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U.S. Air Force Col. Derek Salmi, 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Lee Mills, 92nd ARW command chief, answer questions submitted via audience member smart phones during a base all-call at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, Sept. 26, 2018. The all-call used a web-connected, interactive presentation for attendees to connect with to follow along with the slides, submit questions and participate in live-polling activities. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Ryan Lackey)

Fairchild commander connects with Airmen at all-call

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ryan Lackey
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  [Editor’s note: There will be a follow-up article with answers to questions submitted during the all-calls. Keep watching for updates.]

Col. Derek Salmi, 92nd ARW commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Lee Mills, 92nd ARW command chief, gathered Airmen together with an “all-call” meeting to discuss Airmen’s quality of life, Air Force updates and upcoming events on Sept. 24, 26 and 28.

Salmi recently took command of the 92nd ARW in June. He and Mills used the all-call to introduce themselves to Team Fairchild Airmen and set mission goals for the wing to accomplish in the coming year.

“As leaders, our priority should always be you, the Airmen doing the job and making the mission happen,” Mills said. “We want to help you knock-out distractions that take your focus away from the mission.”

Salmi and Mills touched on Fairchild’s recent accomplishments, but focused heavily on base events scheduled for next year.

“The vision is the world’s finest total-force Airmen leading the nation’s premiere air-refueling team,” Salmi said. “The mission is to provide responsive air refueling and agile combat support across the full range of military operations. We will help accomplish this by maintaining support for Airmen that contribute to maintaining full-spectrum-readiness.”

Many Airmen in attendance were using their smartphones during the meeting, but it wasn’t to check their messages or browse the internet. Leaders set-up a virtual presentation for attendees to connect with to follow along with the slides, submit questions and participate in live-polling activities.

“I want Team Fairchild to be known as a place where the mission always gets accomplished,” Salmi said. “We have great talent here; we have Airmen committed to doing the right thing and getting the mission done. Chief Mills and I are focused on taking care of the people here and helping them become champions.”

Salmi and Mills made sure to take time to answer questions from the audience submitted via smart phones, allowing real-time responses to concerns, testing out new ways to connect leadership to Airmen.

Fairchild currently has 44 tankers, making it the world’s largest refueling wing, but it’s still growing. Eventually the base will house 59 KC-135 Stratotankers along with more personnel and their families to support them, Salmi said.

“These numbers give us an edge, but it takes a lot to keep that edge sharp; that’s what everyone here does every day by providing responsive air refueling and agile combat support across the full-range of operations,” he added.