Community business leaders banded together Monday to form a public support unit to work with the 139th Airlift Wing.

“There’s nobody that does anything better than our military,” said Jim Hausman, president of Hausman Metal Works & Roofing.

Emil Sechter, Commerce Bank president, said the size of the Wing’s budget and the economic impact was amazing.

The total payroll last year at Rosecrans was $51 million and federal sources estimate the economic impact to be $76 million, said Col. Steve Cotter, Missouri Air National Guard chief of staff.

“That’s an eye-opener,” said Chris Herner, president of Herner Construction.

Mr. Herner’s company built the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center for the 139th and the T-hangars for the city portion of the airport. He said he was familiar with the base, but not the big picture.

The 139th and its impact on the community is the best-kept secret in town, said Jeff Ellison, from Ellison-Auxier Architects.

A side benefit to having the Air Guard is that the military is the city’s No. 1 user of hotel rooms.

Officers with the 139th have identified their three top concerns.

No. 1 is the repair of the levees followed closely by the repair of the taxiways, Mr. Cotter said. And the third priority is obtaining sufficient funds for military construction to ensure a timely completion of the new base, he said.

Mr. Hausman put together a list of business leaders and asked the Missouri Air National Guard to provide them with Monday’s detailed introduction. Eighteen local businessmen and women came Monday morning for the briefing and a C-130 flight. The business leaders plan to meet four more times this year in an effort to get their group up and running as a civilian support group seeking political action, something military officers can’t do.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.