From the outside looking in

  • Published
  • By Col. Darrell Young
  • 934th Airlift Wing commander
Minneapolis-St. Paul --  As the new guy coming in I would like to take a little time to introduce myself and pass on some of my early impressions of this wing. I am a military brat so you could say I grew up in the Air Force My father retired from active duty as a senior master sergeant and bought a home in Northern California. I went to school in Sacramento and entered the Air Force in the early 1980's.

I joined the reserve out at Travis Air Force Base in 1993 and have never looked back. I have had several great assignments since then and I'm excited about this one. I am deeply honored and humbled by the chance to serve with each and every one of you.

As I stood outside looking in during the recent 22nd Air Force Staff Assistance Visit I was really struck by how well every facet of the wing was performing. Many times when you are inside an organization you lose touch on how you stack up against other units. We have a tendency to think we are just doing our job and we are just average. In fact, many times we tend to dwell on the problems we have and think we are the only ones struggling with these issues. I would like to clear things up right now; you are doing fantastic!

A few months ago, when I learned I was coming here, I naturally started to follow the wing and pay attention to how you were doing on all the major programs measured by 22nd AF. As I sat and examined the metrics I clearly saw that in almost every category the 934th AW was leading the way. During the SAV I had many, more experienced, team members come tell me they were very impressed with this wing because you were doing so well.

As a matter of fact this wing only received about half of the write-ups a typical unit receives during these visits; half of the write ups! That is a pretty incredible feat given all the things you have had to contend with over the last few years. When people, who know this wing, found out I was coming here they had nothing but good things to say.

I was told that I was fortunate because this was a great wing with great people. Someone even said it was the "shining jewel" in 22nd AF. Well, from what I have seen, heard and the data I have collected I can say I agree!

I look forward to working with all of you over the coming years. I know we will face many more challenges but I also know that we will meet each one of them with the professional spirit that all of you have and continue to show.