Your San Antonio Chamber of Commerce has a played a key role in supporting, sustaining, and growing our invaluable military missions in the Alamo Region, a role we take very seriously. The efforts to satisfy this role are formally conducted through our active and robust Military Affairs Council. For more than four years, the Military Affairs Council has advocated for growing the unique missions of our Texas Air National Guard unit, the 149th Fighter Wing (FW), and for San Antonio to become the permanent basing solution to an F16 Formal Training Unit.
In the beginning of July, we received word that San Antonio was being considered as one of three sites to host the permanent location of this Pilot Training unit. Naturally, as our community embraces our military service men and women and their families, we are excited to provide continued support to expand the already successful and premier training at Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland through the 149th FW.
The F16 FTU would bring an additional 52 aircraft and approximately 1,000 personnel to our San Antonio area, a mixture of military officers, enlisted, and civilians. With excellent facilities, ample ramp space and room to grow, as well as a limited need for additional military construction to support the influx of the expanded mission, the 149th FW appears to be a perfect fit. Combined with a fully-manned workforce of skilled and talented professionals and no issue in recruiting and retaining Citizen-Airmen in Military City USA, we are confident that the additional mission would be supported in the same way.
Another exciting component of the new mission would be the opportunity to create a Total Force Integration (Association) (TFI), where our active, guard, and reserve components would work seamlessly together in a functionally integrated and operationally indistinguishable mission. This would, in turn, strengthen the longevity and impact the 149th FW has as an extension of their role of being a force at the ready for the governor.
With expanded missions and aircraft, we would gain additional community members and families, who will live, work, and play in our great city. In letters provided by our surrounding school districts in support of the increased mission, we have received incredible responses which offer a perspective of a supportive, engaged, and community-driven approach to providing excellent academic opportunities for our military children, both in the K-12 and within the higher levels of education. Additionally, our success as a leader in military spouse hiring and support for spouses through fellowships, networking and a formalized structure of support, along with the recent legislation passed through the state to offer a smooth transition of spouses who work in careers where certificates and licenses have been a challenge, we feel Texas and San Antonio is primed to host the permanent F16 FTU.
In a joint letter penned by the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, addressed to the Acting Secretary of the Air Force, we state: “San Antonio exceeds mission, quality of life, community support, workforce availability, and cost requirements to successfully base the F-16 Permanent FTU. We believe there is no better choice than San Antonio to support this important mission.”
