Welcome
The Camden Partnership is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization which promotes community support for Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay (NSBKB) and the military missions in Camden County, Georgia. The Partnership is funded by contributions from public and private sector Partners who are committed to the continued viability and growth of NSBKB as a key contributor to our nation’s strategic defense posture and a driver of quality growth in Camden County, Georgia.
The Partnership sponsors community programs and events, explains the economic impact of NSBKB on Camden County, and invites everyone who has a stake in the future of Camden County and of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay to join us and add their voices to achieving the mission of The Camden Partnership.
2012 Washington Fly-In
The schedule for the Chamber's annual Washington Fly-In is always packed and this year was no exception. Chris Daniel did a beautiful job of setting up not only the right people but an organized and quality schedule.
We met with Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Johnny Isakson, and Congressman Jack Kingston and their staffs. I was able to share our concern for the future and affordability of the follow on for the SSBN the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP); for the Trident II D5 missile life extension program; for the exciting possibility of a new platform that will, hopefully replace the SSGNs, the Virginia Payload Module Concept (VPM); and the capacity that Kings Bay has for mission growth.
Howard Sepp, Administrator, Southeast Georgia Health Systems, Camden Campus briefed on the issue of Local Health Services for Veterans and Michael Wooten with the Camden County Board of Education briefed on Sequestration's Impact on Education in Camden County. Chris Daniel wrapped it up and presented a model of a submarine to each congressional member.
RADM Barry Bruner is now the head of the Submarine Warfare Division and it was great seeing him and Beth. They gave a nice break to the group who worked SAS with a visit to their home with his senior staff.
At the Pentagon and the Navy Yard, we had meetings with leadership in the Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Navy as well as officials from the Secretary of the Navy's office. Military officials included:
- VADM Bill French. Commander, Navy Installations Command
- RADM Terry Benedict, Director for Strategic Systems Programs
- RADM Dave Johnson, Program Executive Officer for Submarines
- Mr. Donald R. Schregardus, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Environment
- Captain Robert McLean, Deputy Director, Shore Readiness Division OPNAV
- Mr. John P Quinn, Director, Energy and Environment Readiness Division OPNAV
- Rear Admiral Karl Schultz, Director Governmental and Public Affairs for the United States Coast Guard
Joining us for dinner was the chief of staff for Senator Saxby Chambliss, Charlie Harmon, and Adam Sullivan, Chief of Staff for Congressman Jack Kingston, RADM Karl Schultz, and many congressional staffers with expertise in health, education, military and other issues.
We also discussed our desire for a Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) and the community's support of Kings Bay and their environmental programs. We reminded them that Kings Bay was a favored station for many submariners and that is shown by the fact that Kings Bay has the highest retention rate of any submarine base. The airport was not briefed by our group but was brought up by each of the military leaders we met with. I found that Compatible Development has replaced the word encroachment in the military jargon and the award for JLUS will allow our community to be smart with our development.
We had several "aha" moments during the six days and TEAM CAMDEN will be following up on each of them.
Our special thanks to Cmdr Axel Spens with Undersea Warfare Division, US Navy and LTCOL Michael Lake, USAF and legislative fellow for Congressman Jack Kingston for their help in arranging our meetings.
Read the Tribune & Georgian article about the Fly-In here.
Read all of the Issue Papers from the 2012 Washington Fly-In in the Library.
Sheila M. McNeill
President
Navy League's SEA AIR SPACE EXPO
The State of Georgia Department of Economic Development and representatives from TEAM CAMDEN recently exhibited at the Navy League's SEA AIR SPACE Expo held at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, right outside of DC.
The SEA AIR SPACE EXPO is the largest maritime expo in the world and hosts all of the Nation's sea services – the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines as well as over150 defense contractors. More than 12,000 people attended the event over a three day period.
This year, SEA AIR SPACE was held on April 16-18. The State of Georgia and Team Camden jointly manned a booth at the expo to promote opportunities for defense missions and contractor business expansions in Georgia and Camden County. That means jobs for Camden! Camden County is home to the only Navy base in Georgia - the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. This base is host to several tenant commands and missions for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Team Camden included representatives from various community organizations, including the Camden County Joint Development Authority ("JDA"), The Camden Partnership, the Camden County Chamber of Commerce, the local council of the Navy League, and the cities of Kingsland, St. Marys, and Woodbine.
Hosts at the booth were: Christine Daniel, Joel Hanner, Chuck Hunsaker, AJ Jones, Matt Kircher, David Keating, Marty Klumpp, Sheila McNeill, Shannon Nettles, Keith Post and Royal Weaver.
Chuck Husaker with the Georgia Department of Economic Development who is the point man for increasing the footprint of military contractors at our Georgia military installations was with us the entire time. We owe a debt of gratitude to our State for co-sponsoring this exhibit. In addition, VT Group, and especially Dave Daquino and Walt Yourstone, were great co-tenants and neighbors at the event. This was a wonderful opportunity for TEAM CAMDEN to shine and I believe we did. Team Camden made an impact!"
Our message to the sea services, contractors, and expo attendees was clear - you can improve your bottom line and quality of life in Camden County, Georgia. We exhibited at the expo to let the sea services know we value their presence and mission at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, that we have capacity and desire to support additional missions at the base, and that we are recruiting new business and industry to enjoy close proximity to the base and other nearby bases located in Georgia and Florida."
There were dozens of speakers during the three days including remarks from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., and Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General James F. Amos. Rear Admiral Barry Bruner, former Group 10 Commander at Kings Bay was also a featured speaker. Former Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates was presented the Navy Leagues' Admiral Nimitz Award at the Tuesday night black tie event.
