{"id":22280,"date":"2023-08-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=22280"},"modified":"2023-08-09T06:51:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T06:51:23","slug":"people-purpose-passion-air-national-guard-affixes-focuses-at-leadership-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=22280","title":{"rendered":"People, purpose, passion: Air National Guard affixes focuses at leadership symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chief Master Sgt. Maurice Williams<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>, command chief of the <\/span>Air National Guard<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>, sounded off to more than 200 Guard Airmen attending the 2023 Air National Guard Enlisted Leadership Symposium in Alexandria, Virginia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your time<\/span> \u2014 this is your place!\u201d<\/p>\n

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The three-day event themed \u201cPeople, Purpose, Passion: Our Pathway to Success,\u201d <\/span>which ran from Aug. 2-4, included a variety of panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities, and offered a better understanding of how Guard Airmen fit into the National Defense Strategy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThink global; act local,\u201d said <\/span>Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>, Air National Guard<\/span> director. \u201cEvery Airman can make an impact on national security, and we need everyone to do their part on the best team in the world, which is the United States Air Force and our Air National Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During the symposium, Airmen were educated on the National Defense Strategy and how the ANG mission ties into the NDS.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cGuard Airmen must see what they do and how they contribute to our national security and our national defense,\u201d Loh<\/span> said. \u201cConferences like this help us spread the word to our 108,000 Airmen out over the 50 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The pathway to success was the premise of the symposium, as the 13th ANG command chief explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople-purpose-passion\u2014that drives success\u2014that\u2019s the pathway,\u201d Williams<\/span> said. \u201cThe number one thing is people\u2014if you don\u2019t have the people who are inspired to have that passion deep inside, you will fail.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Throughout the ANG, there are 25 fighter squadrons, with 19 currently operating with aging legacy aircraft. With the Total Force relying on those squadrons, Williams also spoke about investing and recapitalization within the ANG, in order to maintain a competitive edge while operating 50% within the <\/span>Air Mobility Command<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe goal starting in fiscal year 2024 is to get new aircraft into those organizations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to get you the most efficient aircraft that you can operate<\/span> \u2014 we have 90 wings, and six wing equivalents, with 46 of them in AMC.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The ANG has more than 1,100 aircraft and has Airmen serving in more than 160 communities. Achievement of the NDS begins at the state, local, wing and squadron levels<\/span>; and the Air National Guard contributes to that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAir National Guard members are from every congressional district,\u201d Loh<\/span> said. \u201cWe’re from Guam to Maine and Alaska and Puerto Rico \u2014 we\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Loh said. \u201cWe are the United States Air Force of the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Highlights of the ELS proved beneficial, especially regarding recapitalization, as noted by Alaska\u2019s Air National Guard noncommissioned officer of the year Airmen who participated in the symposium.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Guard makes up 50% of AMC, but we are not getting 50% of the KC-46 [Pegasus aircraft],\u201d said Tech. Sgt. Lindsey Thomson, a maintenance management production specialist with 168th Wing at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska. \u201cMaking ourselves more relevant as a component to fight the next fight \u2026 we’re going in the right direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Having a level of responsibility and experience can drive better results and strengthen the Guard, and investing in the enlisted force is one way to strengthen the Guard, Thomson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen we talk about people-power-passion, that is the National Guard,\u201d said Senior Enlisted Advisor Tony Whitehead, SEA to the chief of the National Guard Bureau. \u201cEducate, empower, and execute<\/span> \u2014 if you think of any mission we do \u2014we have to learn our mission, have to trust our NCOs, and give them the opportunity to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The symposium brought a sense of hope, confidence, and a new experience for the future force within the ANG, according to some attendees.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe reassurance, hope, and inspiration I got from listening to them [leaders] and hearing them echo our problems and what they’re doing to solve it \u2026 when I bring that back to my unit, I think that they’ll feel it as well,\u201d Thomson<\/span> said. \u201cBeing here and hearing the things that they have to say \u2026 the problems that we experience every day, it brought a human element to it that I just haven’t been exposed to before.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

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U.S. Air Force Logo<\/title><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) — \u00a0 Chief Master Sgt. Maurice Williams, command chief of the Air National Guard, sounded off to more than 200 Guard Airmen attending the 2023 Air National Guard Enlisted Leadership Symposium in Alexandria, Virginia. \u201cThis is your time \u2014 this is your place!\u201d The three-day event themed \u201cPeople, Purpose, Passion: Our Pathway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22283,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22280\/revisions\/22283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}