TUCSON, Ariz. — Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson has agreed to partner with local governments and agencies of projects to benefit both the base and community, including projects with the University of Arizona.
"This is really important, because it's the integration of the partnership of the community and the military installation," said 355th Fighter Wing commander Col. James Meger on Monday. He spoke after a ceremony formalizing the partnerships, during which Meger and local officials signed six memorandums or agreement covering four initiatives.
"Every dollar that I'm given, I need to be incredibly effective (at spending), so this gets right to optimizing resources, and it's not just a money integration, it's intellectual capital," added Meger.
The group also created a steering committed to guide future collaborations under the Air Force Community Partnership program.
The initiatives include establishing an educational partnership to link UA and Pima College students with on-base internships, launching language-development events to have linguists at the base mentor foreign-language students at UA and to creating an emergency-response communication partnership.
These sorts of local partnerships can help ensure a base stays open at a time when Pentagon officials are considering closing bases to save money.
"It's really about growing our relationships and protecting the base," said Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson. "If D-M goes away, a good piece of our economy goes away."
And Meger, the base commander, said it could help make his airmen more effective.
"When I look at the University of Arizona, when I look at Pima Community College and bringing that intellectual capital in and to continue to grow and expand my airmen's pool and expand the students' pool as well and grow together," he said.
Earlier this year, the base and community leaders came up with a list of about 40 possible community partnerships, but some were put on hold for either security concerns or financial reasons.
