Warrior Warrior
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189th Airlift Wing Vol. 18WARRIOR No. 1 January 2016 Arkansas Air National Guard Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Vol. 18 No. 6 September 2016 Arkansas Air National Guard Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. 189th Civil Engineers bring expertise to Guam mission, pgs. 6-7 Photo by Tech. Sgt. James Collins Letter from AF Chief of Staff, Pg. 2-3 // Making the most of your days, Pg. 4 // CE in Guam, Pgs. 6-7 Political Activities, Pg. 8 // Military Justice, Pg. 10 //Around the Wing, Pgs. 12-13 // WOTM, Pg. 14 2 Warrior, September 2016 www.facebook. Beating heart of the com/189AW usaf.ar.189-aw.mbx/ Air Force -- Squadrons [email protected] Gen. Dave Goldfein Publication Staff USAF Chief of Staff Col. Robert Ator, II 189th Airlift Wing n 1 July, Secretary James swore squadrons in the execution of their mission. Commander me in as your 21st Chief of Staff. The squadron is the beating heart of the This is the privilege of a lifetime. United States Air Force; our most essential Maj. Allison Stephens O Public Affairs Officer Standing on the shoulders of the 20 giants team. We succeed or fail in our missions who paved the way ahead of me, I take on at the squadron-level because that is where Master Sgt. Chris A. Durney this sacred duty of leading our 660,000 we develop, train, and build Airmen. Our Public Affairs Superintendent active, guard, reserve, and civilian Airmen service culture and traditions manifest absolutely committed to servant leadership. themselves in the squadron because our Tech. Sgt. Jessica Condit I am honored to be your Chief. Airmen most readily identify with this core Editor Over the next several weeks leading up fighting unit. Squadrons are the engines of This un-funded Air to the Air Force Association convention in innovation and esprit de corps. Force newsletter is an September, I will publish a series of short Squadrons possess the greatest authorized electronic papers laying out my thinking on key focus potential for operational agility. publication for mem- areas. This is the first in the series. Squadron commanders, civilian leaders, bers of the 189th Air- Under the leadership of Secretary James, superintendents, and first sergeants have lift Wing, their families, General Welsh, and Chief Cody, we the most profound and lasting impact on retirees and commu- completed a number of strategic planning Airmen and families. They set and enforce nity leaders. Contents documents that provide a useful framework standards, create the environment where of the Warrior are not and planning process to shape our future the right things are fostered (warfighting necessarily the official force. I fully support the strategy articulated excellence, esprit de corps, thriving views of, or endorsed in the Strategic Master Plan and Air Force Airmen and families) . .. and are the first by, the U.S. govern- Future Operating Concept and we will line of defense against behaviors we find ment, Department of continue to align our strategy with this unacceptable (a toxic work environment, Defense, or the De- vision. I also look forward to championing sexual assault, suicide, domestic violence). partment of the Air the priorities that Secretary James has It is time to revitalize the squadron as Force. All photographs established for us and has so consistently the warfighting core of our Air Force. Our are property of the U.S. and tirelessly advocated throughout her vision demands that “squadrons be highly Air Force unless other- tenure: Taking Care of People, Balancing capable, expeditionary teams who can wise indicated. Today’s Readiness with Tomorrow’s successfully defend our Nation’s interests The editorial content Modernization, and Making Every Dollar in both today’s and tomorrow’s complex is edited, prepared and Count. operating environments.” We will succeed provided by the Public If we are to achieve the aspirations only when our squadrons are “the cohesive, Affairs Office of the laid out in the SMP and AFFOC, I ready, and agile fighting forces that the Air 189th Airlift Wing, 112 believe we must have a solid foundation Force, Combatant Commanders, and the MSgt. Dan Wassom organizationally. Our own AFls state that Nation requires”. Road, Little Rock AFB, “squadrons are the basic, building block The past fifteen years have wrought AR 72099-4802, DSN organizations in the Air Force, providing a an almost singular focus on countering 731-6068, commercial specific operational or support capability.” violent extremism in the Middle East. That 501-987-6068. Call or I have always believed this to be true and necessity has resulted in considerable trades email to be added to so I am convinced it’s where we need to across the portfolios of Global Vigilance, the