51st FW/CC Commentary: Ready To Serve You

  • Published
  • By Col. Patrick Malackowski
  • 51st Fighter Wing Commander
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  It was an honor to speak with a great deal of you in the base theater Dec. 11. And while I hope you have a better understanding of who I am and how I've reached the point I'm at today, my true intent was for you to walk away with an understanding of how I look at our relationship and how you can impact this wing and this base.

There is not one American Airman, not one Mustang, who wakes up in the morning with the intent to fail their leadership or not give their all when they put on the uniform that day. Whether you realize it or not, it's because you, like me, live our Air Force core values. It's ingrained in us - integrity, selflessness, excellence. I want you to take time to think about those words and what they mean to you, because, in my eyes, if we live by our core values and execute the proper training, then we'll have mission success.

Those core values also allow us to have pure focus - focus on our team, focus on our mission and focus on our people.

Start looking at your work station and your unit as a team. Teammates give each other their best effort, and I will be doing that for you every single day I'm here. Good teammates will focus on their own duty, and those teammates that are supervisors will focus on the duties of their Airmen to help them get the job done for the team.

This all ties together. When you focus on the team and what your role in it, you're also focusing on the mission and the people it impacts every single day.

Sometimes we all need a reminder of why we serve, though; if you reach that crossroads at any point of your tour here, just take a look at me and the rest of your Mustang teammates. We work with the most talented and energetic American people that have ever been created, yet we're all different and unique. That diversity drives the strength we project to the entire world as its greatest armed forces.

I've led great American warriors in combat before in both Operation Iraqi and Operation Enduring Freedom and am now ready to serve my fellow Mustangs in the world's largest forward deployed wing. I said this today and I can't stress it enough - you are my evaluators, and one the greatest measures of my success is how I give back to you. I appreciate your effort and stand ready as your commander. Thank you.