2019/05/13 - Mayor's Column: Air War College
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
Scott Air Force Base is O’Fallon’s largest community partner. Not only is it the largest employer in the Metro East, and one of the largest employers in the St. Louis Region, its presence shapes O’Fallon daily.
O’Fallon has a large concentration of retired and active duty military that live in the community. Which is no doubt an effect of Scott Air Force Base. It doesn’t matter if your family has lived here for five days or five generations, O’Fallon is a great place to call home. The military population has been welcomed with open arms into O’Fallon!
Scott Air Force Base also has a large economic impact on our community. In addition to employing many of O’Fallon’s residents, many businesses service or sell directly to the base or those working on it.
Therefore, it is very important that the relationship between the City of O’Fallon and Scott Air Force Base be friendly and productive. I consider it part of my job as mayor to be informed of what we can do to help support the base. I take advantage of every opportunity I can to get to know more about our neighbor and how our community can work with the Base.
This week, I am attending the National Security Forum (NSF) at the Air War College (AWC). The National Security Forum is sponsored by the Secretary of the Air Force and is meant to expose citizens to senior U.S. and international officers and civilian equivalents in order to engage each other’s ideas and perspectives on the Air Force, national and international security issues.
It's an opportunity for the AWC students, our future military leaders, to interact with a broad cross-section of civilian leaders from businesses, universities, industry, media, law, the clergy, and state and local governments. I am honored to be a part of this group.
The NSF provides a frank and candid exchange of views on national security matters among the invited guests, Air War College students, and senior military and civilian leaders. Walter Denton, O’Fallon’s City Administrator, has attending the NSF in the past.
I will return next week from the Air War College with new ideas and a grown respect for our military.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!