ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia -- Since Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee took command of Air Force Reserve Command in September 2018, he and his wife, Janis, have made it a priority to connect families throughout AFRC.
“One thing Janis really helped with was how we stay connected to our Airmen because that’s the hardest thing,” Scobee said. “I don’t care what status you are in, if you are an Airman in the Air Force Reserve you are part of this family.”
During his tenure, Scobee helped implement full-time command chiefs across most of AFRC. He also helped add 45 additional full-time first sergeants and 10 additional chaplains.
“The biggest part really has been building a team so it wasn’t just us here at the headquarters making decisions and thinking we knew what was best,” he said. “We were asking the entire Air Force Reserve to tell us what we need to do because we can’t do it alone.”
Another “Team Scobee” priority was reinvigorating the Key Spouse program to reach more families.
“I think the biggest piece we were missing with the Key Spouse program was just making sure families were included by improving basic communication,” Janis said. “It’s just a small piece that we did, but it really changed everything across the board.”
She set up a continuous process improvement event to discuss with key players how to improve the program to better support Air Force Reserve families. One event that came out of that discussion was a two-day Key Spouse conference.
“Having a Key Spouse-specific conference was really instrumental because it brought all of the Key Spouses, Key Spouse mentors and those who were on the fence about being a Key Spouse together,” she said. “It was very open and very inclusive.”
When asked what he would miss most about his four years as AFRC commander, Scobee responded with an answer that highlights his and his wife’s dedication to supporting Airmen.
“I’m going to miss the people,” he said. “You look across the organization and it is just amazing people. Every day, we just tried to make this place better for the people who are here.”
Janis offered some final words of advice for Airmen and their families. “Keep taking care of each other and just remember if you put your family first, everything else will fall into place,” she said.