Troy Pate: Excellent choice for important role

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Moseley has named Goldsboro’s Troy Pate as North Carolina representative on a newly created Civic Leader Group.

The general could not have made a better choice.

Pate, a retired banking executive, probably is unsurpassed in this state — or any other — in the investment of his time and insights in supporting the best interests of the Air Force and military-civilian relations.

For many years he headed the Military Affairs Committee of the Goldsboro Chamber of Commerce and was chosen by the governor to serve as co-chairman of the North Carolina Advisory Commission on Military Affairs.

Pate shares the chairmanship of that commission with none other than retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton.

The state’s Military Affairs Commission works to cement military and civilian relationships statewide and to support all of North Carolina’s military installations and their missions.

The Air Force chief of staff’s Civic Leader Group is composed of 24 men and women from across the country. They will advise the chief of staff on civic involvement in support of the Air Force’s missions and on matters ranging from the status of aging equipment and funding for new weapons systems to manpower and morale problems.

Troy Pate has a wealth of experience in promoting good social relations between the Air Force and civilian communities. But his background goes well beyond that. He is a familiar figure in the halls of the Pentagon and Congress where over the years he and others from here have stood by the Air Force on matters needing strong civilian support.

All of these involvements have been without monetary remuneration. They have been services of the heart in behalf of the Air Force, our state and our community.

Gen. Moseley is to be congratulated on his choice, and Troy Pate is to be congratulated on his selection.

Published in Editorials on April 12, 2006 10:55 AM