TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. —
It’s evident that each service and excellence are a lifestyle for the brand new commander of Air Drive Sustainment Heart. Lt. Gen. Stacey Hawkins comes from a household with a practice of service. Each of his mother and father are educators, and for 20 years his father was mayor of the city the place Hawkins grew up. “I’ve translated the service that my mother and father demonstrated once I noticed them as a child to my very own service to nation,” he mentioned. “Patriotism and the love of nation is what I’ve devoted the prime of my grownup life to, and I’m very proud to have performed so.”
His task historical past is crowded with jobs reserved for prime performers. He was a upkeep officer for the U.S. Air Drive Thunderbirds, a U.S. Air Drive Honor Guard Ceremonial Guardsman and served on the White Home as particular advisor for protection coverage and intelligence packages for the vp of the US. He additionally directed logistics, set up help, pressure safety and nuclear integration actions in three Air Drive main instructions.
Maybe it’s this range of expertise that evokes the overall to take a nontraditional method to foundational concepts, like Artwork of the Potential. “I even have an inside-out method to how I articulate it and the way I internalize it, beginning with widespread objectives,” Hawkins mentioned, “actually how we horizontally and vertically try to outline and map these widespread objectives along with our enterprise companions, each inside the Division of Protection, and with our trade companions.”
As a earlier commander of AFSC’s Ogden Air Logistics Complicated, Hawkins is sort of conversant in AoP. “It’s not a framework. It’s not a fad,” he pressured. “We’ve really been utilizing Artwork of the Potential as the middle of our mission tradition for a complete decade.” Hawkins says the outer ring of the AoP management mannequin usually doesn’t get a lot consideration, nevertheless it ought to. “The tradition that we have to concentrate on nurturing each day is outlined by the attributes that you simply see in that outer ring – teamwork, accountability, respect, transparency, credibility and engagement.”
These values, that are constructed on the concepts of serving and respecting others, Hawkins mentioned, enable AFSC to take care of an atmosphere that may meet the calls for of the warfighters.
“We have to nurture a tradition the place each single one among our teammates can get up within the morning, come to work each day, and have faith that the atmosphere that they’re working in will guarantee they can return residence at evening safely to be with their households.”
The Airmen of AFSC are the overall’s primary precedence. “We actually have to concentrate on growing and caring for the individuals we now have on our staff right this moment and in addition attracting the following era of teammates who will take us into the twenty first century and past,” he mentioned.
Different priorities embody caring for the mission and getting ready AFSC for the long run. “Price-effective readiness is a part of that second precedence,” Hawkins mentioned. “We must try this by assembly the calls for of our warfighters all over the world, however we’ll additionally must proceed to function diligent stewards of the taxpayer {dollars} that we obtain.
“As we enter into an period of strategic competitors, getting ready and enhancing {our capability} to satisfy the wants of the long run is one thing we at all times must be aware of,” Hawkins mentioned.
With know-how advancing at a speedy tempo, Hawkins feels the character of conflict is altering.
“The nation that is ready to innovate and infuse know-how the quickest will prevail. How we maintain weapon programs, how we construct redundancy into our provide chains, how we accomplice with trade companions to develop software program and numerous different capabilities … we’ll must hold all of these going sturdy without delay.”
In the present day’s sustainment panorama presents its share of challenges, resembling components obsolescence for legacy weapon programs, provide chain issues and funding issues, however “what these challenges additionally current is an atmosphere for a lot of alternatives,” Hawkins mentioned.
Teaming with trade companions each inside and out of doors of DoD; increasing the usage of synthetic intelligence and superior manufacturing; and implementing more and more agile software program growth methodologies are just some of these alternatives.
“Lastly, our capability to gather, synthesize, combination, and use knowledge to tell decision-making throughout the sustainment enterprise will enable us to attain the velocity that’s essential to prevail.
“There’s a saying – by no means lose the chance to reap the benefits of a disaster. I wouldn’t name the place we’re a real disaster, however with the array of challenges we face right this moment, it does current a possibility for us to innovate in methods which we now have by no means performed so earlier than,” he mentioned.
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