MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- I want to share with you what we know as we help our country respond to and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Many in the wing have been working around the clock the last couple of months ensuring the wing is positioned to respond to any task. For those of you that haven’t had the benefit of participating in our dozens of working group meetings, I’d like to share with you our priorities during this time.
Our first priority is you. The health and wellbeing of our members and their families have been in the forefront of every decision we’ve made. At first, we didn’t know enough about the risks we were all being exposed to so we were cautious about any type of military status that took you out of your homes and away from your families. Consequently, many TDYs were cancelled or modified and we did not hold a traditional UTA in April. Slowly, we are increasing our required training and travel.
The second priority was to preserve our mission capability as much as possible. To accomplish this, the units have developed ways to ensure social distancing while executing as much training and mission as possible. This is no easy task and everyday things change so we are continuously reassessing the situation and modifying our techniques and approaches.
Through all of this, effective communication up and down the chain of command is vital. Realizing many of you don’t have access to your military e-mail, we have transmitted information through the 908th App, 908th web page and 908th Facebook page. Chief and I held a Facebook live Question & Answer session on April 20th; your feedback says we should have another one so we will do that again soon.
Be a good wingman and stay in contact with the Airmen in your section. Check on each other to make sure everyone is doing ok, all of our helping agencies are standing by to provide assistance where needed. Also, staying in contact with each other is a good way to receive the latest information available.
Stay strong and stay SAFE. We look forward to seeing you all again in person real soon. Until then, Aim High 908th Airlift Wing!