This was an amazing opportunity for Team Camden. Exhibiting at Sea Air Space was a proactive approach to furthering economic development and providing true southern hospitality. We are poised for growth, have a qualified workforce, abundant resources, great quality of life, and capacity for more missions and development. The comments we received back from those we visited or those visiting our booth were equally impressive They were impressed that an entire community could proactively come together and promote the assets and opportunities available to further economic development.
Some of the notable visitors to the booth included officials from Electric Boat, Northrop Grumman, L3, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, as well as Admiral Jon Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Bob Papp, Commandant of the Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Karl Shultz, Director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the Coast Guard, and Rear Admiral Barry Bruner, Director of Undersea Warfare Division (N97), former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (who was receiving an award from the Navy League), Adam Sullivan, Chief of Staff for Congressman Jack Kingston, many other flag and general officers, as well as acquisition, intelligence, budget, legislative affairs, and program management officers.
Like all expos, everyone loves to collect something from each booth and SAS 2012 was no different. Our TEAM CAMDEN booth was the best low tech booth in the exhibit hall, and each of our promotional items represented a Georgia based company. Those items included: Peach Cookies from Savannah Georgia Peanuts, TasteKakes, chocolate submarines, stress ball submarines with TEAM CAMDEN printed on them, coffee mugs, luggage tags, pens etc. A special thank you to Flowers Baking Company, Byrd Cookie Company, Marty Klumpp and her sisters for the delicious and beautifully packaged chocolate submarines, Georgia Welcome Center and Navy Federal for graciously donating their items for our use. This entire project was a huge TEAM effort.
Read the Tribune & Georgian article about the 2012 Navy League Sea Air Space Expo here.
Sheila M. McNeill
President
Click here for the SEA AIR SPACE EXPO program.
Click here for a list of speakers at the 2012 SEA AIR SPACE EXPO.
Click here for more info on SAS.
The SEA AIR SPACE EXPO is the largest maritime expo in the world and hosts all of the Nation's sea services – the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines as well as over150 defense contractors. More than 12,000 people attended the event over a three day period.
This year, SEA AIR SPACE was held on April 16-18. The State of Georgia and Team Camden jointly manned a booth at the expo to promote opportunities for defense missions and contractor business expansions in Georgia and Camden County. That means jobs for Camden! Camden County is home to the only Navy base in Georgia - the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. This base is host to several tenant commands and missions for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Team Camden included representatives from various community organizations, including the Camden County Joint Development Authority ("JDA"), The Camden Partnership, the Camden County Chamber of Commerce, the local council of the Navy League, and the cities of Kingsland, St. Marys, and Woodbine.
Hosts at the booth were: Christine Daniel, Joel Hanner, Chuck Hunsaker, AJ Jones, Matt Kircher, David Keating, Marty Klumpp, Sheila McNeill, Shannon Nettles, Keith Post and Royal Weaver.
Chuck Husaker with the Georgia Department of Economic Development who is the point man for increasing the footprint of military contractors at our Georgia military installations was with us the entire time. We owe a debt of gratitude to our State for co-sponsoring this exhibit. In addition, VT Group, and especially Dave Daquino and Walt Yourstone, were great co-tenants and neighbors at the event. This was a wonderful opportunity for TEAM CAMDEN to shine and I believe we did. Team Camden made an impact!"
Our message to the sea services, contractors, and expo attendees was clear - you can improve your bottom line and quality of life in Camden County, Georgia. We exhibited at the expo to let the sea services know we value their presence and mission at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, that we have capacity and desire to support additional missions at the base, and that we are recruiting new business and industry to enjoy close proximity to the base and other nearby bases located in Georgia and Florida."
There were dozens of speakers during the three days including remarks from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., and Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General James F. Amos. Rear Admiral Barry Bruner, former Group 10 Commander at Kings Bay was also a featured speaker. Former Secretary of Defense, Bob Gates was presented the Navy Leagues' Admiral Nimitz Award at the Tuesday night black tie event.
This was an amazing opportunity for Team Camden. Exhibiting at Sea Air Space was a proactive approach to furthering economic development and providing true southern hospitality. We are poised for growth, have a qualified workforce, abundant resources, great quality of life, and capacity for more missions and development. The comments we received back from those we visited or those visiting our booth were equally impressive They were impressed that an entire community could proactively come together and promote the assets and opportunities available to further economic development.
Some of the notable visitors to the booth included officials from Electric Boat, Northrop Grumman, L3, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, as well as Admiral Jon Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Bob Papp, Commandant of the Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Karl Shultz, Director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the Coast Guard, and Rear Admiral Barry Bruner, Director of Undersea Warfare Division (N97), former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (who was receiving an award from the Navy League), Adam Sullivan, Chief of Staff for Congressman Jack Kingston, many other flag and general officers, as well as acquisition, intelligence, budget, legislative affairs, and program management officers.
Like all expos, everyone loves to collect something from each booth and SAS 2012 was no different. Our TEAM CAMDEN booth was the best low tech booth in the exhibit hall, and each of our promotional items represented a Georgia based company. Those items included: Peach Cookies from Savannah Georgia Peanuts, TasteKakes, chocolate submarines, stress ball submarines with TEAM CAMDEN printed on them, coffee mugs, luggage tags, pens etc. A special thank you to Flowers Baking Company, Byrd Cookie Company, Marty Klumpp and her sisters for the delicious and beautifully packaged chocolate submarines, Georgia Welcome Center and Navy Federal for graciously donating their items for our use. This entire project was a huge TEAM effort.
Read the Tribune & Georgian article about the 2012 Navy League Sea Air Space Expo here.
Sheila M. McNeill
President
Click here for the SEA AIR SPACE EXPO program.
Click here for a list of speakers at the 2012 SEA AIR SPACE EXPO.
Click here for more info on SAS.