Termini non Existent: There Are No Bounds

  • Published
  • By Col. Dwight Sones
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  "What you do at Travis Air Force Base is nothing short of miraculous." This was the opening remark from Lt. Gen. Mark Ramsay, former 18th Air Force Commander, this past June during his all-call at the base theater.

As a military institution we have a responsibility to identify more efficient, cost-effective ways to accomplish our critical mission. Given current fiscal challenges, Ramsay stressed that, "Now more than ever, we need Airmen to be innovators."

Today marks the last day of summer, and I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the miraculous accomplishments that you have achieved over the past year.

As members of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, we operate within a culture of efficiency that is shared by our active-duty partners in the 621st Contingency Response Wing and by our Reserve teammates in the 349th Air Mobility Wing. This culture recognizes that the cumulative effect of small inefficiencies can be costly.

Initially met with resistance, the concept of the electronic flight bag started two years ago here. Today, this initiative is being implemented across mobility air force and is estimated to save $27 million annually. Our young, innovative Airmen challenged the status quo to seek better, safer and smarter ways of doing business.

As Air Mobility Command's most fuel efficient wing, our culture of efficiency extends to our community partners like Kinder Morgan who helped to reduce our impact on the environment by developing a sustainable fuel tank infrastructure. Our goal was to reduce our 28 mile fuel pipeline down to just one mile. This $58 million project was completed and put into operation in January. Our new fuel tanks enhance our capability to bring fuel to the fight, while further safeguarding the environment.

In the past year, David Grant USAF Medical Center has made incredible advances in technology and customer service available to over 130,000 military members, retirees and families in the local area. As the Air Force's largest hospital, DGMC established the first regenerative medicine biosurgery program in the Air Force, incorporated the largest hemodialysis center in the DOD and renovated the patient mall to provide the best care anywhere to their customers.

As miraculous as these innovations are, they would not have occured without our most valuable resource - you.

During her visit in early March, Under Secretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton said it best: "Even though our focus has been on innovation, efficiencies, force structure and budget cuts, we must not lose sight of the Air Force's most important resource - its Airmen."

Our Wing motto is "Termini non Existent," which means "There are no bounds." Thank you for embracing this motto over the past year as we continue to answer our nation's call.