Team Malmstrom showcases Wing One to Chief Sullivan

  • Published
  • By Airman Emerald Ralston
  • 341st Space Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Air Force Space Command's senior enlisted leader visited Malmstrom Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

Chief Master Sgt. Michael Sullivan, command chief master sergeant for AFSPC, met with Malmstrom's enlisted members and discussed with them the challenges and issues facing this command.

"The command has historically done a good job of communicating the importance of what we do to the people who accomplish the mission," said Chief Sullivan. "AFSPC's missile mission was part of U.S. Strategic Air Command which had a very high standard of professionalism and high expectations. General Curtis LeMay established the standard of perfection that still permeates within the missile mission."

During his visit, Chief Sullivan met with the Airmen's Council, held an NCO call, toured a launch facility, missile alert facility and the T-9 Missile Maintenance training facility, as well as various squadrons.

Fairly new to AFSPC, but having a long history with flying and training units, Chief Sullivan said one of the things that stood out to him wherever he went was the pride and professionalism of Malmstrom Airmen.

"A good thing I've found is that when I was at the MAF, office areas and LF, Airmen were taking pride in what they were doing," Chief Sullivan said. "I saw facilities older than I am that look new because the Airmen are that proud of their equipment and their job. That's not a common thing throughout our Air Force."

Among the various issues Chief Sullivan touched on during his visit were force-shaping concerns, focusing on leadership, taking care of each other and building the next generation of Airmen.

"Our budget flows from Congress to the Department of Defense to the Air Force," Chief Sullivan said. "There are four areas of funding in the Air Force. Construction, readiness, recapitalization and personnel. Construction is one percent of the budget so no money can be taken from that pot; we are a Nation at war, therefore no money will be spared from the readiness fund; recapitalization is absolutely necessary because some of our newest aircraft are 25 years old. We must recapitalize now so our Airmen and the Airmen in the future don't go to war in 45-, 65- or 85-year-old aircraft. This leaves personnel as the only pot we can draw funds from. This is why force-shaping is taking place."

One way to adapt to manning levels as a result of force shaping, led Air Force leaders to implement Air Force Smart Operations 21.

"We're doing more now with less people than ever before," Chief Sullivan said. "I met with the folks in the 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron and they have reviewed how they prepare their Airmen right out of tech. school to be deployable to the field. They prioritize training and streamline it with dedicated instructors to get Airmen through the first critical pieces of what they need to know before they go into further training. This is actually a very good AFSO 21-type of initiative. They're taking a function that has historically been done well but inefficiently. Now they're doing all the same things but in a shorter amount of time with less cost and fewer instructors' man hours while reaching higher quality standards."

In addition to creating effective methods of dealing with personnel cuts and getting involved with AFSO 21 processes, the command chief encouraged NCOs to show leadership, commitment and integrity while providing encouragement in bringing up the next generation of war-fighters.

"The biggest challenge is going to be raising the next generation of Airmen," Chief Sullivan said. "At a time when our Nation is at war, it's difficult to keep the American public interested and keep their attention on what the American military needs to accomplish its mission.

"That has potential to undermine the confidence of the Airmen who accomplish that mission. It's a challenge for the NCOs and senior NCOs to keep our Airmen focused on what we do and the importance of why we do it," he said.

These points hit home for one staff sergeant who leads a large number of younger Airmen as the NCO in charge of the camper alert security teams for the 741st Missile Security Forces Squadron.

"I think the Chief's views on how current NCOs must create the right culture for our replacements and posturing the Air Force for success in the future impacted me the most," said Staff Sgt. William Blado. "I was amazed with the Chief's overall concern for quality of life issues, technology and equipment developments to advance the mission."
Another concern the chief expressed is how to keep Airmen engaged in healthy activities while they're not at work.

"He had some good points as far as how to target our high DUI/MIP rate," said Airman 1st Class Greg King, Airmen's Council president.

Chief Sullivan suggested a focus group of Airmen to determine specifically what the Airmen want and in what capacity, which Airman King has already set in motion.

"The Council is waiting for the first sergeants to get back with us on how we want to start hitting this head on to find more ways to keep the Airmen active in their community," Airman King said. "It's good to see higher enlisted members coming to talk to the Airman ranks to find out what their interests are."

Another part of raising a successful addition to the Air Force family is making sure Airmen make the right decisions off duty.

"Chief Sullivan is focused on efforts to make the overall mission more successful and allow every Airman to contribute to our Air Force at an individual level," Sergeant Blado said. "I though he left with an expanded knowledge of our mission here and also a clearer picture of the issues concerning Malmstrom's Airmen."

In a final message to the enlisted members, the command chief left them with food for thought.

"We all wear our family name above our right breast pocket," Chief Sullivan said. "Our Airmen can tell us all about the history and importance of that name. What we need to instill in our Airmen is that same importance of the family name above their left breast pocket - the Air Force family name. We need to instill the heritage and pride of that name as our Airmen stop being only the name above their right pocket and start becoming part of the Air Force family.