Home > News > Features > Display

Vice Wing Commander and family settling in to life at Malmstrom

By Valerie Mullett, 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office / Published August 06, 2010

PRINT | E-MAIL
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Fifteen assignments following his first days on alert as a missileer, Col. Stephen "S.L." Davis has landed at Malmstrom to help guide the members of the 341st Missile Wing as their vice commander.

With his primary goal targeted on doing everything he can "to assist Col. (Anthony) Cotton as he leads the wing in its critical mission of nuclear deterrence," Colonel Davis shares other similarities with his new boss.

Both were born and raised in Air Force families and both were stationed in North Dakota for their first assignments. From there, their careers have taken different paths that have returned them to common ground in leadership roles here.

Colonel Davis was born at Stead Air Force Base near Reno Nevada, which is no longer a military installation but currently serves as the Reno Airport. From there, his family moved to Hawaii before settling in at Wright Patterson AFB, near Dayton, Ohio, a few years later.

"I spent the longest amount of time there as a child, so I consider Dayton home," the new vice commander said. "I attended grade school there and graduated from high school in Ohio."

He also went to college in Dayton attending Wright State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1989. Knowing he had his sights set on joining the Air Force, Colonel Davis was commissioned through the Air Force Officer's Training School, also in 1989.

"Growing up in an Air Force family, I was naturally attracted to the idea of serving," the vice commander said. "And when I joined, I actually had the expectation I would make a career of it, even though I have always taken it one assignment at a time."

That career, which spans nearly 20 years, has taken him to Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on three occasions. He has served in two positions at Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo.; Headquarters Air Force in Washington, D.C.; as well as two positions at USSTRATCOM in Omaha, Neb. He also had a short tour to Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. , and attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the School of Advanced Airpower Studies at Maxwell AFB, Ala. Throw into the mix a 6-month deployment to Baghdad in 2004 and you have a career snapshot of Colonel Davis.

"I would have to say my assignment as commander of the 576th Flight Test Squadron at Vandenberg has best prepared me for the role as vice wing commander," he said. "That squadron is unique in that operators, maintainers, munitions and support are all intertwined to accomplish the mission. We also relied heavily on interaction with the host base mission support . EOD, fire, LRS and CE were all integral to the ICMB test mission."

While commander of the 576th, Colonel Davis said the experience broadened his horizons in terms of the ICBM mission.

But it was his deployment that broadened his horizons in terms of taking care of Airmen and their families.

He said it gave him an appreciation for the importance of the pre-deployment training and how vital it is to ensure Airmen are prepared properly. He also said it gave him an understanding of how important it is to send the Airmen forward with the right equipment; and it pointed out the importance of the families that are left behind and the need to take care of them at all levels of leadership.

"That experience sensitized me to those important issues," he said. "The job (deploying) is hard enough. We need to be setting our Airmen up for success. That is something I will look for and pay attention to."

Secondary to the goal of supporting the wing commander, Colonel Davis hopes to get out and see the workforce - Airmen, civilians and contractors - of Wing One as much as he can.

"A few things that strike me about Malmstrom are the great condition of the base and the great spirit of the people who work here," Colonel Davis said. "I know it's a tough environment and I know it's a tough mission. There have certainly been a number of recent inspections but I am really impressed with the attitudes of the wing. It's great to be here."

Colonel Davis arrived at Malmstrom July 4. He is accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and their six children, Monica, 18; Elena, 16; Nicholas, 14; Anna, 7; Gianna, 3; and Michael, 18 months.
USAF Comments Policy
If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

  • This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
  • Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
  • This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.