JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – About 15 members of the Defense Orientation Conference Association visited Joint Base Lewis McChord on June 11 and 12, touring and learning more about the base.
DOCA, a non-profit, non-partisan organization of American citizens whose mission is to be educated in the ongoing issues of national defense and national security facing the United States, has five or six conferences per year. JBLM is the group’s third trip this year, said Bruce Burda, DOCA’s executive vice president and a retired Air Force brigadier general.
When visiting bases, “we tend to ask for the opportunity to meet some of the leadership” and receive mission briefings to better understand the installations and what their major units are doing, Burda said.
JBLM “gives us the opportunity to coordinate fairly easily with two service components that are co-located” and see a lot over a couple of days, he said.
Burda was specifically interested in learning more about I Corps’ mission, along with C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and airlift operations.
DOCA donated $4,000 to the Team McChord First Sergeant Council and $4,000 to the Community Club of Lewis-McChord.
“We greatly appreciated the hospitality and the leadership involvement in our visits to both the Lewis and McChord sides of the base. We learned a lot about the missions and getting a greater appreciation for what they’re contributing to our national security. It was a great opportunity to meet so many young military members who are serving, and it always rekindles our confidence that our national defense is in good hands.”
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