News

Dover Airmen attend Defense One Summit

  • Published
  • By Capt. Ashleigh Peck
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Twelve Airmen from Team Dover attended the Defense One Summit in Washington, D.C. Nov. 10, 2017.

Recently, Airmen from Dover Air Force Base have had some unique professional development opportunities. In September and October Team Dover Airmen attended the Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference and the Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium respectively.

“Here at Dover, we absolutely care about the professional development of our Airmen and we recognize how fortunate we are to be this close to the National Capital Region. Airmen have traveled to D.C. the last couple of months for conferences and we will continue to encourage them to take full advantage of opportunities like those in the future,” said Col. Corey Simmons, 436th Airlift Wing vice commander.

According to its website, the Defense One Summit gathered top military, foreign-policy and intelligence leaders to discuss ideas and concerns about the future of American and global security. The panels for the summit included topics on the Air Force, global security and grand strategy and nuclear missiles in today’s age.

Kevin Baron, founding executive editor of Defense One, said he was happy to see so many military members attend the summit.

“We love having service members come to the Defense One Summit because they can hear from their own leaders as well as national security leaders outside of their lane,” Baron said. “They get to hear from members from Congress, intelligence professionals, and former ambassadors that they don’t get to interact with every day and learn about the policies that determine their jobs and their missions.”

Team Dover Airmen who attended were grateful for the opportunity to hear discussions national security leaders are having every day.

“For me, it put all the pieces together,” said Chief Master Sgt. Erica Hammond, 436th Airlift Wing Medical Group superintendent. “We have Operational Readiness Exercises coming back and hearing those types of briefings helped me understand the why and understand what we are trying to accomplish.”