Shaw, McEntire to sign MOU on active associate program

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SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Commanders of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base and 169th Fighter Wing, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, will sign a historic Memorandum of Understanding at 4 p.m. Saturday at McEntire in the main hangar. The memorandum will direct the operation and administration of the Active Associate unit currently operating at McEntire. 

Signatures of both Col. James N. Post III from Shaw and Col. Keith Coln from McEntire will enable the Air National Guard to train and rapidly increase experience of the active duty Airmen. 

Active duty pilots and maintenance specialists are assigned to detachments at McEntire and administratively attached to the 20th Fighter Wing units at Shaw. 

Currently, more than 30 Air Force Airmen are working at McEntire, and the number is expected to increase up to 150 Air Force members by spring 2008. Some participating Air Force pilots and maintenance specialists have experience, but many will be new airmen coming directly from pilot training and other technical schools.