, and the lounges seem to prefer live brass and strings nestled in a dimly lit corner. To my good fortune the gifted notes weren’t contained to service environments but spilled into the streets, treaded the famous waterways, and wafted through the dry Texas air. Street performers and ambitious panhandlers, infected with the city’s melodious spirit, engineered mobile sudo-orchestras, roused dreary inner city bus stops with the sound of spoons and harmonica and even bagpiped on the corner of Commerce Street.

Music has always been a powerful force rocking the cradle of humanity. Men and women rise and fall to the melody of lyrics and tunes and a city like this one cultivates this essential art to the betterment of everyone. San Antonians have a voracious appetite for the musical arts and it’s set their city ablaze with commerce, culture, tourism and pride.