A base of support
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 29, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
From left, Alice Cox and Stewart Cox laugh along with Kelley Craver and Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Craver while looking at items in the auction at the second annual Friends of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Gala on Saturday night.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer speaks about his time in Goldsboro and in the military as well as personal stories from his childhood at the second annual Friends of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Gala on Saturday night.
As Air Force vice chief of staff, Gen. Larry O. Spencer assists the chief of staff with organizing, training, and equipping 690,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas.
But Saturday night Spencer was more like a friendly next door neighbor, quick with a joke or a personal story to drive home whatever he was talking about.
Calling on stories from his youth and military experience, Spencer painted a picture of why the community's support of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and its personnel is so vital.
Spencer was the keynote speaker at the second annual Friends of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Gala held Saturday night at the Walnut Creek Country Club. His wife, Ora, who is a native of eastern North Carolina, was unable to attend because she was in Dunn with her mother who is sick.
That community support is not only a professional concern for Spencer, who served his first command at the base in the 1990s, it is personal.
"We are debating now when I retire where will we reside," he said. "I have got to tell you, my wife wants to come back to Goldsboro something awful. We still have a house here, and she is ready to move right back into that house and pick up right where we left off because you all made us feel part of the community, not just that we were here on the base.
"You made us feel part of your community and it is so appreciated. I have to tell you, you don't find that everywhere. Every assignment that I have had has not been that way. You have something unique here and all I can ask is that you continue it. I so enjoyed my time here. I am so glad to see a lot of you here that I know that we recognized each other.
Spencer said that growing up in southeast Washington, D.C., he had few role models other than his parents. The people in Goldsboro and Wayne County provide role models to the airmen serving at Seymour Johnson, he said.
"I want you to understand what role you all can play in the lives of the airmen on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base," he said. "My father was a role model. He didn't have a lot money. He didn't have a lot of education, but I watched him go to work every day. I watched him raise six children.
"The airmen you come in and interact in this community, whether you believe it or not, or understand it or not, they are looking at you. They are looking up to you. That is an important role that I think you all can play because they really need you. Those people who come in through that gate come from all over the United States. You have no idea what their background is. That is why I like telling airmen's stories because we have no idea what their background is or their story is."
Spencer told audience members they might be asking themselves why they should I care about sequestration.
"By automobile standards, 12 fleets of Air Force airplanes would be authorized for antique license plates," he said. "That is the age of equipment we have. What should you care? Those of you who have been in the military or know something about the military will appreciate this. I will tell you this. If we have to go into a conflict, we are not interested in a fair fight. We have to make sure that our troops have the best training, the best equipment with the best technology that money can buy."
"The biggest sacrifice that an American makes is to serve one's country," Julie Daniels, chairman of the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee said in her closing remarks. "Our duty as community members is to ensure that our military members have the support right here at home in all capacities so that they can focus on being the strongest military force that this country has ever seen."
Mrs. Daniels thanked the city, county and contributors for their support that has enabled the group to stay focused on such issues as the wind mills project that had endangered the Dare County Bombing Range used by pilots for training.