Community council bridges gap between the Golden Triangle and Air Force Base
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE (WCBI) – Moving to a new town is never easy, but it’s something that’s built into Air Force life.
In Columbus and Lowndes County, area residents are working with Columbus Air Force Base to make that transition smoother.
The Base Community Council had its first meeting of 2026 on Wednesday, January 21, at the base.
BCC President Kevin Stafford said their purpose is to support the airmen and their families.
“Live in our community, go to our schools, eat at our restaurants, so we want them to assimilate into our community as best as possible. So, we kind of serve as a bench strength to kind of help them learn about our community, who we are,” said Stafford.
And while airmen are learning about the Golden Triangle, the community is learning about the Air Force base.
Colonel James Blech, the commander of 14th Flying Training Wing, spoke about the base’s accomplishments from 2025 and its future goals.
“The community members are also an essential partner in training these pilots. They host our families and students off the base. We partner with them in multiple different ways, so it’s important to me and important to the community leaders to be able to come out and share experiences and also share what’s going on… updates and what the future holds,” said Blech.
Student pilots train at the base for six months to a year.
Blech said they’ve updated their training methods to help improve the performance of the airmen.
“We’re starting to look at the vision of what our base can look like not only in the future, but a decade from now… how do we combine our human performance, our learning laboratories and our quality of life, all together to create a learning ecosystem for our students,” said Blech.
342 pilots, winged aviators, graduated from the base last year.
The BCC also helps find ways to bring food service to the base and find enough housing for the airmen.
“It’s a very rewarding organization, but the biggest thing is, these airmen give up so much…for us, for their families as well, give up so much for us, our freedoms, and this is just one way we can say how can we be there to help support you”
And having the Base is rewarding for Columbus and Lowndes County.
The installation has a $531 million impact yearly on the community through jobs and annual expenditures.
The Base Community Council meets quarterly.
There are around 100 members of different professions on the council.
