Changes challenge every Airman

  • Published
  • By Col. Steve Arquiette
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Changes in leadership teams are a vital part of our Air Force and now that the summer moves are upon us, we're saying goodbye to many Team Travis leaders. Of note, our outgoing vice wing commander, Col. GI Tuck, will be departing in just a few days from now. During Colonel Tuck's 11 months with us, he provided superb leadership, guidance and mentoring; he led our extremely busy wing when I deployed to the Area of Responsibility and our mission never missed a beat! We wish him all the best for continued success in his upcoming command tour in Hawaii.

Some changes in leadership come unexpectedly. The resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. T. Michael Moseley and the Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynn last week surprised all of us. The Secretary of Defense initiated actions to bring a fresh leadership perspective to re-focus our Air Force on attention to details in many important areas like our nuclear mission.
Gen. Arthur Lichte, our commander of Air Mobility Command, urges each of us to look ahead and to focus on how we can re-achieve the Air Force's standard of excellence. His letter is reprinted in this issue of the Tailwind. If you haven't read it, please take time to do so. In his words, "There is no room in our mission for anything less than our total commitment." We have an important mission to do and we must not be distracted by our upcoming leadership transition.

General Lichte challenges us to continue doing what Airmen in AMC have done quite well: focus on the basics of doing our jobs. Team Travis has a proud and strong culture of emphasizing the basics; we do common things in an uncommon manner. Many results over the past two years speak for themselves: an "Outstanding" rating on our Operational Readiness Inspection, "17 of 27 Rodeo trophies including "Best of the Best," "Excellent" ratings on the Unit Compliance Inspection and Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Program; the 615th Contingency Response Wing scored an impressive "Outstanding" on the LSEP. And, of course, there are the many "Warrior of the Week" and unit awards, such as the Air Force-level awards won by the 60th Services Squadron last month. We earned this recognition through focus and commitment.

Working well with each other, we've created a culture in which we feel responsible for ourselves, our wingmen and our mission. That is the standard. But total commitment is never a given. We must prove it each day. The awards are great to win, and they raise the standards bar that much higher for the Airmen who follow us.

Through all these changes, each of you has done your part in helping your units accomplish the mission we have been entrusted to perform for our nation. It's important to know nothing has changed in our priorities. We have to fight today's fight, take care of our people and prepare for tomorrow's challenges. With over 1,000 Airmen currently deployed from Team Travis serving our country around the world, we continue to superbly meet the requirements demanded of us by our joint service partners and the DoD. The deployed Airmen and their families expect nothing less from each of us.

To paraphrase General Lichte, Team Travis can only be effective if each Airman helps their wingman achieve our common goals. Doing so makes us better leaders and wingmen, and that ultimately benefits Team Travis, AMC and our Air Force.