Shaw Weasels attend AFA conference Published Oct. 10, 2017 By Airman 1st Class Destinee Sweeney 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Six Airmen assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing attended the Air Force Association’s 2017 Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Sept. 18-20. The three-day professional development event hosted over 9,000 attendees including U.S. Air Force employees, allied airmen and corporate avionic experts. At the conference, attendees listened to key speakers such as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, attended educational sessions on topics such as cyberspace and engineering, and had the opportunity to see a technology exposition. “How this conference specifically helps me, is it allows me to identify where we have growth opportunities on the base in the future,” said Jim Olsen, 20th Civil Engineer Squadron community planner and conference attendee. “There are a lot of wars ahead that are going to be going into different domains. Historically— land, sea, air, undersea— we’ve sort of tackled those and we sort of have a pretty good idea of those, as we start approaching into cyberspace … how do we go ahead and set ourselves up for success in terms of facilities and infrastructure to be able to handle that mission capability? That’s something I’ve been thinking about for the last couple weeks since I’ve been back.” Not only were the Airmen able to gather information from attending the event, they were also able to interact with Air Force key leaders. “(Attending the conference) was really eye-opening for me,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Sanchez, 20th Component Maintenance Squadron commander’s support staff noncommissioned officer in charge. “It was humbling in a sense too. I’m sitting in a room with a bunch of folks with rank far beyond what I could imagine having. It was awesome getting to bump shoulders with some of them and speak with them.” With their newly-gained knowledge, the Airmen plan to use what they learned to guide the next generation of Airmen and into a future aligned with the priorities of Air Force leaders. Sanchez said he plans to use the information he gained to lead his troops and help them understand the importance of innovation, flexibility and open-mindedness in an ever-changing battlefield, while Olsen plans to share his experience with other civilian Airmen and apply it to his role as community planner. “It’s really exciting to see all of the (Air Force) senior leaders strategically aligned,” said Olsen. “Everyone pretty much had a laser-focus on what they wanted to do for the next few years, and that helps me as an installation planner to make sure what we’re doing here for the next one year to 30 years out is going to be aligned with their strategic vision.”