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AWA Reunion 2008

All AWA members, their spouses and guests are most welcome to attend the 2008 Air Weather Association (AWA) reunion from 6-10 August in Tacoma, Washington. The reunion hotel is the Best Western Tacoma Dome Hotel, 2611 East E Street, Tacoma WA 98421. It is a full service hotel with 162 rooms and close to many attractions and the (free) light rail transportation system. Parking will be available for local area members to commute.

Reserve your room now! Call the Best Western Tacoma Dome Hotel at 1-800-973-7110 (press 2 for reservations) and ASK FOR THE AIR WEATHER ASSOCIATION GROUP RATE. Our group daily rates are: Single/Double: $108 plus tax; Triple $118 plus tax; and Quad $128 plus tax. Rates are for the entire reunion period and for 3 days prior and 3 days after the reunion.

The room rates include a continental breakfast. AWA attendees will also be given a 10 percent discount on all meals in the hotel restaurant. The hotel cut-off date for accepting reservations into the AWA room block is FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2008. Reservation requests received after 11 July will be accepted on a space and rate availability basis. Official check-in time is 3:00 PM. You may be checked in earlier depending on occupancy levels and availability of “ready” rooms. Check-out time is 12:00 noon. A credit card will be needed at the time of reservations. No personal checks are accepted. If guest wishes to pay by cash they will be required an additional $200.00 refundable deposit in addition to the full payment for their stay. More information on the hotel is available at their Web site: www.tacomadomehotel.com.

Depending on the attendance, nearby hotels may have to be contracted with for overflow. Therefore, please make your reservations early.

Tentative schedule of activities: (details and registration costs for all activities will be posted soon and also mailed out to all members)

6 August - travel day; AWA hospitality room & information desk opens that afternoon. No scheduled activities.

7 August - depart hotel by bus after 9 AM for a tour of the Boeing/Museum of Flight; at 1 PM, tour continues to Pike Place Market in Seattle for sightseeing/shopping and busses return to hotel by 6 PM. Lunch on your own at the Museum of Flight or Pike Place Market - or a little bit at both. Squadron and other unit dinners can be scheduled for that evening.

8 August - depart hotel about 9 AM for a tour of McChord Air Force Base and then to Gig Harbor with a possible stop at the LeMay Car Museum. Busses will return to the hotel around 5:30 PM.   A golf outing is also scheduled at McChord AFB for the afternoon. A banquet for all is scheduled at the hotel for later that evening. It will be casual and buffet style.

9 August - Depart hotel at your leisure for a tour of Tacoma with many options. The free light rail system can transport you to the museum district to view spectacular glass and other art work and have lunch.  In the morning from about 8:15 until 9:30, the Air Force Weather "report to stockholders" will be given in the AWA hospitality room at the hotel by the current US Air Force Director of Weather, Dr. Fred Lewis SES (Brig. Gen. USAF, Ret.). The evening banquet for all will be at the Hotel Murano in Tacoma. The hotel has plenty of parking space and is close to the free light rail system for transportation from/to the reunion hotel (Best Western Dome). Social hour will begin at 6 PM and dinner at 7 PM.

10 August - breakfast and travel day [Some attendees plan on taking an Alaska cruise starting that afternoon out of Seattle such as the Holland America Line 7-day Alaskan Explorer via Glacier Bay aboard ms Westerdam – check with your travel agents]

If you have questions, suggestions on reunion activities, or want to volunteer to help, please e-mail Don Farrington at cdfcsf@aol.com and/or Kevin Lavin at airweaassn@aol.com.

Please help spread the reunion news to others. A newsletter with reunion activity registration form will be posted on this Web site and printed/mailed when the activity schedule is firm..

Harmon AFB imagess. Courtesy of Ed Taggart

Det 16, 18th WS, Bordeaux France. Courtesy Bob Edwards

A pictorial series from Korea, some during the war.

Over 120 photographs from WW II and before...many illustrate pieces of weather equipment.

Received several C-130 pictures of former WC-130's that have begun new lives!

The AFWA History office has sent us numerous cd's with lots of historical information and images that are being cataloged here. The first set to be stored is a 1st Weather Wing history from 1954 to 1968. We also have, so far, a set of images that all have aircraft in them. Many are from the 55th, 56th and 58th Weather Recon Squadrons. No info is available other than the image so if you can provide some details, we will add that to the image. The images have been shrunk down for the web but we have the high quality images available. If you would like any of the images sent to you, please contact the webmaster.

AWA REUNION 2006 Omaha pictures are here!
The Bone Yard - courtesy of Dave Wilson

Thanks to the AFWA History folks for giving us a great deal of information during the reunion. A partial listing has been added with more to come soon. They put together an "Air Force Weather Professional Reading List" on CD-ROM that is now available here for the first time. These files are quite large and will take some time to download. All are in Adobe PDF format. Click here for the latest.
AFWA complied a "Heritage Celebration" video that was previewed at the Omaha reunion banquet. The video is available as a Windows Media download and as a Real Player download video. Also available as a streaming video. You will need Macromedia Flash to view the streaming video.

AFWA History office put together picture postcards for table decorations at the banquet. Here are the complete series of photos throughout the years. See them here!

Weather Tech Manual list and Equipment Listing

The Air Weather Association (AWA), a nonprofit, all volunteer association of near 5,000 past and present members of US Air Force Weather units including ANG, USAFR and US Army Air Corps units, salutes all individuals presently serving in US Air Force Weather units.
Please know that we support you and your mission. We thank you for your great work, your sacrifices and those of your families, and for your commitment to duty, honor, country.
We send best wishes to you and your families for good health, safety, happiness and for great success in all endeavors worldwide.

AWA ROSTER

The ROSTER is now available online for members only! You will have to get a username and password to view the roster. Please include your name in your request so it can be checked off the roster and then you will be e-mailed your username and password in a text file. If the webmaster can't verify your name against the roster, your access will not be approved. Get your user ID and Password now. Please keep in mind that the roster is a fluid document that is continually under revision. It will be updated online periodically. The revisions will have a date at the top of the pages to show when it was last updated. Please DO NOT send any changes (address, phone, etc.) to the webmaster. Any revisions to the database need to be sent to the AWA Locator, Steve Walden, at: steve_walden@msn.com

If you received your username and password, view the Roster now!
Please remember, the user name and password have a mix of UPPER and lower case letters along with special characters. You must enter them exactly as they were sent to you.

Visit the Combat Weather Site for Special Forces news.

Army Meteorology web site! Packed with lots of good info.

At the request of many AWA members, a Necrology (departures) section is added for the information of all members. Submissions can be sent to the AWA Newsletter Editor at AirWeaAssn@aol.com