LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --
As Team Little
Rock (TLR) welcomes 2018 with ambition, open arms and a fair amount of
uncertainty, it is incumbent upon Commanders to stress the importance of
putting “first things first” and effectively communicating our priorities as we
brace for what 2018 has to offer. In the spirit of empowerment and
transparency, as well as in an effort to revitalize our Air Force at the
squadron level, TLR’s senior leaders have provided commanders decision making
autonomy allowing us to deliberately make daily choices to better the lives of
our Airmen and complete our mission: to Project and Sustain Agile Combat
Airlift. We are empowered and expected to assess and take action to further the
19th Airlift Wing priorities and lines of effort. One of the 19th
Airlift Wing’s priorities is Taking Care of Airmen, and this priority is one
that, as the Force Support Squadron Commander, I take to heart.
Living in the
customer service world, my squadron leadership team spends numerous hours
focusing on our #1 priority—the men and women of Little Rock Air Force
Base. Fence line to fence line and
cradle to grave, the FSS provides full spectrum support to military and
civilian families through a variety of supporting facilities and programs. While we hang our hat on taking care of Airmen
day-in and out at our sustainment operations (i.e. our Hercules Dining
Facility, Razorback Inn and the Fitness Center), we literally make our money by
establishing relationships with Team Little Rock members throughout our
Non-Appropriated Facilities such as Hangar 1080, Skills Center and our Outdoor
Recreation. By equipping Airmen and
civilians with resiliency and family support, we strengthen our Airmen’s
lethality when time comes to project agile combat airlift.
As our Chief of
Staff Gen David Goldfein has sought to empower squadrons and stress the
importance of full spectrum readiness and training across the enterprise, it is
our responsibility as leaders at each level to empower our unit members and to
embolden a “back to the basics” culture focusing on readiness and
training. Subsequently, as our Airmen
become continuously more proficient in the technical aspect of their job, they
will be better able to execute commander’s intent at their respective level
without having to ask for permission—thereby seeking proactive leadership and
enacting the wing, MAJCOM, and AF level mission, vision, and priorities
without a second thought. More importantly, by buying into our culture
of taking care of Airmen, we will have embraced the spirit of true teamwork by
virtue of building strong relationships not only within the Force Support
Squadron, but across the base.
In our efforts to
revitalize the squadron, the 19th FSS is beginning a series of
transparent “traveling road shows” specifically geared-towards providing Team Little
Rock units and organizations in-depth military and civilian personnelist knowledge
spanning from cradle to grave. We’ll
educate commanders how to utilize personnelist databases such as
myPers/BLSDM/MilPDS as well as educate units on how to become more lean and
efficient through continuous process improvement. Our marketing department will continue
developing demographic-specific surveys so we can continue to learn more about
our TLR family in hopes of becoming more effective as we transform and update aging
facilities, such as the Bowling Center & Club, into places that allow us to
strengthen the social pillar within the Comprehensive Airman Fitness Framework.
. Furthermore, we are extremely excited to
break ground next fall with a brand-new 250 room and $55 million lodging
facility adjacent to the Walter’s Community Support Center, allowing us to
share what it means to be a member of Team Little Rock with visitors and
newcomers. Last and certainly not least,
FSS is working to take $108K in Recharge for Resiliency (R4R) funding and
increase programming for Airmen and their families, just in time for the summer!
While we are doing
great things here at the FSS, at the end of the day, regardless of the uniform
and proximity to the flight line or the capacity in which we project and
sustain agile combat airlift, as Airmen and leaders, we are all inherently
personnelists. We are charged with being responsible for taking care of the
best our nation has to offer, America’s sons and daughters, both in and out of
harm’s way, and I cannot be prouder of how our Airmen, at all levels of
leadership, have taken this to heart and taken care of our Team Little Rock
family. So from our FSS family to yours,
we are extremely excited to welcome 2018 and look forward to seeing each of you
out and about, participating at one of our many upcoming events!