As the Commander of American Legion Post 539, Hartman ensures that veterans in the post stay connected to active-duty personnel and command teams on Eastern North Carolina U.S. Marine Corps installations. She also keeps local leadership informed about emerging issues and initiatives that impact the military population. Improving K-12 education and opportunities for veteran and military spousal employment are her top priorities. As the youngest American Legion Commander in the United States, she best understands the needs of the young men and women who serve in today’s military. Her work has proven that more modern initiatives will engage younger military and veteran families within their communities.

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A retired Army Colonel, Adamson now works as a program manager for South Sound Military Communities Partnership. He helps address issues between Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) and surrounding local governments, as well as advocates for JBLM, Washington National Guard Headquarters at Camp Murray, service members, their families, and transitioning veterans. Adamson’s most notable impacts are seen through transportation, spousal employment, and advocacy projects. He advanced several new I-5 highway projects to reduce traffic congestion for the many military personnel who commute to base and helped pass the Military Spouse Employment Act that eases licensure barriers. With a military background and years of experience in plans and policy development, Adamson has been able to unite many groups and take a coordinated approach to state and federal lobbying efforts.

During his 25 years with the Abilene Military Affairs Committee (MAC), Bridwell has logged countless hours in support of Dyess Air Force Base with a passion for the missions, Airmen, and their families. As Vice President of Military Affairs, he helped fund quality-of-life projects for Airmen and their families, procured a Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant for the base, advocated for the expansion of the Security Access Control Center, championed the establishment of a new STEM lab for Dyess Elementary School, and continues to cater to over 3,000 Airmen and their families at an annual barbecue hosted by MAC . Bridwell also serves as a civic leader for the Air Force Global Strike Command. Thanks to Bridwell’s efforts and dedication, Dyess Air Force Base knows that the community stands behind them.

After serving over 20 years in the Navy and Air National Guard, Dignan continues to support the Youngstown Air Reserve Station (YARS) through his engagement with organizations and businesses in the community. He currently serves as Principal of AMK Services and has been heavily involved in the Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission as a former Commander of YARS, Deputy Director of Global Force Management and Mobilization at the Pentagon, and President and CEO of the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce. He was instrumental in securing a $6 million OLDCC DCIP grant for Springfield, Ohio and $42 million in MILCON projects for YARS. To recognize military servicemembers, Dignan expanded the Statewide Hometown Heroes program and has provided over 100,000 sporting event tickets to servicemembers and their families. His experience and passion for the military mission have a positive impact on all of those he works with.

Hammond is a director for Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC) which provides electrical service to the Sierra Army Depot. Since 2005, Hammond has been a tireless advocate for the Sierra Army Depot community. He strongly supported infrastructure improvements for the region such as a renewable energy project and the construction of a more reliable and higher capacity power supply. He also founded the Sierra Alliance, a support group developed for the community to work with the base, support economic development, and identify useful infrastructure improvements for the community. As a Lassen County Supervisor, Hammond built coalitions to ensure that county supervisors did not neglect the base.

Laura Mathis was appointed as Executive Director of the Middle Georgia Regional Commission in Macon, Georgia in July 2016, after serving as Deputy Director for five years and Director of Public Administration for four years. Prior to joining the Regional Commission in 2007, Ms. Mathis was the County Manager for Wilkinson County, Georgia. Ms. Mathis currently serves as President of the Georgia Association of Regional Commissions and is a member of the Air Force Materiel Command Civic Leader Program representing Robins Air Force Base. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Georgia and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French from Converse College. In 2007, Ms. Mathis was named one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s Top Forty Under Forty. Ms. Mathis is a 1999 graduate of Leadership Macon and a 2002 graduate of Leadership Georgia. She and her husband, Kyle, live in Perry, GA.

Devoting over 50 years of her life to Fort Knox, Proffitt has forged strong partnerships with surrounding communities and positively impacted the lives of thousands of soldiers and their families. She and her late husband Ronnie, an Air Force veteran, hosted community partnership dinners on their farm to help foster positive relationships between the post and surrounding communities. She also spearheaded an adopt-a-platoon program for deployed soldiers. Although she retired from her long-time role as the community/guest relations coordinator for the local healthcare system in 2018, Proffitt is still a familiar and well-loved figure at all Fort Knox events and ceremonies. As a show of hospitality and friendship, she is known for making homemade pecan pies for the incoming and outgoing commanders and officers.

