LAAFB Officer Selected for Fellowship Award, Headed for Europe

Published Feb. 3, 2009
By P. A. Tezuka
Public Affairs Office

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE -- Lt. Col. Troy Brashear from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Squadron was among the 53 American leaders awarded the 2009 American Marshall Memorial Fellowship. According to the recent article by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Colonel Brashear and other awardees will be traveling on a 24-day program to "develop extensive knowledge of political, economic, and social institutions and issues facing the United States and Europe."

Current awardees were selected from 15 states and the District of Columbia and were chosen through competitive nationwide and regional processes. Their backgrounds range from politics, government, media, business and non-profit sectors. They will be visiting five cities across Europe and will be meeting with their local counterparts.

"They were looking for young American leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds under the age of 40 to represent the United States in Europe for this program," said Colonel Brashear. "I believe in the ten years they have sent Americans to Europe, I'm the first Air Force person to go."

The selectees will be divided into three sessions of spring, summer and fall. Colonel Brashear will be leaving early next month with the first group of 18 awardees. Their first stop will be Washington, D. C., where they will receive an orientation about the program and make final details for the trip. The group will then break up in to three smaller groups of six before they fly out to Europe. Colonel Brashear's group will spend a few days each in Brussels, Belgium; Lubeck, Germany; Athens, Greece; Zagreb, Croatia; and finally Bratislava, Slovakia, where the three groups will merge before returning to the United States.

"One of the best parts [of this trip] I think is getting to spend all that time with the other 'fellows' in the program. They're pretty exciting people from a wide variety of backgrounds," said Colonel Brashear. "I think it would be great to learn a lot from them and hopefully share with them what it's like to be in the Air Force and the military."

While in Europe, the group will meet with the local press for personal interviews. Colonel hopes he'll also have the opportunity to do something either military- or space- or science-related while they're there. From this experience, Colonel Brashear hopes to gain a better appreciation of the common issues between the United States and the European countries. Also he hopes for the opportunity to discuss how they can work together on some tough issues facing both continents.

"One of my goals is to give them a better appreciation of where Los Angeles Air Force Base is located and how the Space and Missile Systems Center fits into the Los Angeles and the Southern California community, and the economic impact that SMC has on Los Angeles" said Colonel Brashear.

AMMF program was first started in 1982 when the inaugural group of German MMFs visited the United States in hopes of introducing a new generation of European leaders to American institutions, politics and people. The current program includes members from 22 European countries in addition to the United States. For more information on the AMMF and nomination process, visit www.gmfus.org.

LAAFB Brashear