Photo By Lt. Col. Kevin Hynes | U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, director of the Air National Guard, presents...... read more read more
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Members of the Nebraska Air National Guard had the opportunity to ask their national organization’s top leaders questions Saturday, April 17, when Lt. Gen. Michael Loh and Chief Master Sgt. Maurice Williams held a town hall at the Nebraska National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters in Lincoln.
Loh is the director of the Air National Guard while Williams serves as the Air National Guard’s command chief master sergeant.
According to Loh, whose two-day visit to Lincoln included multiple ceremonies, a base tour and several meetings, the town hall was a chance for the two national leaders to express their gratitude for the various missions that Nebraska Airmen have been involved in over the past year, while also listening to their concerns and answering questions.
“I know that you have all been in sprint mode for a marathon,” Loh said. “And I can’t thank you enough.”
The Nebraska Airmen have supported several overseas military operations, while also successfully responding to a myriad of domestic response missions including ongoing COVID-19 testing, relief support and vaccination operations, responding to civil disturbances last summer, and supporting this year’s Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Loh said that while the Airmen deserve the accolades they have received, they aren’t the only ones deserving gratitude. He encouraged each Airman in attendance to thank their families and, if they were traditional Guard Airmen, thank their civilian employers for their support over the past year.
“Without your family members, you would not be out here doing the job,” Loh said. “[Your support to these missions] came at the expense of family time and our civilian employers.”
Williams echoed those comments, saying that responding to such missions as supporting the peaceful transition of power during the presidential inauguration or supporting COVID-19 missions in Nebraska are simply another chapter in the National Guard’s continuing, multi-century story of support to state and nation.
“[These missions] go right back to our heritage,” Williams said. He added that National Guard Airmen should constantly reflect upon the important roles they serve both in their states and within the overall national strategy.
“I need each and every one of you to understand your role in the national defense and your role in the Nebraska National Guard,” Williams said. “You are that 1 percent. You provide for the defense of our nation. That other 99 percent… they can’t do what you do.”
While at the town hall, Loh and Williams each fielded a number of questions from Nebraska Airmen, ranging from the Air Guard’s efforts in increasing diversity within the organization, to extremism in the ranks, future missions, and applying National Guard experiences to the challenges of innovation.
Increasing Diversity in the Air National Guard
Loh said he and other Air National Guard leaders are committed to increasing diversity throughout the organization. That diversity, he added, must include cultural and gender diversity as well as diversity of mindset.
“Diverse groups perform better. That’s the bottom line,” Loh said. “I need to find people who want to serve, and I need to surround myself with talent.”
Loh said the organization, along with the U.S. Air Force, has studied the problem of diversity over the past months. He said the findings are particularly revealing.
“We do a pretty good job overall,” Loh said, adding that because the Air Force and Air National Guard are essentially meritocracies – meaning that Airmen begin their careers at the same levels and then rise according to their talents, skills, and efforts – the organization fares well in comparison to civilian organizations. Still, he added, there is an ongoing problem of retaining talented individuals beyond either the captain or major levels, or the senior airman to staff sergeant levels.
The general spoke about a couple of the reasons this happens, but highlighted one in particular, that the Air Force has historically held African American Airmen more accountable than Caucasian Airmen.
“We have to look for ways to stop doing that,” Loh said, adding that Air Guard officials are also looking at disparities between the way men and women are treated in the organization. “We need to level the playing field so the truly deserving get rewarded.”
National Guard expertise that doesn’t fit well into the AFSC model in the areas of modernization and innovation
According to Loh, educating America’s combatant commanders about the strengths and capabilities of the National Guard is something he and Williams spend much of each day doing. He added that the Guard’s incredible capabilities are the result of multiple reasons.
The Air National Guard’s Airmen tend to spend significantly longer with a single weapons system, thus allowing these Airmen to develop a much deeper level of expertise than their fellow active duty Air Force counterparts.
“It is also our ties to industry,” Loh added. “It is incumbent upon us to educate our senior leaders because not all good ideas come from a headquarters,” Loh said.
Extremism in the ranks
According to Loh, the recent storming of the national Capital laid bare the divided nature of the nation for all to see. And, he said, it also laid bare the fact that some of the protesters were members of the National Guard. These facts have underlined the need for frank discussions at all levels of the organization, he said.
“We have to go back to our foundational principles and talk about what it means to wear this uniform,” Loh said. “These are tough conversations… and we need to have them.”
“We know that we are representative of society, so there are going to be some within our ranks who are on the fringe,” Loh added. He said that the discussions need to not only focus on the issues of extremism, but also on developing skills – especially in the current divisive political climate – to be able to look at both sides of an issue with a critical eye. “Open your mind to more than one way of looking at an issue. I also want you to go back and look at our core principles, because those Air Force core principles have served us well.”
Potential Future Operations
Loh said that with the recent announcement of the final Afghanistan drawdown, the Air National Guard – especially those units involved in air mobility missions – will likely be tapped to play a significant role in the upcoming months.
“The drawdown in Afghanistan is going to impact our tanker units,” Loh said, adding that the U.S.’s current tanker fleet is being stressed as never before. “We looked at our tanker capacity, and it’s low nationally.”
Airpower, he added, will be a significant factor in the success of the drawdown. “We will have to protect people,” Loh said. “We’re going to do that by being overhead…. and whenever we talk about airpower, we will need tankers.”
Future Air National Guard Missions
According to Loh, the future is bright for the Air National Guard. In particular, he said he sees continued growth within the cyberspace field through increased development of information warfare wings.
Another area will be space. “Congress is very interested in establishing a Space National Guard,” Loh said, however a number of alignment issues still need to be resolved. “No matter what, though, when it comes to space, the Guard will be involved.”
Loh and Williams each concluded the town hall with some words of advice.
“I need each and every one of you to understand your roles,” Williams said. “I need you to be the absolute best that you can be by maximizing your skills. People make the difference… and you are those people.”
“Each one of you is a part of history,” Williams added. “You will make this organization great and you will make this Air National Guard great.”
Loh agreed, saying the Airmen have helped prove the incredible value of the Air National Guard to both the security of Nebraska and the United States as a whole.
“What the nation needs is an Air National Guard that is ready today and an Air National Guard that is even stronger tomorrow,” Loh said. “That is the journey that we are on.”
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.30.2021 13:00 |
| Story ID: | 395256 |
| Location: | NE, US |
| Web Views: | 127 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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