As the President and CEO of Fighter Country Foundation, Sites supports and advocates for the Airmen, families, and mission of Luke Air Force Base by raising community support for base programs and activities. His leadership contributed to Luke Air Force Base being selected as the Air Force’s new F-35 Lightning II training center in 2012 and also prevented the base from succumbing to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Raising over $14 million for the base, Sites has led morale-boosting infrastructure projects including renovations for the fire station, child development center, kitchens, F-35 Squadron Heritage Rooms, and more. He also organizes school supplies donations and developed the Women’s Leadership Development Series to benefit female Airmen. Most recently, Sites has focused his attention on providing health, well-being, and resilience initiatives for Luke Airmen and their families.

Dr. Greene and her late husband, Parker Greene, formed The Moody Support Group, a civilian network with the sole purpose of honoring our servicemen and women in any capacity possible. Dr. Greene has been a leader in Moody Support for over 40 years. Additionally, Dr. Greene is involved in a multitude of initiatives on and around Moody Air Force Base, including leading Moody Support Group, working with the Governor on his defense initiative, authoring daily updates for local civic leaders, authoring a monthly Volunteer Volume that captures all the support efforts for Moody AFB and working with local schools and universities to support the education of our military and their families.

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A retired Army officer, Mueller has a keen interest in, and passion for, our military, and has committed the majority of his adult life to serving our nation. Mayor Mueller has advocated for service members, their families and veterans as a member of the Governor’s appointed Military Affairs Commission for several years. He has also participated in and supported Sierra Vista’s United Veteran’s Council and led environmental efforts in the Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca area.

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Serving as the Chairperson of the Alfred B. Hilton Memorial Fund, Beulah provides education on the United States Colored Troops (USCT) in the Civil War and the achievements of Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton. Through Beulah’s leadership, the foundation was able to accomplish several actions to honor and remember Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton and the USCT.

Through running the Unaccompanied/Unaccounted for/Unclaimed Veterans Program, David pays tribute to service members by laying them to rest with honors. He ensures standard internment procedures with military honors for veterans with no known next of kin or those whose next of kin are unable to attend. David and his team hold quarterly burial services, open to the public, to honor the service of these veterans.

As co-chairman of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Committee, Decker has been a strong advocate for military members and their families. As part of the committee, he has helped retain the Ohio National Guard’s 180th Fighter Wing during the 2005 BRAC, create one of the first veteran courts in Ohio and contributed to the Ohio Federal Military Jobs Commission.

During his tenure as Chairman of the Fort Leonard Wood region’s Sustainable Ozarks Partnership, Mayor Lauritson’s leadership positively impacted servicemembers, military families and veterans through multiple partnership initiatives that support military family quality of life, infrastructure resiliency, regional transportation access, regional healthcare; quality of public education; military spouse and transitioning servicemember employment initiatives and Fort Leonard Wood’s mission success.

As commander for Vandenberg Space Force Base’s (VSFB) Space Launch Delta 30 and Western Launch and Test Range, Colonel Long has been committed to continuous improvement of the base’s relationship with the City of Lompoc, a city of nearly 44,000 that neighbors VSFB. Col. Long established the VSFB Community Partnership Program to strengthen the base’s relationship with the city and created the Integrated Resilience Center for sexual assault and domestic violence victims in the Vandenberg community.

Dr. Rowe has worked for a number of years to help defense communities become more sustainable, resilient, and mission ready. He has led and supported a multitude of initiatives and programs to do so, including leading Booz Allen’s BRAC campaign from 2005-2011, volunteer work with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, guiding Northern Virginia’s Cyber Training & Roadmap program and much more.

A retired Air Force Colonel, Zeis now serves as the senior advisor for aerospace and defense, a role where he works to protect Ohio’s military and aerospace installations. He has been an advocate for service members at the federal, state and local level and is an active member in defense communities throughout Ohio.

