It seems only natural that veterans who slogged ashore inNormandy or Iwo Jima or flew over Berlin and Tokyo on bombing raidsshould have a chance to see the World War II memorial inWashington, D.C.

It also seems fitting that Pensacola, Fla.-based Pen Air FederalCredit Union, with its roots serving the military, is helping themget there.

The credit union has become a platinum sponsor of the EmeraldCoast Honor Flight, which flies veterans to Washington to visit thememorials that pay tribute to their service. Last fall, 102veterans from northwest Florida boarded the fifth such charterflight from Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. Though theirescorts paid to travel, the veterans were able to fly at nocost.

“It was a great experience,” Pen Air President/CEO Ron Fieldssaid. “Once we found out about this initiative, which was startedin Florida by our Congressman Jeff Miller (R), we jumped on boardand wanted to be part of it.”

Field said his credit union has sponsored three golf tournamentsto raise money for the Honor Flight. In April 2009, he paid his ownway and went through two days of training to become a guardian forthree veterans. Pen Air sponsored a flight last October, and Fieldhopes to raise enough money to do it again this fall.

Pen Air has a good reason for getting involved with the HonorFlight-it was established in 1936 to serve military and CivilService employees assigned to bases in the Pensacola area. Today,Fields said, it's SEG-based, with 16 branches across northwestFlorida and southeast Alabama and an economically diversemembership that ranges from minimum wage earners to highly paidprofessionals.

Pen Air has earned a Bauer five-star rating for 76 quarters, andlast year reached $1 billion in assets. But despite theseaccomplishments, fallout from corporate credit union problems hasbeen a challenge. The credit union has tried to explain to membersthat it is simply a member of the corporate system, but when peoplehear the word “failure,” it can diminish their trust.

The solution seems to be continuing to stress that credit unionmembers haven't lost a penny in insured funds, and that creditunions themselves-not taxpayers-refunded the corporates.

In spite of the obstacles, Fields remains upbeat.

“We will look back on this year and say, 'Pen Air wasfinancially strong before the deep recession and weathered thestorm,'” he said.

Fields attributes the credit union's durability to itsconservative approach.

“We make good lending decisions,” he said. “We have a strongunderwriting department and we're pretty stringent on loanrequirements.”

But Pen Air is not afraid to take calculated chances. Forexample, it didn't shy away from joining with Navy Federal CreditUnion and Superior Bank last year to provide a loan for a newPensacola beach hotel. The credit unions each provided $10 million,and Superior Bank provided $18 million.

At first glance, the loan would seem somewhat risky consideringthe currently high vacancy rates at many Florida hotels andmotels.

“Yes, we're conservative,” Fields said, “But we felt positivelyabout the developer/owner of this new hotel, who has two otherproperties on the beach.”

Construction on the building has already reached four floors,and the hotel should welcome its first guests in about a year.Considered a drive-to rather than a fly-to destination, Pensacolais within a reasonable drive of Atlanta, New Orleans and much ofMississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, making it attractive tovacationing families on a budget.

Speaking of location, Pensacola and the rest of the Panhandleare no strangers to hurricanes. The Pensacola area was affected byHurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005. So last July,the Florida Credit Union League asked Pen Air to host a conferenceabout how to plan for dealing with disaster.

“We have a portable generator on a trailer that we can takearound to branches that have lost power,” Fields said. “The othercredit unions were really interested in how we do things likethat.”

In addition to teaching other credit unions how to prepare forcrisis, Pen Air doesn't hesitate to lend a hand when crisisactually strikes.

“We have what we call a buddy system involving credit unions inFlorida, Alabama and Mississippi,” Fields said. “In case ofdisaster other credit unions will provide whatever they can whetherit's people, generators, supplies, cash or whatever.”

When Katrina destroyed a branch of Biloxi, Miss.-based KeeslerFederal Credit Union in 2005, Pen Air pitched in by loaning Keeslera motor home equipped as a credit union office and letting Keeslerset up a call center at Pen Air.

For Pen Air, helping other credit unions is a recurringtheme.

“We're losing about a credit union a day to mergers, insolvency,things like that,” Fields said. “We are very interested in tryingto assist smaller credit unions that need help.”

For example, Fields said, about four years ago the credit unionsent its vice president of lending to a small credit union to helpset up its mortgage loan program.

“If we want to see credit unions survive, it really doesn't helpthe American people to lose 150 credit unions a year,” Fields said.“It's not good for our community, it's not good for our members,and it's not good for credit unions nationwide.”

Fields graduated with a B.S. in economics from JacksonvilleState University in Alabama, and but for a brief time with afinance company has spent virtually all his 30-year career incredit unions. He came to Pen Air as CFO in 2001 and became CEO in2008. He's married and has three grown children, two daughters anda son.

During the week when he's not in the office, he's often atchamber of commerce events. He likes to spend weekends outdoorsfishing or hunting. He recently traveled to Colorado with a groupto hunt elk.

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