CMSAF McKinley addresses RAF Lakenheath Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kristopher Levasseur
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  The Air Force's top enlisted Airman, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley, paid a visit to RAF Lakenheath April 12 as part of his U.S. Air Forces in Europe tour. During his visit to the base, the chief spoke with students at the Airmen Leadership School on RAF Feltwell and held two Airmen's calls. During these talks, Chief McKinley addressed topics from force shaping to Air Force Smart Operations 21 initiatives.

The 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs staff met with Chief McKinley and obtained the answers to the following questions:
Q: The Air Force in going though a drastic cut in its operational forces. What effect will the cut in manpower have on day-to-day operations?
A: Through force shaping, we are going to make sure we are an efficient, capable Air Force. Our responsibility is to properly organize, train, and equip our Airmen to be the best at their job no matter what job that is. Sure, we may go through difficult times during this force shaping, but in the end, we are recapitalizing and modernizing our Air Force into a much more capable future Force.

Q: What is being done to ensure the Air Force remains strong throughout this time of transformation and force shaping?
A: We have great leadership at all levels of our Air Force. Leadership is performing a lot of hands-on training to make sure all Airmen know their jobs and responsibilities. Our leadership ensures we continue to succeed and stay strong as an Air Force.

Q: What advice would you give Airmen who plan to make the Air Force a career?
A: Whatever job you get in the Air Force, do the best you can. Treat people with dignity and respect, and along the way, do everything that is expected of you. As long as you do those things, you'll succeed in the Air Force.

Q: Conserving energy and resources is an important issue. Why do you feel they are important to the Air Force and its personnel?
A: As our funds dwindle down and commanders make difficult decisions with the money they have, Airmen need to help the Air Force out by conserving energy. We have to make sure we don't waste energy in our base housing, offices and work places. Lowering the utility bills on base will allow commanders to use that money to benefit the base in other areas.

Q: Ancillary training takes up a lot of time Airmen could spend performing their jobs. What is being done to make this process move faster?
A: We are working hard, through initiatives such as AFSO 21, to reduce the amount of ancillary training we have. We feel the Airmen of today have too much ancillary training. We are trying to figure out how much training an Airman needs, at what point in their career they should get the training done and in what way the training should be administered. It's really important for us as leaders to give Airmen more time to do their jobs.

Q: Are there any new developments in the way the Air Force helps support the war on terror?
A: We don't support the warfighter, we are the warfighter. We are finding more ways to track down the enemy, either to capture or kill them. That's what we do as warfighters in this Air Force. We are doing a great job at that and are always looking for new ways to get the job done.

Q: If you could only give one piece of advice to today's Airmen, what would it be?
A: This is a great opportunity and time to serve the United States of America and wear the uniform of the United States Air Force. While you're serving and wearing this uniform, give your best effort so you'll never have regrets about your service to the Air Force and our great nation.