Air Force Sustainment Center leadership will relocate its headquarters for one week to the two other major bases within AFSC throughout 2019.
The “move the flag” visits are an effort to immerse leadership in the local work force mission and communities around the command. The first effort took place at Robins AFB this week.
“The goal of participating in daily operations at Robins and Hill is to demonstrate AFSC commitment to our workforce and communities across the command,” AFSC Commander Lt. Gen. Gene Kirkland said.
Executive Director Kevin Stamey and Command Chief Master Sgt. Gary Sharp joined Kirkland to interact with the workforce and personally communicate goals and objectives.
The initiative is also an opportunity for senior leaders to foster stronger relationships with community leaders at the other bases, understanding that their support is vital to the overall success of the AFSC mission.
“It’s challenging to build relationships across geographic boundaries and the more time we can spend with our internal team and our partners, the better equipped we are to enable their success,” Stamey said. “I also enjoy getting out to spend a day in the life of our workforce to understand what they need to be successful and what I can do to help. There is no substitute for the personal interaction that comes with being on site at the base.”
Kirkland said the goal is to temporarily relocate as often as practical. However, the teams adjust based on the operations tempo of the organizations and other factors.
“While most of the AFSC engine work is performed at Tinker AFB, the landing gear is worked on at Hill AFB in Utah, and the avionics workload is maintained at Robins AFB in Georgia,” said Kirkland. “These bases work interdependently to deliver combat effects and it takes all three to ultimately sustain these weapon systems. In addition, our three air base wings provide essential mission support to our depots and operational tenants.”
“We want all of our personnel to know how important they are to the mission,” Stamey said. “We are one team pulling on the same rope and this will give us an opportunity to demonstrate that.”
The AFSC is headquartered at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., and is expected to make the same transition to Hill AFB in February. Additional dates will be added throughout the year.