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Fort Worth Airmen, spouses help revitalize squadrons

  • Published
  • By Maj. Candice Allen
  • 301st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
NAVAL AIR STATION FORT WORTH JOINT RESERVE BASE, Texas --  More than 200 reserve, guard and active-duty Airmen, spouses and civilians here participated in focus groups July 8-9, 2017, to help revitalize Air Force squadrons.

A 30-person team appointed by Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force Chief of Staff, traveled to the 301st Fighter Wing to discuss the CSAF’s Focus Area – Revitalizing the Squadron.

Broken into small group and one-on-one interviews, participants of all ranks had an opportunity to share their views on how to make squadrons better. Young Airmen, especially, felt it was necessary to share their thoughts with the team.

“We need to revitalize our squadrons," said Airman 1st Class Austin Cowan, a 355th Fighter Squadron member, who attended one of the hour-long sessions. “Junior Airmen such as myself really need to come together to pitch our ideas. The next step towards a better, closer squadron is right around the corner.”

The Fort Worth wing was the 26th unit the team visited, and only reserve wing, since they begin traveling in February to hear ideas from Airmen.

“I do believe it is beneficial for the chief of staff of the Air Force to hear ideas from junior Airmen,” said Senior Airman Sarah Veness, a 301st Operations Support Flight Aviation Resource Management reservist, who participated in a session. "Changes initiated now will affect us when we are senior non-commissioned officers. So it is better to start the change years in advance and constantly improve and mold the Air Force to modern times.”

In a few weeks, the field team will complete its base visits across the Air Force. The team will then identify, analyze and implement solutions. Subject matter expert working groups will conduct root cause analysis and generate recommendations based on ideas recorded from base visits.

“It was great that I had the opportunity to be part of the group, we talked about lots of important topics and got to voice our opinions,” said Cowan. “I wish everyone in my squadron got the chance to be there. This was a great class to participate in and I think it should happen often.”

There is still an opportunity to provide comments, suggestions or best practices to the CSAF on how to improve squadrons. Airmen can share their ideas through the Squadron Revitalization Idea site here.

The Air Force will implement and track solutions from now until 2020.