From our Supervisor

Supervisor Zack Scrivner attends National Security Forum

Maxwell Air Force Base, AL – Supervisor Zack Scrivner received a personal invitation from the Secretary of the Air Force and attended the 63rd annual National Security Forum (NSF) at the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. The purpose of the NSF was to expose influential citizens to senior U.S. and international officers and civilian equivalents in order to engage each other’s ideas and perspectives on Air Force, national, and international security issues.

During the week of May 3-5, approximately 160 civilian leaders in business, education, and government from all over the U.S. met with senior military leaders to explore current and future national security issues facing our nation. The NSF provided a great opportunity for an open and candid exchange of ideas among these guests, senior military and civilian leaders, and Air War College students. Supervisor Scrivner attended lectures, met in seminars for in-depth discussions and participated in social events.

“I was deeply honored to receive an invitation to this prestigious institution in order to learn from, and share ideas with, so many talented and accomplished military leaders from our nation’s Armed Forces, as well as from allied nations around the world,” said Scrivner. “I gained tremendous insight from the lectures and discussions into the challenges and threats facing our nation’s military, and a greater appreciation of the critical role Kern’s two military installations, Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, play in the defense of our great nation.”

The Air War College (AWC) is the senior professional development school in the Air Force officer education system as a part of Air University. The AWC educates selected senior officers to lead at the strategic level in the employment of air and space forces. The AWC curriculum focuses on coalition warfighting and national security issues, with emphasis on the effective employment of aerospace forces in joint and combined combat operations.

Air University is a major component of Air Education and Training Command, and the intellectual and leadership center of the Air Force. Air University’s eight colleges and schools provide the full spectrum of Air Force education, from pre-commissioning to the highest levels of professional military education, including degree granting and professional continuing education for officers, enlisted and civilian personnel throughout their careers.

For more information on Air University and the Air War College, visit http://www.au.af.mil.

The economic health of Kern County

As we all know, Tehachapi is a great place to live, work, and raise a family. But Tehachapi is also a key part of the Kern region’s larger economy, and is playing a large role in the future prosperity of Kern County and California.

From aviation and aerospace to energy, mining and ag tourism, there is a whole lot going on in Tehachapi and elsewhere in Kern County that sometimes gets overlooked in our singular focus on the rising and falling fortunes of oil.

While the price of oil has gone way down and stayed way down for nearly two years – making life tough in the oil patch and straining county services – we have many other reasons for optimism.

This time around, we’re not seeing the huge spikes in unemployment that past oil busts have caused, and we think it’s because a lot of the people thrown out of oilfield jobs are finding work in commercial and industrial construction.

At the Tejon Industrial complex and other sites, Kern County is seeing robust growth in warehousing and logistics because of our pivotal location on major North American transportation routes.

And Tehachapi, with a diverse economy and a lower jobless rate than most other parts of the county, is a very bright spot in our economy.

As oil was booming and busting, wind and solar power enjoyed steady growth as Kern County led the state into the renewable energy era. We now produce almost half of the renewable electricity generated in California, and that is no accident.