distribution list. start. This applies equally to our support Reach, and Power. Even under difficult organizations that may not align under a budget conditions, we delivered when the squadron construct, but actively support Nation ca lled on us to increase investment Warrior, September 2016 3 in ISR, Space, Cyber, and to revitalize the Nuclear and the challenge of a “do-it-your-self’ world in place of Enterprise. In the ISR portfolio alone, we grew an RPA Airmen who previously provided services for them. industry from scratch that has become the oxygen the joint The resultant effect of these challenges is we have force breathes. degraded the core fighting unit of our Air Force. The place However, our success has come at a price. We were where Airmen live, breathe, and grow, where we generate compelled to find operational efficiencies to balance combat capability, and where our culture resides ... the our budgets, with manpower and conventional airpower squadron. accounts suffering most. Squadrons have been asked to Over the next several weeks leading up to our 69th bear the brunt of an incredible deployment tempo and birthday celebration and the AFA convention in manpower shortages which have had a direct impact on September, I look forward to a robust discussion across readiness in our warfighting missions. In my experience, the Air Force to sharpen this dialogue and fill in the “how” readiness and morale are inextricably linked. Walk the behind the “why”. line at Bagram AB or Al Udeid AB where units are fully Bottom line -- if we are going to sustain warfighting manned and readiness is high and you’ll find morale is excellence and build the Air Force outlined in the SMP equally high. Visit one of our CONUS main operating and AFFOC, it must begin in our squadrons. Therefore, bases and you’ll often find manning hovering between revitalizing squadrons as the core fighting unit in our Air 60-70% with many key supervisors and leaders deployed Force will be the primary focus in my first year as your or dual-hatted, remaining Airmen working overtim e, Chief. and units managing parts and equipment shortages. On I look forward to working closely with our Secretary, top of this, our squadron commanders, civilian leaders, MAJCOM Commanders, and Air Force leadership team superintendents, first sergeants, and Airmen feel first- across our total force to get after this in the months ahead. hand the challenges associated with increased mandatory recurring training, a growing list of additional duties, Fight’s on! Click anywhere for more. September is National Preparedness Month Ready.gov #NatlPrep Make a family emergency communication plan Neighbors Helping Neighbors Strategies Download the FEMA app 4 Warrior, September 2016 A word from the Chaplain Making the most of your days Chaplain (Maj.) Ron Pierce 189th Airlift Wing Chaplain oday, we use the Gregorian calendar. It is behind and reaching forward to those things which named after Pope Gregory XIII who introduced are ahead…” Rick Warren said in his book, The Tit in 1582. There is a leap year every four Purpose Driven Life, “We are the product of our past years to help keep our calendar in synch with the but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” astronomical year. Before that, the Julian calendar was used, which was based on the solar year (the Making the most of the future: time it takes the earth to rotate around the sun). As we let go of the past, we want to go into the The Julian calendar fell out of line with the seasons future planning to make the most of it! After all, one over time. That is why Britain changed from the day, the days ahead will be a part of our past. The Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752. By doing days ahead are the only days you can still shape this, September 3rd instantly became September and influence. While we can’t know the future, we 14th. Nothing happened in British history between can plan and make sure to keep the important 3 and 13 September, 1752! Interestingly, many stuff at the forefront of our priorities. Some things people believed their lives would be shortened. we can do to make the most of our days include They actually protested in the streets, saying, “Give taking those vacations, planning some family time, us back our 11 days!” working on a bucket list, pursuing your career, Do you ever feel like you want some days back? getting that degree (it’s not too late!), and planning As we get older, we may tend to spend more time for retirement. But, there are other items of great thinking about what could have been or how we importance that, if left undone, can cause us to might have done things differently in specific want some days back down the road. Keep your situations. We may want those days back! Well, we relationships healthy.