When he was a student in ROTC, Jim Bradshaw had a plan to join the Army. But that dream got sidelined when his father died while Jim was in college, and Jim was called on to run the family business, a construction and construction materials company that had been in the family since it was founded in 1910.

As he helped grow the business in Grand Forks, North Dakota, he got word that two friends were killed in Vietnam, which he says was hard to deal with but inspired him to take up a bigger cause.

“Their names were Gary and Mel,” Bradshaw remembers. “I know what they’d have told me – it wouldn’t have been really good English, either – it would be to get going and do something, don’t sit there like a witness.”

Bradshaw became active supporting service members at Grand Forks Air Force Base, which he has done now for nearly 60 years. He served as an honorary wing commander, honorary squadron commander and honorary chief master sergeant. The base named him one of just a few Community Ambassadors.

“The main focus was on our airmen and our military. What can we do for them? What should the community be aware of? And if there were problems that came up, we wanted to be a part of the solution,” he says of the ambassador program. “It was wonderful. I was just blessed to be a part of that.”

Bradshaw has also served on the Grand Forks Region Base Retention and Investment Committee and represented Grand Forks AFB on the Air Mobility Command Civic Leadership Board.

“I’d be lying if I said the base didn’t have an economic impact. But to me, the most impact it’s ever had on this community is a social impact,” he says. “We’ve gotten to meet great people who have been all over the world on very special missions. They do special things for us. We’re mighty proud of them.”

When service members with children pick their next duty station, “education is really the number one thing in terms of coming to Fort Leonard Wood,” says Dr. Brian Henry, superintendent of the Waynesville RVI School District in Missouri.

“We need to offer attractive facilities, top-notch education, and advanced coursework where soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines realize you can come to Mid Missouri and take any AP course that you could take in Virginia. To do all that, we just have to work together.”

Henry has made working together with the community and the installation a hallmark of his eight years with the district. He spent three of those years as chair of the Sustainable Ozarks Partnership, the support organization for Fort Leonard Wood.

The school district, with its Tiger mascot, has 11 schools, and 75% of its students are military-connected.

Early into his tenure, Henry teamed up with the community on a tough proposition: convincing the community to pass a 20-cent tax levy increase, the first in about 60 years. The increase was needed to maintain the district’s eligibility for B-2 Heavily Impacted Aid from the Department of Defense Education Activity.

“I knew it was going to be a heavy lift,” Henry says. “I knew it was going to take a great deal of communication. I knew that it was going to take quite a bit of partnership with the community.”

The Sustainable Ozarks Partnership, the business community and local elected leaders came together to educate the public on the investment’s return. Voters approved the increase, which Henry says “has been vital for our community the last several years.”

Henry also successfully competed for a Defense Community Infrastructure Project grant that is helping remodel a local arts center to expand its pre-school offerings, reducing a wait list for military and civilian families.

Henry knows that when he retires in July, the partnership will continue, because it is ingrained in the relationship.

“It’s a kinship we have with the installation and the community, and our schools are part of it.”

Or, as the district’s tagline puts it, the area’s schools are “Where the Orange and Black Unite with the Red, White and Blue.”

Frank Minosky spent about half of his 25-year Army career as a first sergeant or command sergeant major and regularly discharged soldiers for drug and alcohol use.

“I bounced a lot of soldiers out of the military, because I was of the opinion at that point that good soldiers don’t do drugs,” Minosky says. “I was of that opinion that good soldiers don’t do alcohol, drink and drive.”

After he retired, he became active in the community of Killeen, Texas, home to Fort Hood, and worked at a Workforce Solutions of Central Texas center helping transitioning soldiers find jobs. Working directly with them made Minosky think again about the soldiers who had struggled.

“As I go back and look now that I’m out, I wonder who took care of those people,” Minosky says. “I booted them knowing they were on drugs. Who cleaned them up? I booted them knowing they had an alcohol problem. Who cleaned them up?”

He became involved with the Fort Hood Veterans Endeavor for Treatment Support (VETS) Court. The first of its kind on an installation, VETS Court helps veterans with service-connected mental health or substance abuse struggles clear their judicial records by seeking treatment and working with a local veteran mentor. Minosky is the VETS Court mentor coordinator.

