In the photo at left, Eagle Chapter's Vice Chairman for Eagle's Maryland Wing, Ian Collin Caldwell coins the then Air Force Chief of Staff, General Charles Q. (CQ) Brown, JR. The Senate has since confirmed General Brown as the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Brown was sworn in as Chairman at Bolling on Sep 29.

At right, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass. Ian represented Eagle Chapter at the 2023 Air Force 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year Heritage Reception and Dinner held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center the National Harbor Maryland.

One of our federal agencies asked COPS to host this event in the DC area. They responded and are making this training free. But they needed some more help.

While attending our local Virginia Concerns of Police Survivors (VA COPS) Conference call, there was an action item that particularly interested me. COPS National needed one or more sponsors to provide refreshments - coffee, brownies, and cookies for the event attendees. One of our sponsors said he'd be glad to pick up the tab through Eagle Chapter. He also gave us more than they needed and I'll speak about that later.

The course pledges to provide the following benefits:

1. How an agency's response to tragedy directly affects the level of distress of their officers and surviving family members.

2. How an officer can successfully navigate the cumulative stress caused by experiencing critical incidents throughout a law enforcement career and how their agency can assist with this.

3. The warning signs and symptoms of police suicide.

4. How an individual officer's pre-planning may directly affect the public safety officer benefit (PSOB) their family may receive in the event of their line-of-duty death. 

I have signed up. Moreover, should our SF commanders at Dover or Langley find value in this training, Eagle Chapter will pay the hotel costs for the Dover and Langley attendee, if needed.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 6. Click here to register.

Seats are going fast! If you think you will attend, go ahead and register. I'll see you there.

Click here for the agenda.

Thanks to Julie Stecco, Vice President VA COPS and Amy Wendell, VA COPS Chapter Secretary, both survivors, for bringing this opportunity to my attention.

Photo above shows the Eagle Chapter wreath during a previous Police Week on the west wall of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC.

October Line of Duty Deaths

During the month of October, we lost four - Senior Airman Ruiz, Senior Airman Sartain, Airman First Class Chavis, and Airman First Class Schroeder.

This section of our newsletter is dedicated to the SF Airmen who have lost their lives during the month of October that have been added to the National Law Enforcment Officers Memorial in Washington DC.

JACKIE (at left with husband, Michael) - This October edition is a special dedication to Ms. Jackie Chavis, mom of Leebernard, who (along with Michael, his dad) we have hosted at a chapter luncheon but especially to Jackie - a subscriber (and reader) of our chapter newsletter. We remember your son (and other SF Airmen) on the anniversary of their ultimate sacrifice to our country. Where Lee's sacrifice led to other SF Airmen being protected, your support of our placement of his name on the memorial set the stage for improving our program. Thank-you ma'am!

Click on the name of the Airmen below to see more details about the event that led to their lost.

• October 2 - we lost the following SF Airmen on this day on the year noted.

2015 - Senior Airman Kcey E. Ruiz and Senior Airman Nathan C. Sartain while protecting the crew, lost their lives with the crash of the C130J that they were riding crashed shortly after take-off.

• October 14 - we lost the following SF Airmen on this day on the year noted.

1998 - Airman First Class David R. Schroeder, Jr. died in a vehicle accident while on patrol.

2006 - Airman First Class Leebernard Chavis lost his life due to a sniper's ambush fire. At the time, SF Airmen were unprotected when they extended through the turret in the up-armor Humvee. With Lee's death, our Air Force quickly created the "Chavis Turret" to protect Defenders pending the deployment of better equipped vehicles, like the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles that are in use today.

Note: Eagle Chapter helped the SF units to add Airman Chavis, Airman Ruiz, and Airman Sartain to the National LE Officers Memorial in Washington DC. So far, 43% of all SF Airmen on the NLEOM Memorial has been provided through your Eagle Chapter.

Eagle Chapter passes the below information on behalf of the National Law Enforcement Offices Memorial Fund.

Race Fans and Law Enforcement Partners,



Please share the below offer with your department and association members:

Martinsville Speedway and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund have teamed up for the fall NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 Race on Sunday, October 29th, join us for First Responders Day in Martinsville, Virginia.

This offer is available to all law enforcement personnel, first responders, public safety, corrections, and friends and family. Tickets purchased will include a NASCAR branded Challenge Coin (available while supplies last) and donation to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Brent Clark,  Law Enforcement Sporting Events Manager

Click here to register!

