23d WG commander speaks on priorities, goals

  • Published
  • By Airman Dillian Bamman
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  In July 2013, the 23d Wing welcomed a new commander, U.S. Air Force Col. Chad Franks. Airman Dillian Bamman recently sat down with Franks to find out about his priorities and goals for the 23d WG.

What are your priorities for the wing and what do they mean to you?

The priorities for the wing are mission, family and fun. When I talk about mission, what I'm really talking about is what comes first in everything we do. What I tell all the commanders and leadership across the base is that everything that drives our everyday decision process is getting the mission done. The one thing required from the American people and our senior leaders is that we go out and make sure we're killing the bad guys and saving the good guys, and that is our No. 1 priority.

When I talk about family, what I'm really talking about are the Airmen here in the 23d WG and their immediate families. We have to make sure we're taking care of them so in turn, they can go out and take care of the mission. If we're making sure we meet their needs, it allows them to go downrange to focus on one thing: the mission. If we do that, then we'll be successful.

When I talk about fun, I believe that anything that is worth doing, you should have some fun at doing it, so we're going to find those opportunities. We ask our Airmen to do a lot. We probably ask them to do too much. Anytime we as commanders or our Senior NCOs can find those opportunities to give our Airmen a break and let them enjoy and have some family fun, then we owe that to them because of what we ask them to do any other time.

Resiliency is critical for Airmen and families in a wing that deploys as much as the Flying Tigers. How can leaders and Airmen encourage each other to build resiliency?

We have a lot of great programs out there we continue to work on. What I encourage everyone to do is be good wingmen. Part of that resiliency is being able to talk as Airmen to each other, especially when we're going through tough times. The bottom line is this wing has been at the forefront of the Global War on Terrorism since 9/11. We've had Airmen from the 23d WG, in combat, every single day since 9/11. That is a lot of people who have seen a lot of bad things. We have to make sure we're able to communicate as warriors to each other and be able to look for those signs when someone starts to get in trouble. If we're more resilient, then we'll be able to combat those kinds of effects afterward. That's not just our Airmen either, that includes communicating with our families. We've got to make sure we're letting them know what our Airmen are going through, so they are prepared to meet the challenges of that ongoing mission we have here at the 23d WG.

What should Moody Airmen know about sexual misconduct?

We are not immune to sexual assault or sexual misconduct. I don't want our Airmen to think this doesn't happen here in the 23d WG, and it can have an enormous effect on our mission. General Welsh understands that if Airmen are uncomfortable coming to work or if they don't feel safe in their work areas, it affects the mission. We shouldn't have any of our Airmen afraid to go to work or afraid of their fellow Airmen. We should not and will not tolerate hostile work environments. Those are the two things that I want them to know: We do have a problem in the 23d WG, and we're going to get after it. We're going to continue to professionalize our work areas across the wing. It's a high priority for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and it's a high priority for the 23d WG, because it does affect the mission.

Since you've been in command, what are you most impressed with at Moody?

I've only been in command for a short amount of time, three months, but I've been in the 23d WG before. So I'm familiar with the wing, and I'm always impressed with the morale. Often, it would be easy to be low because of our ops tempo, but I think the nature of our mission raises it since a lot of what we do is saving lives, whether it be ground forces, through our CAS (close air support) assets, or our rescue assets going downrange and saving coalition, as well as Afghans on a daily basis. I think the nature of those missions lend to people's morale being high, and that has always impressed me. Despite having the highest ops tempo in the Air Force, our morale is still pretty high because of the pride our Airmen have in what they do.

What are your goals for the wing?

Since 9/11, we've been engaged in combat every day, and we've been successful on the battlefield. That's basically our Super Bowl, what we train for every day, and we've been extremely successful. So my goal is for us to sustain that success, and that's a hard task to do. It goes back to a quote I like: "Champions aren't champions because they do extraordinary things. They are champions because they do the ordinary things better than anybody else." The reason I love that quote is because it really speaks to what we need from our Airmen, doing the ordinary things better than anyone else. That requires us to live excellence every day and demand a culture of discipline on and off duty. If we do that, we will have continued success.

As a wing with many geographically separated units, how do you promote cohesion?

It's difficult because we're separated thousands of miles, but I think the key to that is strong leadership at all levels. I just went out for a visit to Davis-Monthan (Air Force Base, Ariz.) and Nellis (Air Force Base, Nev.), as well as Avon Park in Florida. I went and saw them a few weeks ago, and I am confident we will be able to maintain that cohesion, because we have strong leaders right now at those locations. I was very impressed with our commanders, Senior NCOs and NCOs, and they really make the difference. Also, it always comes down to communication. We've got to make sure we're able to communicate and that we don't ever forget about our Airmen who are out West. So we try to do that by incorporating them in all we do in all of our meetings and our statistics we track over time. I think we're doing pretty good.

Recent budget issues caused many disruptions for our civilian teammates. What is the greatest strength of our civilian force?

When we had the furloughs, and then the recent government shutdown, I think what was extremely apparent was that we were not as effective or as efficient without our civilian workforce coming to work every day. What I think that did was reinforce how we can't do the mission without a total team effort. Could we still open the gates and operate every day and fly sorties? We did, but we weren't nearly as efficient or effective without having our civilian teammates here. They are crucial to our operations. When they talk about nonessential personnel, they are by no means nonessential personnel. They are essential to the mission in this wing and all of the successes I talk about since 9/11.

A big topic in the wing for 2014 is the new inspection process. What are your thoughts on that?

We're going to move away from the old inspection system of preparing for our higher headquarters to come down with a big team to inspect us for a week. We're moving to a new culture, where every Airman is a sensor. That's what we're looking for. They're the best people to identify where we're deficient, where we need more resources and where our AFIs (Air Force Instructions) are lacking or overextended. So we need people to have that new mindset of it's OK to find problems. That's what we want. We can then work up the chain and either fix those problems in the 23d WG, or if we need help from above, and that's my job, to go to ACC (Air Combat Command) or Headquarters Air Force and say, "Hey, we need more resources," or "Hey, we need a policy change in order for our Airmen to be more effective." It is now up to all of us to make sure we're ready all the time, not just for a week every two years when an inspection team comes down. Now, we can shape inspections to make sure we're testing our Airmen to make sure we're ready to do our mission. Not every wing is the same. We do things differently than Mountain Home (Air Force Base, Idaho) and Langley (Air Force Base, Va.). Now we can shape those inspections to make sure we're testing our Airmen to make sure we're ready to do our mission. I think it's a good thing, and it's going to make us and the Air Force better.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I'm happy to be with the 23d WG. This is my third time in the wing and again, I'm always amazed at the amount of work and the success this wing gets done. It's simply amazing, and they never complain. They just keep doing it. The morale is pretty good, and it's because of the nature of the mission. We're having an impact every single day home and downrange. There are a lot of people who are safe and walking around because of what the Airmen of the 23d WG do. I appreciate everything they do, and I'm happy to be a part of this team.