WEBVTT 00:09.772 --> 00:12.229 - (narrator) On Monday, May 1st, leadership from 00:12.229 --> 00:15.220 the 127th Wing hosted a public town hall meeting 00:15.220 --> 00:17.460 at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library in 00:17.460 --> 00:19.627 Clinton Township Michigan. 00:20.149 --> 00:21.950 Following an introduction by Macomb county 00:21.950 --> 00:24.625 executive Mark Hackel, Brigadier General 00:24.625 --> 00:27.898 John Slocum, commander of the 127th Wing, led 00:27.898 --> 00:29.842 the meeting with a history of Selfridge Air 00:29.842 --> 00:32.132 National Guard Base, mission brief and a 00:32.132 --> 00:34.062 look at what is in store for the future of 00:34.062 --> 00:36.098 the base, including the Selfridge Centennial 00:36.098 --> 00:39.265 Celebration, Open House, and Air Show. 00:39.307 --> 00:40.756 ^- ...introduce a person I call a personal 00:40.756 --> 00:43.201 ^friend but also somebody whose leading our 00:43.201 --> 00:46.034 ^hometown air base, General Slocum. 00:47.151 --> 00:50.151 (audience applauds) 00:51.017 --> 00:52.409 - What an awesome time! Thank you 00:52.409 --> 00:55.285 ^for coming out tonight. Mark is exactly right. 00:55.285 --> 00:58.674 ^I appreciate the opportunity, really, the whole 00:58.674 --> 01:00.248 thing about tonight is to talk to you about 01:00.248 --> 01:02.319 whatever it is you want to talk about. But, I'm 01:02.319 --> 01:03.947 I'm going to start it off by just kind of giving 01:03.947 --> 01:05.364 you an update. Things that are going on, what's 01:05.364 --> 01:07.368 happening. Kind of frame a little 01:07.368 --> 01:09.201 bit of the discussion. 01:09.253 --> 01:12.735 We're a presence, we deter, and we defend when 01:12.735 --> 01:16.240 necessary and they do it very well. But the other 01:16.240 --> 01:18.261 is that we are a domestic first responder. 01:18.261 --> 01:19.979 When something happens, when you hear the governor 01:19.979 --> 01:22.292 is calling out the National Guard, we stand ready 01:22.292 --> 01:24.545 to serve out state. On any given day, somebody 01:24.545 --> 01:26.462 asked me, as I'm standing before you right now, 01:26.462 --> 01:28.590 who is my commander in chief? It's the governor 01:28.590 --> 01:30.673 of the state of Michigan. 01:30.689 --> 01:32.671 - (narrator) Joining General Slocum at the town 01:32.671 --> 01:35.478 hall was 127th Command Chief, Chief Master Sergeant 01:35.478 --> 01:38.276 Tony Whitehead, Operations Group Commander, 01:38.276 --> 01:41.441 Colonel Lou Holtz, Air Show Director, Lieutenant 01:41.441 --> 01:44.324 Commander Brian Davis and Vice Commander of the 01:44.324 --> 01:47.096 127th Air Refueling Group, Lieutenant Colonel 01:47.096 --> 01:49.850 Mike Irving. All were on hand to assist in 01:49.850 --> 01:52.556 answering questions as subject matter experts 01:52.556 --> 01:55.162 during the Q and A portion of the program. 01:55.162 --> 01:57.607 ^- Yeah, so, we have a free public air show, free 01:57.607 --> 02:01.467 ^seating, free parking. However, on TeamSelfridge.com, 02:01.467 --> 02:04.792 I think, around May 6, they're telling me there 02:04.792 --> 02:08.095 are preferred seats available. There's obviously 02:08.095 --> 02:10.329 also the chalets you've seen out there before. If 02:10.329 --> 02:12.893 a company wants a chalet to have about 100 02:12.893 --> 02:14.310 people join them. 02:14.622 --> 02:16.322 - ... Selfridge here and what it represents to 02:16.322 --> 02:18.282 not only Macomb county but the state of Michigan 02:18.282 --> 02:19.917 and, more importantly, to the country and the 02:19.917 --> 02:22.019 people that have been or touched those grounds. 02:22.019 --> 02:25.535 It's pretty exciting and now, to have this reach, 02:25.535 --> 02:27.719 this outreach into the community to get people to 02:27.719 --> 02:30.491 understand what it is about and a phrase that was 02:30.491 --> 02:32.112 coined by the general and I think it was very 02:32.112 --> 02:34.129 important, when he had done that, kind of 02:34.129 --> 02:36.121 bringing that new respect to it, calling it 02:36.121 --> 02:37.954 our Hometown Air Base. 02:38.428 --> 02:40.345 - Two things that we were awarded, one was called 02:40.345 --> 02:43.962 the Spaatz Trophy. So, there is 90 guard wings 02:43.962 --> 02:47.463 across the 54 states and territories and one is 02:47.463 --> 02:50.915 the best. And that would be yours. Your folks here 02:50.915 --> 02:53.436 at Selfridge are the best flying unit in the 02:53.436 --> 02:55.019 Air National Guard. 02:57.370 --> 02:59.028 - (narrator) The purpose of the town hall was to 02:59.028 --> 03:01.629 bring exposure of what goes on at the base to the 03:01.629 --> 03:04.421 community leaders and citizens in attendance as 03:04.421 --> 03:06.537 well as offer up ways that they can continue to 03:06.537 --> 03:09.821 support their hometown air base. For the Michigan 03:09.821 --> 03:13.988 Air National Guard, I am Staff Sergeant Drew Schumann.