Eagle Member, Larry Zilliox, Willing Warrior Retreat, Provides a Suicide Prevention Tool for your use.

Thanks to our member and supporter donors TOO! While I appreciate the corporate and military service organization donations, our chapter members and supporters keep the lights on (so to speak), the post office box open, the web site operating, and this newsletter cost plus other expenses to enable us to serve.

Thanks for your kind consideration.

Our Eagle Proud Warrior Coin - has a gold brass, 3-D finish. The quality of the coin really speaks for itself. Proceeds from donations to acquire this coin help us respond to SF Airmen who are med-evaced to Walter Reed Bethesda Maryland.

The price of the coin is recommended $12.00 donation. Uncle Sam increased postage fees, so we have increased our overall price. See the examples below:

Example: 

1 coin + shipping ($6.50) is $18.50.

2 coins + shipping is $30.50.

3 coins + shipping is $42.50.

4 coins + shipping is $56.50.

Contact Eric, our Eagle Exchange Manager, for more information.

Please send a check or money order to our PO Box. See below or go online and pay via secure PayPal. Click here to go there now. PayPal charges just under 4% fee. An example of an online donor sends $100.00, we pay the $3.38 cents PayPal fee, and the donor gets to expense the excess (less the coin(s) cost) for tax purposes should he/she chooses to do so. Our receipt provides the details. See your tax expert.

Eagle Chapter was honored to have as our guest speaker last month, our AF Security Forces Association, Region 1 Regional Director, Michael Tsung.

Our chapter board meetings are open to all members. Contact Rachel, our Chapter Secretary if you want to attend. She will provide the meeting call in information and previous meeting minutes.

Guest Speaker for our October Board is Ms. Julie Stecco, Vice President VA COPS.

Again, our board meetings are open to all members and significant others. The board meets on it's new meeting day, same time - 8:00 PM Eastern Wednesday October 11, 2023.

Your Eagle Chapter Board of Officers October 2023 - Welcome to Ian Caldwell, our new Vice Chair MD Wing. Ian continues as the Deputy Vice Chair AFDW Wing helping Karl and also as a member of the NLEOM Committee.

Your Eagle Chapter NLEOM Committee Update

September was our most productive month ever! Our thanks to the Commanders, Project Managers and unit personnel for the extraordinary work that is being done to ensure SF Airmen who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country receive the recognition and the families are afforded more closure in knowing that our Air Force has not forgotten their loved one and their loss.

Two new SF nominations for 2023 to the NLEOM should be sent on/before the week ending October 7, 2023:

• SSgt John T. Self - End of Watch (EOW) 5/24/2007 19th SFS Little Rock AFB Arkansas - Commander: Major Matthew Cain and PM Tech Sgt Shane Miller.

• A1C Jerome C. Ware, JR - EOW 7/1/2006 647th SFS Hickam AFB Hawaii - Commander: Lt Col Marco Stanco and PM Tech Sgt Christopher Brennan.

New project approved - the commander, Major Adam Palmer, 902d SFS Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Texas has approved the recognition of A1C Charles T. Lindsey - EOW 11/1/1995. The commander has assigned Master Sgt Andre Bolden as the PM. Thanks to Lt Col (Ret) Brandon Edge for informing me of Airman Lindsey at the 37th Annual Meeting of the AFSFA.

Two new Project Managers assigned for previously approved projects:

• Amn Laurie A. Lucas - EOW 8/19/1991 (First SF female to lose her life while serving on active duty) 36th SFS Andersen AFB Guam. Note this commander created a novel way of assigning a project manager. Since the unit booster club will gain $500.00 donation from Eagle Chapter when the NLEOM approves the recommendation, the booster club picks/finds a PM plus an alternate to make sure it gets done. Outstanding Major Daniel J. Merkh!!! Thanks to SSgt Vincent Leal Project Manager.

• A1C Charles V. Campbell, JR - EOW 10/14/1998 2 SFS Barksdale AFB Louisiana. Thanks to Lt. Col Nathan Aiken, 2d SFS Commander, and Tech Sgt Chandi Alamos, Project Manager.

The committee is investigating two more Defender active-duty deaths that have occurred in September.

Eagle Chapter, Air Force Security Forces Association

P.O. Box 10501,

Burke, VA 22009-0501

(571) 302-0992

Click the Donate button on any page of our website to give.