54th AS commander follows aspirations, leads Airmen Published Aug. 14, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Maria Bowman 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Lt. Col. Randy Naylor, 54th Airlift Squadron commander, assumed command June 7. Naylor oversees the safe execution and operation of four C-40C aircraft and their associated personnel in support of priority airlift for senior military leaders, executives and Congressional members. Q: What led you to joining the Air Force? A: When I was about eight, I decided I wanted to join the Air Force and be a pilot. My family had gone to visit friends who lived on an Air Force base, and when I saw fighter jets screaming overhead and coming in for a landing, I was determined to join them. Q: What have been some of your favorite memories? A: Graduating from the Air Force Academy and being commissioned, flying my first combat sorties over Afghanistan in the KC-135, and taking command of the Air Force's greatest DV-support squadron were three long-term goals I set for myself. When I was 12, my dad, who was in the Army, talked to me about going to the Air Force Academy, and that's what I wanted to do. To be at the school and do all of the academics, the drill and everything else that was required to graduate was extremely challenging. Graduation day was one of those days you work toward for a long time. To have a goal and put it out there, and actually be able to achieve it is a great accomplishment. Not only had I been at the Academy, but my dream was to be a pilot, so I was graduating and getting ready to attend pilot training. When it came to flying my first combat sorties, there was a lot of training to get ready and be mission qualified. To actually go out in my tanker and refuel bomber and fighter aircraft that were getting ready to drop bombs and maintain air superiority was pretty cool. When I was a first lieutenant at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., I had the opportunity to become a squadron executive officer and work with the commander. I saw the job that he did, taking care of people and making the Air Force mission happen. I set the next goal for myself to be an operations squadron commander. Now, I'm able to make a lot of decisions that affect the Air Force mission, take care of our people, and ensure the success of my squadron. Q: What is your leadership philosophy? A: I take care of my people, and they'll take care of the mission. Getting to know the people in the squadron is the first part of taking care of them. I realize that there's a lot of stuff that's important to me that isn't important to everyone. I think that knowing your people will help you provide what's important to them. There are some things that are inherent to the mission that are not negotiable--these are our jobs and things we must do; however, there are a lot of other things as far as outside opportunities (like finishing your Community College of the Air Force degree or working on your bachelor's or master's degree) that people need time and encouragement to accomplish. When you know your people well enough, you can show them how it will benefit them. A big part of taking care of your people is helping them to set goals for themselves, so they are doing meaningful work and achieving meaningful things for themselves and their future. Q: What can your troops expect from you? A: That I will be loyal to them, help them take care of themselves and their families, and do all that I can for them so that they can make the mission happen. I want them to know that I am not wasting their time. I am not asking them to do meaningless tasks. What they do is always connected to the mission. When items come down that would detract from the mission or distract them from their primary duty, I take care of those things as best I can. There are a lot of distractions out there that, as leadership, we can weigh in on them and take care of them in a very short time. I exist as a leader to clear out obstacles and take care of all the extra stuff, so that my people can do their jobs and be fulfilled in that. Q: What do you want from your troops? A: I expect them to be loyal to the Air Force and never forget that they are the ones that make the mission happen. I think loyalty is understanding your duty and performing that duty to the best of your ability. When I say I expect loyalty from my people, I expect them to be loyal to the mission--to take care of business and do it in a professional way that reflects well on the AF, on our unit and on themselves, so that their performance is beyond question. Q: Who is your hero and why? A: My father. He showed me what it means to be a military officer and how to take care of your troops and your family. My dad, who was a helicopter pilot in the Army, shared a story with me about a time during the mid-'80s, when the military was going through a draw down and money was pretty tight. There was a really hard push to get their maintenance numbers back up. As the unit maintenance officer, he presented his leadership with a plan of what it would take to do this. They didn't have the money to buy all the spares they would need in order to make timely repairs to the helicopters to keep their maintenance rates up, so the next best option they had was pull parts off of one and put it on another one. He got together with his NCOs and explained why this was the solution. They were able to organize a schedule where they were able to get it done and get the maintenance rates back up. My father then continued to brief his colonel every week on how many extra hours his people were working to make this happen. Eventually, his people couldn't do it anymore--the number of hours it took to swap out parts exceeded their capacity to do it. He already had this information ready to present to leadership, so they would know this was not a long-term solution. To me, that was a great example of how he could get that mission done and still be able to take care of his people.