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375th AMW hosts AMC/CC visit

  • Published
  • By Col. Mike Hornitschek
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing commander
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill --  The 375th Air Mobility Wing has once again risen to the occasion as we have prepared for an official visit by the commander of Air Mobility Command, Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., and his wife, Diana.

While it may seem strange to some that a commander who lives and works here would pay an official visit to us--his hosting wing, it's really an opportunity for him and his wife to meet many of the people behind the scenes who help carry out AMC's worldwide missions. You don't get that opportunity very much in the day-to-day headquarters business of leading the Air Mobility Command mission.

A visit like this is also an opportunity for the wing to showcase not only our mission strengths, but also to highlight the many programs we have in place for our Airmen and their family members, and to lobby for programs or funding needed for our continuous process improvements and initiatives which are designed to strengthen resiliency in our workforce and communities.

During our visit with him yesterday, he spoke to several of our outstanding senior NCOs to discuss operations tempo, balancing time between mission and work, and how to build resiliency in our Airmen. He also met with members of our Community Action Information Board, known as CAIB, which serves as a forum for cross-organizational identification and resolution of individual, family, and community issues that impact the readiness of the force and the quality of life of our Airmen and their families. We feel we have several initiatives in our approach to delivering Comprehensive Airmen Fitness that could serve a potential AMC benchmarks.

We also introduced him to our Airman and Family Readiness, and Education Center teams to showcase the numerous programs and assistance available for our folks. This was also our time where we revealed our improvement plans for the education center facility and the idea for a new student union area. After a tour of our top notch family housing areas, we focused on Scott's communications infrastructure and expanding mission of our Honor Guard while Mrs. Johns received a tour of our medical facilities which was named AMC's 2010 Clinic of the Year. There we highlighted our wounded warrior care plan, a topic that's very important to all of us, and one in which our medical professionals execute in award-winning style.

Today, we're continuing to showcase our wing to General and Mrs. Johns, discussing the ongoing construction and mission stand up of the C-21 Field Training Unit and the Det. 1 Combat Flight Inspection and Navigation mission. We're also focusing on our Total Force Integration successes with the new Base Defense Operations Center for our security forces teammates and new Consolidated Operations building and Command Post. During this time, Mrs. Johns will be focused on our youth center and how we're building our relationships with the Greater Scott community school districts that support the base. She's also meeting with Key Spouses throughout the base to discuss family support.

Another important aspect of his visit to us is meeting the community leaders who provide such incredible support to the base all servicemembers. Without these dedicated men and women, we would not be as successful in our missions as we are today. A prime demonstration of this wonderful support is a dinner that many community members are hosting for our enlisted members tonight in their annual salute. We are indeed the recipients of much good will and are happy to be part of such an amazing community.
General Johns concludes his official visit with us by hosting an all-call to share his thoughts and strategic messages.

It's an honor to host our commander and his wife, and it takes a tremendous amount of effort to pull off these events smoothly, so I thank all of you who provided briefings, information, preparations, and demonstrations. Most importantly, I thank you for coming together and shining as a team during an incredibly full week. Keep up the great work and keep "outshining!"