CA August 2007 for CD.pmd - 440th Airlift Wing

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TheCombat AirlifterVolume 1, No. 2August 2007Wing CommanderCol. Merle D. HartDirector, Public AffairsDennis J. MehringWing Chief, Public AffairsLt. Col. Ann Peru KnabePublic Affairs Staff1st Lt. Jeff SchoenTech. Sgt. Steve StaedlerSenior Airman Amanda HillLiz A. StoeckmannOffice of Public Affairs440th Airlift Wing374 Maynard St. Suite 301Pope AFB, NC 28308-2409Phone: 910.394.5455FAX: 910.394.5459http://440aw.afrc.af.milThis funded Air Force newspaperis an authorized publicationfor members of the U.S. militaryand their families. Contents ofthe Combat Airlifter are notnecessarily the official view of,or endorsed by, the U.S.government, Department ofDefense or Department of theAir Force. Content is compiled,originated and developed by thePublic Affairs staff of the 440thAirlift Wing, Air Force ReserveCommand. All photos are AirForce photos unless otherwiseindicated in the photo byline.On the cover:Chief Danny Formanski, 440thMaintenance Squadron, isconsidered a “hybrid,” one ofthe first 440th reservists tomove to Pope Air Force Base,N.C. Read more about thehybrids on page 3.photo by Staff Sgt. Joe Starkby Col. Harry Heflin440th Airlift Wing Inspector GeneralThis column is usually reserved for a topic that ismeant to inspire, motivate or reflect upon something— a person, place or thing — that is relevant at thetime. With that thought in mind, I want to use thisvenue to offer my thoughts on what makes the womenand men of the 440 th Airlift Wing so special. I havechosen to do this with a golf analogy.In its purest form, golf is a very simple game; justget the ball in the hole, for eighteen holes. It’s thejourney — the obstacles encountered throughout theround — that makes it so difficult.So what is it that sets the top golfers in the worldapart from the rest of the pack?They have the ability to focus on turning endlesshours of sacrifice, training and passion into setting upwinning opportunities. They understand the importanceof making every shot count, but more importantly,focusing on the next shot — not the last shot.They have a vision. They trust their swing and theydon’t focus on the obstacles.What then, sets the women and men of the 440 thAirlift Wing apart fromall the rest of the unitsthroughout Air ForceReserve Command —and in my opinion therest of the UnitedStates Air Force?For me, it’s notmuch different from theprofessional golfer;each member of the 440 th has repeatedly demonstratedthe ability to focus on the job at hand, come together asa team and get the job done safely — in spite of theobstacles encountered along the journey. Right now,wing members remain mission ready, and even in theCommand PerspectiveThe legacy lives on,make every shot count“Maintain your passion to excel andcontinue to serve proudly, focus onthe next shot, trust your swing anddon’t focus on the obstacles.”Col. Harry Heflin, 440th Airlift Wing inspector generalmidst of a BRAC move, the 440 th is fully combat capable.Whether you arealready a part of the440 th Airlift Wing atPope AFB, joining anotherAir Force unit oranother branch of service,or if you have orwill be retiring; rememberto make every shotcount.Maintain your passion to excel and continue to serveproudly, focus on the next shot, trust your swing anddon’t focus on the obstacles. Do these things and youcan rest assured the legacy of the 440 th will live on. Allthe best and God’s speed!Page 2 The Combat Airlifter August 2007
FeatureThe history of the HybridsDedicated Airmen key to success of Det. 1 at Popeby Dennis MehringThe recommendations of theBase Realignment and Closure Commissionbecame law in November of2005 and once it did the future ofGeneral Mitchell Air Reserve Station,Wis., was settled. The wingwas going to be moved to Pope AirForce Base, N.C., so two of the firstquestions that had to be answeredby the members of the 440 th whowere staying with the wing were“How do we get this outfit moved?”and “Who is going to move first?”The first people to move to PopeAFB arrived on August 20, 2006.They were: Col. Brett Clark, Det. 1commander, Col. Mark Rodriguez(an individual mobilizationaugmentee from Oklahoma City,Okla.) Maj. Derek Poellet, ChiefMaster Sgt. Danny Formanski, SeniorMaster Sergeants Bill Westlingand Lynn Klapste, Master SergeantsTerry