Meet the new 688th Cyber Operations Group commander Published Jan. 21, 2016 By Airman Gwendalyn Smith 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- -- Col. Roger Vrooman assumed command of the 688th Cyber Operations Group Dec. 1, 2015, the same day the unit was activated. Vrooman said he's excited for the possibilities that lie ahead and looks forward to setting goals that have impact and leave the base improved. Before taking on this responsibility, he served as the 644th Combat Communications Squadron commander in Guam and also served previously as commander of the 99th Communications Squadron at Nelllis Air Force Base, Nevada. Q: What led you to join the Air Force? A: My step-dad was in the Marines. I was an only child and in JROTC in high school. I thought I was going to college on a tennis scholarship, so I dropped out of JROTC, which killed a lot of opportunities I may have had with an ROTC scholarship. I transitioned from high school to work in an auto body shop restoring old corvettes. One day I woke up and decided I couldn't see myself doing this for 20 or 30 more years. I thought about the military, which I had been brought up on, went and saw the recruiter and made my appointment to go to MEPS. My main motivation for joining the Air Force was because I knew I needed to get started on my college education, and the Air Force provided me that avenue. Q: When did you decide you wanted to become an officer? A: It was a goal from the time that I enlisted. I may have had the opportunity, if I stayed in JROTC in high school, to potentially go to the Academy or compete for a spot with a JROTC scholarship. I enlisted so I could take classes and see what different commissioning opportunities would be there when I was ready. Q: Was there a specific goal in mind when you became an officer? A: When I initially applied for Officer Training School and got selected, I knew I was going to graduate at the eight year point. That's when I would have been a 2nd lieutenant. So at the time I was going to do another 11-12 years, I'd still be a fairly young man at 41 or 42 years old. So the going in thought was to retire at 20 years and move on to the next chapter in my life. I had no thoughts of becoming a commander at the time because based on promotion and schedules when I went to OTS I probably wouldn't even have been selected for major at the 20 year point. When you set short term or long term goals those can quickly change and life's events affect that as well. My goals changed from when I first went to OTS and they continue to change and evolve to this day. Q: What is your favorite Air Force memory? A: Being able to meet and gain lifelong friends and being able to see smiles on folk's faces that you've been able to help influence, is one of my favorite parts. From a pure adrenaline rush point of view, getting to jump out of airplanes with the 36th CRG on Guam was an absolute blast. Q: What can 688th Airmen expect from you? A: They can expect my trust, commitment, and loyalty. They can also expect that we'll set the bar very high, so they can smile when they achieve those standards and go above and beyond. I will continually have the commitment to give them the tools and resources they need to do their job day in and day out. Q: What do you expect from the Airmen? A: I would expect that they could do a little bit better job balancing their priorities than what I have been able to do. Every time we sit down and talk, I let them know that I'm not always doing a very good job at my priorities. Sometimes I balance the job a little bit more than I do my family and my personal life. I hope they can learn from that and be able to be mentors for the people they are working with. Q: What advice would you give Airmen? A: The one that I normally talk about is balancing your work life, personal life, spiritual life, family life, and other important aspects. You have to have a good balance, and that's what I am working on. It's great if I can learn something from them, or if they can learn something from me. Q: What do you look forward to the most? A: I'm excited to see how we are able to shape and mold what we present, not only to the Air Force, but also for our national mission partners. Cyber is a challenging area, but our Airmen are well trained and they are smart, so I feel our cyber capabilities are in good hands. Q: Do you have a leadership philosophy? A: It's pretty simple--leave it better than you found it. I leave that vague and say make "it" better, so it can mean a bunch of different things. "It" can be the unit, the base, the Air Force, your personal life, PT, or whatever. If you strive to make it better each day, you can look at yourself at the end of the day and say, "Yes I made this better today." You can make things a little better each day. Q: How do you feel about being at Scott AFB? A: We're very excited to be a part of Team Scott. We'll do our best to be good stewards and great mission partners.