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Airman reflects on Congressional visit

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Maria Baird
  • 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron
WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Recently, Col. Steven Chapman, commander of the 315th Airlift Wing, completed his annual visit to Capitol Hill to visit with the local South Carolina Congressional delegation.

During the visit, the commander informed members of Congress about the goings on in the 315 AW. The members of Congress who were visited were, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Jim DeMint, Representative Henry Brown, Representative Joe Wilson and a staff member from Representative James Clyburn's office.

This year, like last, Col. Chapman decided to take a junior enlisted member of the wing who recently returned from a deployment. The goal was to give the members of Congress an opportunity to hear real deployment stories from wing members. Staff Sgt. Maria Baird from the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was chosen to participate in the visit.

Staff Sgt. Baird wanted to share her thoughts on the visit:

"It was a great honor to be chosen to go on the Congressional visit with Colonel Chapman, Chief Master Sergeant Futrell and Captain Capps. Seeing Capitol Hill from the inside was impressive. There were countless elevators, escalators, stairwells and halls. We went from building to building without even going outside. In between meetings with the Senators and Congressmen we would get to stop and see a little bit of the immaculate statues and paintings in the building. I was most impressed with the dome of Capitol Hill.

We spoke with several Congressmen and Senators regarding Charleston Air Force Base and upcoming events. I was also able to speak about my deployment and experiences in Afghanistan. I was impressed with how concerned everyone was with our needs as a base and our concerns. Also I gained some familiarity about the voting process, how bills are made and processed. During one of our meetings we actually saw the voting going on, live on television. We actually got to see the room where all this activity was taking place on our way to another office. It was pretty intense.

Overall there are no words to explain how wonderful this opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. was. It's not every day that I get to spend time with Colonel Chapman, Chief Futrell and Captain Capps. I enjoyed every minute of it. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and knowledge with others."

Capt. Wayne Capps contributed to this story.