Leaders want to understand base needs Published June 9, 2006 By Col. Steve Arquiette 60th AMW commander TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- This week Chief Johnson and I had to opportunity to travel to our nation’s capitol in Washington D.C. and meet with the members of the Congress who represent those of us who live and work here at Travis. Your daily sacrifices and contributions to our nation are greatly appreciated by the Congressional members and their staffs, and they were impressed as the chief and I detailed all of the superb award-winning accomplishments Team Travis has been recently recognized for. We also discussed the future of Team Travis. The arrival of Travis’ first C-17, “The Spirit of Solano” in early August will make us the only base to operate three mobility weapons systems executing both strategic and tactical airlift as well as the air refueling missions vital to the Air Force. We also discussed a variety of family support issues as well as mission facility requirements. The members were very intent on listening to us to understand how they can help Team Travis, and we greatly appreciated their time. Very similar to the members of Congress wanting to help, our Air Force leadership is very interested in understanding your needs and those of your families. Recently, the 2006 Community Assessment Survey was sent to many of you to provide feedback on the current climate of the Air Force. All spouses are invited to provide input as well. Our leadership takes this input and makes significant changes to improve our quality of life; please see page 6 for how our inputs from the last survey changed things for the better. So far this year our response rate from Team Travis has been lagging last year’s rate. Every spouse and those selected Airmen are encouraged to participate in this essential tool and voice concerns you may have of your Air Force experience. The Web address for spouses to participate is http://www.spouseAF CAsurvey.com with the access code being SpouseAFCA; Airmen should have received an e-mail if they were selected to participate. It is critical that the maximum amount of people participate in this survey; it’s a sure-fire way to have our Air Force leaders hear our concerns and set fixes in motion. Make time in your busy schedule to complete this survey, if not for you, for the Airmen and their families who will benefit. June 1 kicked off this year’s Air Mobility Command MatchUp competition. From now until the end of August, please take every opportunity to register game pieces and win prizes. MatchUp is open to active duty, Guard and Reserve members of the armed forces and their families; DoD civilians; retired military members and their family members; honorably discharged veterans with 100-percent service-connected disability and their family members; and former and/or surviving military spouses and their family members. Please visit Services facilities for game pieces and come out to the MatchUp picnic June 16! Please continue to be safe and have fun while you work hard! As Abraham Lincoln once said, “It doesn’t matter what you do – work to be the best one!” Thank you for what you and your families do everyday.