“I tear up whenever we go up and the judge tears up somebody’s DWI,” he says. “It is no longer in their records, because now they’re clean.”

Minosky recalls how meth nearly derailed the dreams of an ambitious, well-respected Army medic who wanted to become a physician assistant. Fortunately, the VETS Court gave him a second chance.

“When he graduated the course, the future was wide open for him again, which really emotionally got to me, and I said, ‘Yep, this is why I’m here. This is what I should have been doing a long time ago,’” Minosky says.

Minosky retired from his day job at Workforce Solutions last year but still looks for ways to help soldiers realize they have a future.

“I was an infantry guy, rucksack on my back, and I retired as a center administrator for Workforce Solutions of Central Texas. Who’d’ve thunk it? I never dreamed that in a million years,” he says. “But you give that hope and that dream to other soldiers coming out.”

After ADC launched its “One Military, One Community” initiative in 2020, including a national survey to gauge the state of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in military communities, the North Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) reviewed responses within its region and conducted multiple large-group and small-group discussion and listening sessions to understand the experience of military members and their families. The area is home to Fort Belvoir, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Marine Corps Base Quantico and other DOD facilities, including, of course, the Pentagon.

“I think it was a little shocking to most of our elected officials and I think to some of the base commanders,” says Peggy Tadej. “I think we all thought that we were very diverse and inclusive. And the results came back, “No, we’re not. We have a ways to go, and that is why we developed the Northern Virginia Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Roadmap, a framework for coordinating our actions in the region to address DEI findings.”

Tadej manages day-to-day military-community relations for NVRC, including forging military-community partnerships through intergovernmental service agreements, memoranda of understanding, regional resilience planning grants, transit agreements and many other venues to support the missions on installations.

Following the region’s activities in support of ADC’s One Military, One Community initiative, the subject of DEI became a regular focus of bi-monthly meetings of the Community, Military & Federal Facility Partnership of Northern Virginia, which Tadej directs.

Victor Angry, a member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, co-leads the Community, Military, and Federal Facility Partnership of Northern Virginia and has been instrumental in moving these conversations on DEI forward. Many other leaders in the area didn’t know that Angry, a Black Army veteran, had experienced racism growing up in the South.

“His story is really amazing,” Tadej says. “He rose to the highest level of the Army National Guard while experiencing challenges along the way. I think that was a really good eye-opener, and other elected officials were listening and learning.”

Issues identified in the survey data and through listening sessions are captured in the region’s DEI roadmap and address items such as education, health care, public safety, workforce, and housing.

There are more than 45,000 service members at Jacksonville, North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station. When Kimberly Williams became the city’s HR chief 10 years ago, she sought to tap into exiting service members for job placement.

“I thought I would use my knowledge, skills and abilities from a lifelong career in human resources to help our transitioning service members, our Guard and reserve members, our veterans and their military spouses secure meaningful employment – not just a job but meaningful employment,” Williams says.

Then she started to look bigger.

Statewide, more than 25,000 service members leave the military each year looking for their next career and home. Williams wanted them to stay in North Carolina, so she worked with the North Carolina Military Affairs Commission to establish a public-private partnership called North Carolina for Military Employment (NC4ME), which is now in its seventh year as a non-profit initiative reporting regularly to the governor’s office.

NC4ME rethinks traditional job search assistance with more of a matchmaking approach, Williams says, citing a low success rate for job seekers attending large, open job fairs.

“You basically get a frisbee and some candy, and you give your resume out, you probably don’t get a call back, and those events have about a 2% success rate,” she says. “We have hiring events. We get 30 or 40 companies, and we identify the jobs that they’re looking to fill. We look at the knowledge, skills and abilities to drive that job. Then we match them to our 200 to 300 veterans looking for jobs, and we set up interviews.”

NC4ME also educates employers on the value veterans can bring to their workplaces, including the wide range of skills that exists in the military.

“I always tell my employers, ‘Look, you trust them with your country, you can certainly trust them with your company,’” Williams says.