Commander lays out state of the wing

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ryan Callaghan
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  After serving more than a year in the commander's seat, U.S. Air Force Col. Chad Franks, 23d Wing commander, has a few familiar messages for his Airmen: do the ordinary things better than anyone else, and kill the bad guys, save the good guys.

When Franks took the reins from the previous commander in July 2013, he established "Mission, Family, Fun" as his priorities. He says the wing has balanced his priorities well and he wants the Airmen of all ranks and from each duty section to know that he has been extremely pleased with their performance over the past year.

"First, I wanted to make sure we were completely focused on the mission: ensuring that we continue to provide combat airpower to the combatant commanders," he said. "That's what we get paid to do and that's what the American people expect, so that needs to be our number one priority. Family is about taking care of our Airmen and their families. If they're worried about things at home, not focused on the mission, then we aren't going to be as successful. Finally I think anything worth doing, is worth having fun. I want to make sure that anytime we get that opportunity to have a little fun and improve our morale, we capitalize. We owe that to our Airmen."

Of all the wing's accomplishments, Franks says he is most proud of its staggering triumphs downrange.

"We had continuous combat-deployments all year" he said. "We had Airmen in combat every single day. Over the last year we deployed two fighter squadrons, we've had ongoing combat rescue deployments, we have had individual deployments supporting several different [areas of responsibilities] and every time our Airmen went downrange, into combat, they were properly trained and equipped; and they were successful.

"I think the biggest success we had is we returned everybody home," Franks elaborated. "We were able to go downrange and deliver combat airpower, and bring everybody home ... we can't ask for more success than that. That's our biggest accomplishment in my opinion."

Franks believes every Airman in the wing is important to the advancement of the mission.

"I'll continue to say it every time I get an opportunity: every Airman matters," he said. "It doesn't matter what their job is, it takes every Airman in this wing to produce the kind of combat power that we deliver. I want them all to realize that when they come to work every day, they're making an impact. If they continue to do the ordinary things better than anyone else, we'll remain undefeated on the battlefield."

With this in mind, Franks spoke on the uncertainty surrounding the future of the A-10C at Moody's 23d Fighter Group.

"I would say that they're the best fighter squadrons in the Air Force," he said. "Part of the reason that they're the best is because of all of the support that they get from the Medical Group, the Mission Support Group, the Maintenance Group and the Rescue Group: they all support each other and that's why they're so successful. It takes every Airman to make them as good as they are.

"They just need to remain focused on their success," he said. "When the Air Force and Congress decide what they're going to do with the A-10, we'll move out with that plan. Until then, they're going to keep training hard to be the best in the Air Force."

Franks has established several objectives he would like to see the wing accomplish in the next year.

"My first goal for the wing is to continue focusing on the mission and ensuring that anytime we send someone downrange, they're trained and equipped to go and get their mission done," he said. "That's number one. Secondly, I'd like to reestablish some of our special capabilities that we haven't had the time to train on due to our high ops-tempo.

"On the rescue side of the house, we're getting back into our [combat search and rescue] training," Franks explained. "We've been doing a lot of [casualty evacuation] in Afghanistan so were going to focus more on other training such as shipboard and water operations that haven't been applicable in Afghanistan. On the fighter side, we're still going to focus on close air support, but we're going to train for a higher-threat type environment than what we've been facing over the last 12-13 years."

The ops tempo at the rescue group has slowed down to an extent, but Franks explains that deployments are ongoing.

"We're not in as many different locations as we were before," Franks said, "but that could change any day now. The world is a dangerous place and just like any of our units here, we need to be prepared to go wherever the nation calls. We're taking advantage of the smaller number of deployments right now by getting to some of that training we've not been able to do in the past. We also need to have a realistic outlook; we could be called any day to go to different spots around the globe in support of operations."

The Flying Tigers have a rich heritage and it's important to celebrate Franks says.

"I hope all of our Airmen are proud to be in the 23d Wing and proud to be a Flying Tiger," he said. "I hope they are proud of our Air Force and the fact that there is not a force that can match us anywhere on the globe. We should never forget that we should always be proud of our service and what we do on a daily basis. We want to make sure all of our Airmen know our history, our past, and how they're contributing to that history every day when they come to work: they're building on that legacy."