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Holiday message from the commander

  • Published
  • By Brig. Gen. Michael Peplinski
  • 127th Wing
To all our wing members and their families, Season's Greetings!

The wing has been at an incredible pace this past year and I am proud of everyone's dedication to standing up our newly assigned missions and meeting all our inspections head-on with energy. The recent "Excellent" rating received on the AMC Unit Compliance Inspection and the "Outstanding" rating received on the AMC Logistics Compliance Assessment Program inspection in November were the direct result of strong leadership and hard work from Airmen across the Air Refueling Group and support functions across the wing.

For various reasons, the fighter conversion is facing some severe challenges. I received briefings from both the Maintenance Group and the Operations Group on a way ahead that truly exhibited a team solution to getting a healthy A-10 fleet and the ability to produce the sorties required to accomplish training goals for conversion completion and beyond. The plan includes a Winter Basing deployment that will provide more than flying training opportunities. It will also challenge the fighter aviation team to dust off deployment processes and equipment for the new mission.

Next year's major challenges will be the Nuclear Operational Readiness Inspection and the AMC Operational Readiness Inspection in October. These inspections will definitely impact the wing support functions with numerous nuclear exercises and OREs. Aligning inspection teams with exercises and drill weekends has made creating the 2010 UTA schedule a puzzle of sorts. I believe that issue has finally sorted itself out, but make sure you keep your eyes on the most recently published UTA orders to ensure you have the latest and most accurate information.

One point I want to emphasize right now is that I want 127th Wing personnel to make a personal goal to enjoy their family and friends while there is the ability to take a breath during this holiday season. As 2010 arrives in a matter of days, our unit will be pedaling hard once again. We need to make cognitive effort to make that connection with our families now because we will be asking a lot of them next year. Their support is critical to our mission and your retention.

So, please, take the time to spend quality time with your loved ones. We need you in the 127th Wing, but we need them every bit as much. They are a critical part of our team.

Let us keep in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers our brothers and sisters who are deployed and away from their families, as well as those families who may be missing their military members this time of year. May you and yours be truly blessed as we celebrate the special meaning that all our faiths bring to this holiday season.