The Cobb Chamber is hosting the 66th annual Atlanta Regional Military Affairs Council Military Appreciation Luncheon on Nov. 13, 2018 with Major General Craig La Fave as the keynote speaker. Presented by ARMAC, the luncheon is a celebration of Cobb’s military community, recognizing the service and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. A highlight of the event is the presentation of the 2018 USO Patriot of the Year Award.

Maj. Gen. Craig L. La Fave is Commander, 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia. Twenty-Second Air Force has command supervision of the Reserve’s tactical air mobility operations and other vital mission sets to include distinguished visitor airlift, undergraduate pilot training, flight test operations and a highly mobile civil engineering response force. With more than 15,000 reservists and 105 unit-equipped aircraft, 22nd Air Force contributes daily to the Air Force’s worldwide operational mission. Reserve aircrews within 22nd Air Force fly a variety of missions to include aerial spray, fire suppression, hurricane hunting, troop transport and aeromedical evacuation utilizing the C-130 Hercules.

General La Fave graduated from Lehigh University in 1986 and was a distinguished graduate of Air Force ROTC. He attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona and subsequently served as a C-141B Special Operations Low Level II Evaluator Pilot. Since then, General La Fave has commanded at the squadron and wing levels, served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and completed combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a command pilot with over 13,000 flying hours, including more than 5,000 military flying hours and 320 combat flying hours in numerous overseas contingency operations. In his civilian job, he is an airline captain with a major U.S. carrier.

The 2018 ARMAC luncheon is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Adventure Outdoors, USO, Wells Fargo, Kaiser Permanente, Northside Hospital, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and MetroAtlanta Ambulance Services. Individual tickets are $60 and tables of 10 are $500. Table purchases include nine seats for the individual, plus one seat for a military representative. The 2018 event will be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre at 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.