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Wing CC on State of the Wing: 'The Can-Do spirit is alive and well at McGuire'

  • Published
  • By Capt. Darrick Lee
  • 305th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles to be featured in future issues of the Warrior Spirit. It's been more than a year since Col. Balan Ayyar, 305th Air Mobility Wing commander, joined Team McGuire. With the new year only days away, the Warrior Spirit staff interviewed Colonel Ayyar to get his thoughts on the past year, and learn more about future expectations for McGuire and its Airmen. McGuire's enduring themes (mission excellence, developing Airmen, and preserving resources) remain prevalent as we reflect on the past year, examine our current state, and prepare for what next year holds.

This week's topic: Origin and application of our enduring themes

Warrior Spirit: Sir, with your arrival came the three enduring themes we hear about so often. How did these come about as focus areas for Airmen at McGuire?

305th AMW/CC: When I came to McGuire, it seemed to me there was not a level of clarity about how we prioritized our resources. There was a strong sense about how we accomplish our mission, just like there is for us today. But, for us, we needed to be clear with our Airmen about the wide scope of their role. It's easy to focus on taking care of the mission, so defining "mission excellence" is straightforward. But I included the other two themes to remind us to focus on the elements that make our mission successful.
About developing leaders: It occurred to me that our deployment tempo and operations requirements put us at risk of suffering a tremendous loss of capability if we didn't build the next generation of leaders now. This theme has a mission outcome (if we don't develop leaders to accomplish the mission, we will fail.) I had to shape our responsibilities for wing leadership, and the individual Airman's responsibility to get them to commit to growing professionally. The reality is that no one is indispensable, and as people transition, we need to be consciously aware of the need to groom our replacements. 

Regarding preserving resources: Since the 1960s, the military has been perceived as not being concerned about the environment while conducting our operations, and that has come back to us in the form of very big bill or, as some might call it, an environmental conscience. I needed to focus specific programs on base to lighten our environmental footprint (going green.) We had a period where the costs of our energy consumption were rising dramatically, so cost was a factor in choosing this theme. But really, it's about simply thinking of energy as a resource, not wasting it ... and designing systems that help us when we perform our duties. We're not the only institution worried about resources. Costs are rising at institutions everywhere. But, the bottom line is I want Airmen to attribute what we are resourcing to our priorities. If there is a disconnect between actions and words, Airmen will notice ... so we had to give them a framework to understand how we are going to preserve resources -- this theme helps make that clear and simple.

Warrior Spirit: What are some of the missions McGuire has executed during the past year that demonstrate our understanding of mission excellence?

305th AMW/CC: It's important to highlight our mission successes. We've excelled multiple times when called to execute our mission of global mobility. Operation Burnt Frost (assembling and preparing to deploy multiple agencies to multiple locations in preparation for multiple contingencies) demonstrates our readiness to participate in the joint effort. We also pulled off a great Air Force Week in Philadelphia last year, as well as mission excellence during our Unit Compliance Inspection. It's incredible that we've achieved so much in the last year ... we continue down this path of one big success after another.

Warrior Spirit: Do you think families feel the impact of our adherence to the themes? (Some family members may not be as in-tune with our mission successes.)

305th AMW/CC: Our themes are underscored by an unwavering commitment to families. No Airman who goes into harm's way is thinking about their duties if their family isn't being taken care of at the base. A year ago, we directed our focus on housing and dorms. I found them to be sub-standard and they did not represent the level of excellence we want Airmen to maintain. Since then, we've invested time and resources at a level that rivals many bases throughout the Air Force. In fact, the quality-of-life improvements we've made are probably the most visible examples of how we take care of our families. To that end, we worked to get a new temporary lodging facility with new units -- it was long overdue. It was a priority for me when I arrived, and I'm pleased it's come to fruition this past week. We also invested in the Child Development Centers, renovations for the theater, improved the quality of equipment at the gym and laid the groundwork for 2000 new homes from United Communities for our Airmen.
The idea behind the themes is not that they are independent -- they're interconnected. When we develop leaders, we get mission excellence. When we preserve resources, we can spend more on infrastructure and it helps us achieve our vision (to be the preeminent joint warfighting base and air mobility center of excellence.) The "Can-Do" spirit is alive and well at McGuire and it brings joy to my heart as I look back on the past year.

(In our next segment, Colonel Ayyar discusses the themes as they relate to McGuire's global mobility mission in present day, and how McGuire complements the Air Force's recently-revised priorities.)