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It's a privilege to command

  • Published
  • By Col. David L. Almand
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing commander
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  As we head full speed ahead into summer, I'd like to take a moment to first, thank you all for ensuring that our Memorial Day weekend was free of incidents and accidents! It takes the entire team to reinforce the idea of "Safety First" and then everyone's cooperation to make the right choices.

Our holiday celebrations and remembrances were followed by a great speaking event called TEDx--if you missed the presentations, they'll be posted online at www.tedxscottafb.com mid-June--and then by the annual USO Mud Run on Saturday! Special thanks to our logistics, civil engineer and aeromedical evacuation squadrons for providing much of the supporting manpower behind these very educational and fun events.

Speaking of fun, I believe in working hard and having fun. In the coming weeks we have more opportunities to enjoy our friendships with our community partners, and with our family and friends as we participate in two picnic celebrations.

The first one is this Saturday, June 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the O'Fallon Community Park, which is hosted by the wonderful people of O'Fallon and Shiloh who are providing free activities and food for our Team Scott families. We thank the O'Fallon and Shiloh communities for organizing this visible demonstration of its appreciation and please know that we are proud to serve this great nation and proud to be your neighbor!

The base-wide picnic will be next Friday, June 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the ALS Pavilion area which was recently named "Warrior Park." There'll be free food and drinks and entertainment for children. This is a great opportunity to improve our Comprehensive Airman Fitness. We are very good at working the mission 24/7, and we need time to step away to enjoy friendship and camaraderie.

Through the hard work of our 375th Force Support Squadron we were able to continue to get community sponsorship, making this event free of charge to us! We're very grateful to the sponsors for their support of our military members and their families! In addition, Chris Herman is an avid aviator and he's bringing a B-25 to Scott that day. Everyone is welcome to go take a look at this historic aircraft from 10 a.m. to 2 p .m. at Hangar 1.

I know my family is looking forward to these events and we are glad to be with you! We consider ourselves a "Mobility Family," and we're excited to be stationed at the core of global mobility--Scott AFB! It's a privilege to serve you--the men and women of the 375th AMW!

We are all accountable to our communities and to our country, so we have a tremendous responsibility as we move forward with fiscal constraints and impending manpower drawdowns. We're all looking for ways to ensure the mission...and people...can continue to perform despite these challenges, so I look forward to your ideas and your support. One thing we can control is our calendar, and we're working to ensure the workload and manning stays in balance, as I know that is a major concern for our workforce.

I ask that as we move forward together that we ensure our workforce is free of discrimination, harassment, assaults, drug use and very importantly, free of alcohol related incidents. All these things tear an organization apart, and we cannot afford to let that happen. Ours is a sacred trust with the American people and we have an obligation to treat others--and ourselves--with dignity and respect.

Other concerns that have been voiced by the team here have to do with facilities for fitness. We are working around our limitations and continue to advocate for an appropriate space and solution to ensure year-round fitness. This is an Airman readiness issue, so we will fight to keep that high on our priority for funding.

I look forward to working with you as we tackle these areas of interest, and as we continue to transition leadership throughout the early summer. We've had four changes of command in our wing leadership with eight more to go by mid-July! Thanks for all your patience and support as we get to know each other and carry on this great mission with 3-7-5 ... Showcase Pride!