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Campion: Det. 4 commander Q&A

  • Published
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Lt. Col. James Campion is the commander of the recently realigned Det. 4, a formal training unit which is now under the 375th Air Mobility Wing and is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

The detachment trains Active Duty, Air Force Reserve and National Guard nurses and medical technicians to attain qualification as aeromedical evacuation crew members. Graduates from this training fill a critical need for the U.S. military, providing worldwide in-flight care of sick and wounded patients.

Q. What led you to joining the Air Force?

A. My father was in the Army during World War II and served in Africa and Europe.
I joined the military in 1988 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1990. Over the next eight years as an Army Reservist, I went back to school and received a degree in nursing.

I wanted to continue serving my country and the Air Force offered me the best opportunities. I have seen much of the world and reaped the benefits of making that choice to change services.

Q. What is your favorite Air Force memory?

A. I was the commander of a Mobile Aerial Staging Facility for a NATO mass casualty exercise of Munich, Germany. Part of the exercise was to transport patients to area hospitals and my team served as patients for the exercise. The locals never knew it was an exercise. I recall looking out the window of the C-130 as we circled the airport and seeing a line of ambulances stretching for miles. After all of the patient care had been completed, all of the exercise participants met at the German Officer's club at Erding Air Base. The camaraderie, fellowship and celebration lasted well into the morning hours.

Q. What is your leadership philosophy?

A. I have a simple philosophy: give people a direction, the means to accomplish the task with support and corrections, where needed, and they will get the job done. I work for them to ensure that they have everything they need.

Q. What can the unit expect from you?

A. As the commander, I work for each of them to ensure that they have all the support needed to complete their jobs. I will treat each of them individually and attempt to bring out their best. While they may not always see the big picture, I strive to bring the team together to produce the results that the Air Force expects from us.

Q. What is your favorite part of being a commander?

A. Seeing the people I work for succeed in ways that they did not think possible. We have had plenty of those moments, standing up a unit that didn't exist before our arrival. Seeing the innovation, corrections and adjustments leading to the excellent results that they have achieved is very rewarding.

Q. What advice do you have for those under your leadership?

A. You learn from those who you consider good leaders and not so good leaders. What is important is that you incorporate those traits that you consider good into your own persona and take those traits/actions that you didn't like and remember how you felt, so that you don't do that to someone else. Praise in public and counsel in private is still the rule in treating people with respect.