Fly on the wall: Lessons observed by Lt. Col. Clarence Lukes

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Clarence Lukes
  • 570th Global Mobility Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Our beloved Air Force is constantly evolving in ways that provide our nation the assurance that we have the best-trained, equipped and able Air Force in the world. All conflicts during my career have been fought jointly and I anticipate no change in the near future. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise the Air Mobility Command commander's top focus area is "Win today's fight as part of the Joint/Coalition force." I am sure Team Travis has heard this message echoed down from commander calls base wide; but what does this really mean? 

It means more than simply fighting alongside our sister service components. I recently had the great fortune of being a fly on the wall during a Commander Air Force Forces training course at Ft. Dix, N.J. The purpose of the course is to prepare select Colonels for future assignments to a Component-Numbered Air Force staff. The discussions throughout the week were very informative due to the subject matter and superb mentor participation. The mentors involved in this training have seen it all and were genuinely dedicated to imparting their wisdom on the next wave of budding leaders. One discussion I found very powerful centered on in lieu of taskings. Recently, we have changed the reference to these non-traditional taskings as Joint Expeditionary Taskings, or JETs. We are definitely not an "in lieu of" force but our combatant commanders have requirements and we will meet those requirements with trained and capable Airmen when called. Here is the lesson. 

We were discussing air space issues and one of the mentors made a comment about JETs and one of the colonels made a very emotional and compelling argument about the growing encroachment of Soldiers performing traditional Airman roles. The Colonel went on to conclude that if the Army concentrated more on soldiering, we would take care of the airspace issues. The response of the mentor, who is a retired 3-Star, put me at ease. The general calmly focused on two things. First, he reminded everyone "we are a nation at war, and we'll support our commanders with every capability we are trained to provide." It was his opinion the main reason for our damaged reputation within the joint community was due to complaining at the operational and tactical levels about what we will and will not do. Secondly, he went on to say, "Rest assured, traditional Airman roles and missions are being safeguarded at the highest levels and we will prevail." 

I left the course with a renewed focus on service. I also confirmed what I always wanted to believe and that is our senior leadership is engaged and fighting on our behalf whether it makes the news or not. We may not fully understand all of the decisions that affect us at our level and to be quite honest, we do not need to. We must understand or at least acknowledge the relevance of context and perspective though. It would have been very easy for the mentor to give into the emotional pushback of ILO taskings but he did not. He focused on what was important and challenged every colonel in the room to them to meet every JET with motivated, qualified Airmen. Let our senior leaders handle our roles and missions concerns; let us do our part in winning today's fight as part of the joint team.