Team Travis keeps up with fast pace

  • Published
  • By Col. Steve Arquiette
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Travis Team is involved with many high-interest activities right now, and we're doing great. February started off as a busy month and is ending just the same.

On Feb. 16, we held the first of many exercises for the 2007. Lt Col. Shaun Turner, Mr. Dan Johnson and the rest of our exercise evaluation team members did a fine job setting up and culling lessons learned from the simulated natural disaster scenario.

This first exercise went very well and leadership from all three wings benefited from our solid teamwork. Exercises are a very important part of our wing readiness and are a critical part of your training.

This positive focus and attitude starts with supervisors. As leaders, supervisors need to be out observing and assisting when you can. Your attitude drives everyone else. Now more than ever it is important for each member to get to know your wingman. Everyone counts and everyone counts on each other. Using your wingman as a second set of eyes could be the difference between success and failure in real-world operations.

Shifting to a different, yet important, discussion of exercise, our physical fitness plays a great role in our readiness to perform our wartime missions. I'd like to highlight the great strides everyone has made in our physical fitness program over the past six months.

Since implementing our Fitness Improvement Camp, we've witnessed a 33 percent decrease in "poor" and "marginal" fitness evaluations. Our successful fitness program is all about obtaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and fitness level that will pay huge rewards later on in life.

Our Health and Wellness Center has many new programs to offer you, including a system that analyzes your running style and ensure you know which running shoes are the best for your stride. I checked it out and it's awesome. I'm seeing a lot of positive results and extra effort out there, so please keep up the good work and continue on this positive path.

Next week is packed with many great opportunities for Team Travis.

On Feb. 26, we will kick off our week-long Military Saves campaign, which is designed to help military members build wealth instead of debt. The campaign begins Feb. 26 with a great presentation from Mr. Kelly Brothers, KXTV News 10 business reporter, in the Base Theater at 11 a.m., and is followed up by educational classes throughout the week.

I highly encourage each an every one of you to make use of these free educational opportunities and registering at www.militarysaves.org to help prepare for a successful financial future.

Also on Feb. 26, we have the pleasure of hosting Rear Adm. Ann Rondeau, U.S. Transportation Command deputy commander, in her first visit to an Air Mobility Command base. We have a great opportunity to strengthen our ties with our sister services and demonstrate how the 60th, 349th and 615th mobility machines fit into the big picture.

In addition to those two events at the beginning of the week, we wrap up the busy week with three other major events.

On Feb. 28, the David Grant USAF Medical Center is being honored by California State Senator Jeff Denham as he presents State Concurrent Resolution 122 to Col. Lee Payne, 60th Medical Group commander, for the outstanding medical support we give to not just the local community, but to the entire Northern California medical community.

This Resolution is a huge "Thank You" from California for all that our DGMC's highly-experienced staff does.

Also on March 1 there is a Town Hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Base Theater for all of the on-base residents to discuss current issues regarding the on base community, (click here for more information).

On March 2, the exciting and much anticipated 60th Air Mobility Wing's Annual Awards Banquet will take place. I hope to see a full-house at the Delta Breeze Club as we honor the wing's annual award nominees and congratulate the wing-level winners.

Finally, we will wrap up the week March 3, when we will get a chance to thank all of our local military retirees during our Retiree Appreciation Day, which is being held at the Travis Conference Center from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.

As you can see we have a full week ahead of us. Please look out for one another and help us continue to shine!

BE PROUD, BE SAFE!