DENVER, Co. -- The Reserve Advisory Council welcomed 10 new members during its bi-annual meeting at the Air and Space Forces Association Warfighter Symposium here recently.
The new members join two returning members to make up the professional development board that represents all statuses and ranks and is charged with identifying quality-of-life issues affecting Air Force Reserve members and the command.
“My number one goal for the council is to empower each of our members to take on issues they are passionate about fixing and ensure they have the resources they need to engage and advocate on behalf of our fellow Citizen Airmen,” said Brig. Gen. Vanessa Dornhoefer, the mobilization assistant to the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for logistics and the council’s senior mentor.
The council works to address policy and legislative issues within the Department of Defense by advising the chief of the Air Force Reserve and his representatives who serve on the Air Reserve Forces Policy Committee and the Reserve Forces Policy Board.
“Our council helps identify and prioritize potential changes to issues driven by statutory requirements and policy through direct engagement with the field,” Dornhoefer said. “They then research the issue with key stakeholders and make direct recommendations to Reserve senior leaders for action. Our council members also support Air Force Reserve requests for study, evaluation and/or recommendations on issues affecting Reservists.”
“Being a part of this team allows us to take Airmen’s concerns and get some of them in front of leaders who can truly make the changes and/or advocate to our federal lawmakers for those changes,” said Senior Master Sgt. Tammanica Richard, a Senior NCO Academy instructor stationed at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama, and new Reserve Council member. “At the squadron, group or wing level, we can influence change on a national level to benefit so many more of our deserving members.”
During its meeting, the council had the opportunity to sit down with Lt. Gen. John Healy, chief of the Air Force Reserve, and Chief Master Sgt. Timothy White, Healy’s senior enlisted advisor, to gain leadership’s perspective on top priorities, current challenges and opportunities.
“We appreciate what you’re doing,” Healy told the group. “And as we’re moving out and getting after readiness issues within the command, I need you to be looking at what is falling off the other edge of the plate that’s not being accomplished anymore or has derailed or significantly delayed something that we’re trying to get done to help the Reserve and our Citizen Airmen.”
Over the past year, the council has met virtually and in-person to discuss ongoing initiatives and to begin coordination for the fiscal year 2023 and 2024 Congressional sessions.
Recent issues the council has worked on include: addressing the impact to Reserve members on post-deployment downtime being accomplished only in the area of the assigned unit versus at a member’s home of record; clarifying to members the effect a Veterans Administration disability rating has on a member’s ability to serve; streamlining Inactive Duty for Training travel reimbursement processes; and Tricare Reserve Select for all members before 2030.
During its most recent strategic planning session, the council established and prioritized three new working groups: Mental Health and Resiliency, Retention, and Barriers to Service.
Council member Chief Master Sgt. Gayla Gibson, senior enlisted leader for the 482nd Mission Support Group at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, said she hopes the council can score a few quick wins while moving toward some longer-term wins that will help arm and ready future Airmen.
“The impact I want to make most is improvements that will help Airmen across the enterprise, not just today but for the future as well,” she said.
Reserve Citizen Airmen are encouraged to contact any of the council members listed below or email the Reserve Council at AF.Reserve.Council@us.af.mil with recommendations for policy or legislative initiatives they think can help improve the force.
• Lt. Col. Phillip Caruso – 16th Intelligence Squadron director of operations, Fort Meade, Maryland.
• Maj. John O’Donnell – U.S. Space Force duty officer, the Pentagon.
• Lt. Col. Jessica Greening – 916th Force Support Squadron commander, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas.
• Lt. Col. Sriram ‘Fuse’ Krishnan – 307th Fighter Squadron commander, Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
• Maj. Alvina Maynard – IMA to the commander of Air force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 405, Maxwell-Gunter AFB, Alabama.
• Maj. Emilie Stewart – 38th Intelligence Squadron assistant director of operations, Beale AFB, California.
• Capt. Blake Badillo, 349th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse examiner, Travis AFB, California.
• Chief Master Sgt. Gayla Gibson – 482nd Mission Support Group senior enlisted leader, Homestead ARB, Florida.
• Senior Master Sgt. Isaac Lambuth – 414th Maintenance Squadron aircraft section chief, Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
• Senior Master Sgt. Tammanica Richard – Senior NCO Academy instructor, Maxwell-Gunter AFB, Alabama.
• Master Sgt. Vanessa Romo – 452nd Air Mobility Wing readiness coordinator, March ARB, California.
• Tech. Sgt. Zachary Lindquist – 910th Security Forces Squadron physical security program manager, Youngstown ARB, Ohio.