MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, GA. – Col. Sean Hall, newly appointed commander of the 23rd Wing, outlined his vision for leading the Flying Tigers during a recent wing all-call at Moody Air Force Base, GA, on Aug. 4, 2025.
He called on Airmen to embrace bold thinking, sharpen mission focus and strengthen unity in the face of rising global threats and persistent resource constraints.
“This is a time of consequence,” Col. Hall said. “Just like the Flying Tigers in 1941 and 1942, we are facing real hurdles in manpower, parts and training. We will probably live with those challenges for years to come. There is no magic check coming to fix it all. But they made it work then, and so will we.”
Moody AFB has been selected to lead the Air Force’s first Deployable Combat Wing (DCW), a new structure designed to project agile combat power from the ground up. Hall said the shift will require sacrifice, adaptability and a fresh operational mindset across the base.
“This has never been done before,” he said. “When the order comes, we will be the first out the door. That means more temporary duty assignments, tighter manning at home and building something from scratch. But that is the task, and we are going to do it with precision and urgency.”
His focus on leading through adversity, building deployable capability and empowering Airmen supports the Air Force’s lines of effort: generate readiness, develop war fighters and project power.
“I will not hand you an impossible problem and tell you to ‘innovate your way out of it,’” Col. Hall said. “That is frustrating and unrealistic. What I will say is that we are going to be constrained, and we are going to have to push boundaries. We will take smart risks in peacetime so we can succeed when it counts.”
A central theme of his speech was remembering one’s personal and collective purpose. Hall shared a personal story from a 2012 mission in Afghanistan, when he flew an escort mission for a critically wounded Navy SEAL who later died of his injuries.
“That experience has never left me,” he said. “I spent 30 to 45 minutes looking down at those helicopters as we brought him back to Bagram. It reminds me what this uniform means. Everyone here has a ‘why,’ and we are going to need to lean into that as we move forward.”
Col. Hall also addressed the broader strategic environment, emphasizing the challenge posed by our adversaries and their global ambitions.
“They will stop at nothing … even if it is at the expense of everything we value, our families, our freedoms, our future,” he said. “We are in direct opposition, and that reality needs to shape how we train, how we lead and how we fight.”
Hall closed with a renewed commitment to leadership development and the philosophy of mission command, which he defined as clear intent, shared understanding and the trust to act independently when guidance is limited.
“We are going to train that every day,” he said. “We will fail early, learn fast and communicate better across every level. Do not be afraid to take risks. Do not be afraid to act. And never forget why we are doing it.”