LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force made his return to Langley after nearly three years, bringing new ideas and insight for Airmen here March 28 through 30.
Chief Master Sgt. Rodney J. McKinley, who is also a former 1st Fighter Wing command chief, spent three days touring Langley, speaking to Airmen and touching base with past colleagues. Before departing Langley, the CMSAF reflected on his visit and answered several questions.
Q: Have you noticed many changes? Was there anything in particular that stood out as impressive or vastly different from your time here?
A: "I think the biggest change is all the F-22s sitting on the flightline. The airpower here in the 1st Fighter Wing is incredible. It's also good to see the base has continued to update the dorms and renovate the enlisted club. But one thing that has remained constant is the great Airmen at Langley; they are just outstanding Americans."
Q: What was the highlight for you?
A: "Coming back was a good opportunity to see the successes of 1st FW, Air Combat Command and the people behind these successes. It was a valuable experience, and seeing some of the people that are still here from the past was great."
Q: During your visit, you spoke with many 1st Fighter Wing Airmen; what's the one message that you hope to impress upon them?
A: "The message I try to get out to all Airmen, no matter what their job, is to do the best job you possibly can and the rest will fall in place. There are a lot of changes going on in our Air Force -- we are at war and undergoing force shaping -- we all need to try our best to improve our workplaces during this critical time."
Q: You've also been speaking to members of Congress; last month, you told them that "we recruit Airmen, but we retain families" and several issues are focused in that direction. What are the concerns, and how are we doing?
A: "When I testified I had four issues: Number one is to take care of our wounded Airmen and their families. Two, we need to make sure we have good childcare throughout our services. In addition, housing privatization is very important. We want to continue to have high standards for our Airmen's housing - both family housing and our dormitories. Lastly, I think we need to minimize negative permanent change of station effects on Air Force families, such as the inability to transfer high school credits from state-to-state, family members not receiving in-state college tuition or spouses making career sacrifices during PCS moves. We are working with Congress to find some ways we can take care of our families and not penalize them just because we serve our country."
Q: Another ongoing communication effort is Roll Call. How important are supervisors to the Air Force's communication efforts, and what kind of feedback are you getting about the Roll Call?
A: "Supervisors are essential to the success of our Air Force and should not be doing leadership by e-mail. Every shop across the Air Force should meet with their people and read the Roll Call letter at least once a week. It gives Airmen a weekly opportunity to talk about issues at the major command, wing and squadron level."
Q: One of the topics covered by Roll Call was the reduction of time spent on ancillary training; how is that effort coming along, and when can Airmen expect to see a difference in that area?
A: "We're concerned about the amount of time Airmen are required to spend on computer based training. We are looking at greatly reducing ancillary training. Airmen's time is absolutely critical as we get leaner. If we are going to have less people, let's try and do less things we don't need to do."
Q: There's also been talk of a new and improved enlisted performance report system; what can you tell us about that? What are the significant changes and when can we expect to see that system fielded?
A: "This will be the first big change for the enlisted performance report since 1989. There will be less writing and more of a good, strong evaluation without a lot of extra verbiage. Airmen will sign the EPR before it becomes an official record, versus now where Airmen can't see the report until it's already been filed. In addition, the physical training section of the EPR will either say exempt, meets standards or does not meet standards. The new EPR is expected out this summer."
Q: Can you tell us about how Airmen are contributing in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and your assessment of those efforts?
A: "We're engaged in the Global War on Terror. We have about 30,000 Airmen working throughout the Central Command area of responsibility alone and the leadership is proud of our Airmen serving in every location. We're fully engaged in this war and we're not just in Iraq and Afghanistan; we're engaged across the entire globe; whether maintaining the missile fields, doing anti-drug missions in South America or protecting the home front with Operation Noble Eagle around the clock; our Airmen are extremely busy doing incredible things - we can all be proud of our Airmen."
Q: Do you think the American public understands how the Air Force is contributing to the war? What can Airmen do to help the public understand it better?
A: "Right now, the American public may not fully comprehend the extent to which the Air Force is in the fight. We're trying to get our message out to everyone; we need to let the public know exactly what the Air Force is doing and how we are fighting the Global War on Terror. Airmen should be proud and knowledgeable of what we are doing so we can all communicate the Air Force story."
Q: Is there anything you'd like to add?
A: "I want to thank everyone at Langley for being the great Airmen they are. This is an extraordinary time to be serving our Air Force, and every Airman wearing the uniform today -- active-duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard -- should be able to look back and say 'When my country was at war - I did my best. Also, I want to thank the local community for their outstanding support. It was truly an honor to come back and visit with everyone."