‘FORTUNATE’ to SERVE
For Ron Sites, supporting Luke is a rewarding job
BY ALLISON BROWN Sound of Freedom Staff Writer
F
ighter Country Foundation President and Executive Director Ron Sites didn’t start out in the military. In fact, he was never really involved at all until he started volunteering at Luke Air Force Base around 2007. Once he started, though, Sites fell in love with the community and has been dedicated to helping airmen and their families. “We are all incredibly fortunate to be a part of this mission, and we’re continuously humbled and honored to get to do this, because it allows us to stay close to a culture that not a lot of people get to be close to,” Sites says. According to Sites, he has been on several career paths. From the golf industry to financial services, Sites was unknowingly making moves to bring him to Luke Air Force Base. “I ended up working for Southwest Valley Family YMCA, to eventually be the executive director of that flagship branch,” Sites explains. “While I was at that branch, we established a military outreach program, which included the 56th Fighter Wing. That’s when I got introduced to Luke Air Force Base and the honorary commander program. Once I got involved, the Kool-Aid was stuck in my veins. I got hired by Fighter Country Foundation, and the rest is history. We’ve been doing this for 11 years in September.” Sites became the president and executive director of the foundation in 2010. Ironically, he had previously passed up the chance to join the Air Force about 18 years prior. He says his older sister was in the Air Force and retired as a command chief, but, until joining the Fighter Country Foundation, he never really connected with her in that area. The Fighter Country Foundation is a nonprofit organization that aims to support the men, women, families and mission of Luke Air Force Base. It fulfills that mission through programs and services that are geared toward morale and well-being, culture, tradition and mission sustainability. “While there are a lot of other military support organizations across the country, there are none that do what we do and at the capacity that we do it,” Sites says about the foundation. “We’re very unique.” The foundation’s first program was established 13 years ago and has since grown to offer almost 20 programs. Sites says their programs have successful outcomes, which in turn garners more support for the organization. It got so much support, in fact, that it stepped up in a way few other organizations can. “We had to establish new ways to invest those resources to support the base. So, we started renovating facilities on an active-duty military installation. That’s what doesn’t really take place anywhere else across the country at the level we’re doing it,” Sites says. “We renovated the fire station and the flight kitchen. We added a security forces guard mount room. So,
14
Sound of Freedom | MARCH/APRIL 2022
Fighter Country Foundation President and Executive Director Ron Sites says his job supporting the men, women and families at Luke Air Force Base is rewarding. (Photo courtesy of Ron Sites)
what started as programs and services geared toward the military members and families has grown to also include renovating facilities on the base.” He adds the organization has grown to do a lot more than just “put up our pompoms and cheer for Luke Air Force Base” and has taken action to do more to support the military members and their families. That’s another way the Fighter Country Foundation is different from some other military support programs — Sites says they are there for the family members just as much as the airmen. Several of the programs are specifically for the kids or spouses on base. SEE RON SITES PAGE 16 Out of the nearly 20 programs,
