LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --
Laughlin Airmen and the local community have teamed up to
give one of the Air Force’s freshwater marinas a facelift this summer
and fall.
Laughlin’s South Winds marina, located on the shores of Lake
Amistad, with 64,900
acres of water for recreational use, is one of the high points for Airmen
assigned here. However, it fell into
disrepair after a long drought, so Laughlin, several federal agencies and the City
of Del Rio are working together to once again make it the Air Force’s premier
marina.
Every time Laughlin Airmen ate a breakfast taco, or anything
else from a 47th Force Support Squadron facility, they helped boost
the Non-Appropriated Funds available to improve Laughlin facilities. The NAF
Council voted to spend $51,000 from this fund on the marina project.
“These are Airman’s dollars at work that are being
re-invested to make Laughlin a better place to live, work and play,” said Tara
Morton, 47th Force Support Squadron deputy director.
She added that the Air Force Services Agency is supporting
the Laughlin initiative as well by funding $23,700 to reconnect fuel capability
to the dock.
“The National Park
Service was a big asset and worked with us closely ensuring we met all the
appropriate guidelines, and the Border Patrol provided a spill kit, enabling us
to meet the NPS requirements and get us closer to having this spectacular
facelift completed,” Powell said.
Thanks to the public-private partnership initiative, helping
governments and the private sector find ways they could better work together,
the City of Del Rio also gave the project a boost.
A potential deal stopper was finding an electrician able to
reconnect the different aspects of the project, primarily the dock and
electrical connections. The city stepped up and provided an electrician to work
the problem out with the FSS.
The motivation was simple, according to the Del Rio City
Manager: “Positive interaction between Del Rio, Laughlin and other federal
entities is vital to bringing out the best in all entities,” said Henry
Arredondo. “It’s Del Rio’s goal to always work together with all agencies when
possible to make our city better!”
Laughlin’s wing commander values the ties between all the
local agencies and understands why they are linking arms on this project.
“When Del Rio hurts, Laughlin hurts, and when Del Rio
excels, Laughlin is better,” said Col. Thomas Shank, 47th Flying Training Wing
commander. “This is just one more example of all of these agencies working
together to make this a great place for all of us to live.”
The end result will be something of which Del Rio and
Laughlin can be proud.
“We just want to make this a premier recreation stop for our
Airmen to be able to go to and have fun,” said Susan Powell, Sustainment
Services Flight chief.