Harper and Jennifer Drewitz,and Tech. Sergeants Dave Websterand Mark Ulmen.The original members of Det. 1called themselves “The Hybrids.”The best definition of a hybrid isprobably “something that has twodifferent types of components performingessentially the same function.”Having their roots and thevast majority of the wing in Wisconsin,their jobs in North Carolinawould undoubtedly contribute tosuch a belief. The commander of thedetachment was Colonel Clark, thecurrent 440 th Operations Groupcommander. Colonel Clark had beenthe commander of the 94 th OperationsGroup at Dobbins Air ForceBase, Ga., when he was given hiscurrent assignment. He said that hehad two big challenges.“I was going to ask them (theother members of Det. 1) to sprintand not jog through this assignment.The normal pace of operations thatthey were used to was not going tobe enough. They also had to be jacksof all trades. If someone was a specialistin maintenance, that personhad to be ready to drop what theywere doing and help get work donein some other unrelated area.” ColonelClark was as good as his word.One Hybrid provided a partiallist of job responsibilities taken onfrom 2006 to 2007: civilian timekeeper,orders clerk, services, governmentpurchase card management,contracting, computer support, individualequipment custodian, andvehicle management. None of theseduties are part of that specialist’snormal career field.Major Poellet was a captain whenhe moved himself and his family toPope in 2006. How did he end upas a member of Det. 1?“I was requested by ColonelFlournoy (22nd Air Force actingChief of Staff) and I thought Ishouldn’t turn down this opportunity,”Major Poellet said.He was asked what he thoughtwas the biggest challenge to beingone of the first 440 th Reservists atPope. It did not take long for him tonarrow down the challenge to “Identifyingall the responsibilities thatwould be necessary to become selfsustaining. There are so many thingsa wing has to do and we still havenot finished that job. For example,we had to establish financial accounts,supply accounts, figure outadditional duties like unit securityand flight line driving managers. TheNSPS system (new personnel ratingsystem for Federal employees)has been quite a challenge.”The easiest question he was“It’s been an experience I’ll keepwith me for the rest of my career.”- Maj. Derek Poelletasked was, “Are you feeling morecomfortable and confident now thatmore people have been hired andthere are more familiar faces aroundyou? His reply was a firmly spoken,“YES! It’s been an experienceI’ll keep with me for the rest of mycareer. I’ve learned so much aboutwhat it takes to operate a wing.”Master Sgt. Jennifer Drewitz hadthis to say about her experience as aHybrid. “The job to date has beenextreme. The processes that we tookfor granted back in Milwaukee werenot in place for us here. The simplesttask was a chore because everythinghad to be done from scratch.It took weeks for us to get our localline badges. We (the original Hybrids)all had to step up and take onduties outside our normal specialties.I work in Maintenance and rightnow I’m processing line badges forthe wing.”Even though her Reserve dutieshave been a challenge, Master Sgt.Drewitz said that her biggest challengewas “finding a good school formy son and finding a good place tolive.” She wanted the change to beas seamless as possible.Starting a new project is alwaysdaunting, but try to imagine the complexitiesinvolved in creating a baseof operations for hundreds of interdependentpeople in a new locationa thousand miles away from all thesupports you know and are comfortablewith. As of this date hundredsof people have been hired andmore than a hundred ART positionsstill need to filled, but the flag hasbeen transferred, planes are beingmoved to North Carolina and thewing is still working and flying. Det.1’s operations have come to an end,but the record of what they wereable to accomplish in such a shorttime will be evident to all 440 th membersfor months andyears to come.The Combat Airlifter August 2007 Page 3
Page 1: Combat Airlifter440th Airlift Wing,
Page 5 and 6: News440 th nurse named22nd AF’s O
Page 7 and 8: FeatureAir Force Reservist Master S
Page 9 and 10: NewsNew rules require technicians t

CA August 2007 for CD.pmd - 440th Airlift Wing

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