Photo By Senior Airman Jack Rodgers | Col. Gregory Kuzma addresses the crowd after assuming command of the 419th Mission...... read more read more
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By Col. Gregory M. Kuzma
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — My father served under the 15th Air Force headquarters in 1945 during World War II, and as I prepare to return to that very same Numbered Air Force, I do so with a profoundly deeper appreciation for continuity, service, and legacy. This sense of historical continuity matters. It is not because the past gives us a rigid script to follow, but because it reminds us that Airmen have always been asked to solve incredibly hard problems without perfect information, perfect tools, or perfect conditions. From World War II bomber crews navigating flak over Europe to today’s fifth-generation fight, the mission has always depended on people who could adapt under pressure, act with discipline, and keep moving forward when the plan broke. There is no instruction manual for the future fight—there never has been.
Over the past three years, I have written about the MacGyver Mindset, Empowering our Airmen with Forging the Future Force, and Agile Combat Employment. Each of those ideas points to the same conclusion: true readiness is not a checklist, a slogan, or a color-coded slide in a staff briefing. Readiness is both our ultimate goal and our primary product. It is the core reason we train, the reason we modernize, and the reason we build resilient teams that can execute when communications are degraded, our key systems are disrupted, and the next tactical step is completely unclear. While my command has been with the 419th Mission Support Group, these operational lessons belong to all Airmen.
The United States Air Force generates combat power in a world that is moving faster, becoming more contested, and placing far greater demands on every single Airman. The future fight will not wait for clean conditions, nor will it pause for perfect connectivity. It will never come with a guarantee that higher headquarters, digital systems, or familiar, comfortable processes will be available when they are needed most. Agile Combat Employment has reminded us that dispersed, contested, and resource-constrained operations are no longer anomalies to plan around. They are the baseline realities we must actively prepare for today.
That is precisely why the human element remains our decisive advantage. In my previous commentary on the MacGyver Mindset, I argued that our people are the final firewall when technology is degraded, manipulated, or outright denied. An adversary can jam a signal, corrupt a data feed, spoof a message, or temporarily disrupt a network. However, an adversary cannot easily defeat trained judgment, disciplined initiative, mutual trust, and raw grit once those traits have been deeply ingrained before the crisis arrives.
I have seen this truth demonstrated clearly across the 419th Fighter Wing's Griffin Exercises. During a recent degraded communications exercise, when our primary digital environment failed, our Force Support Squadron communications team did not freeze. Instead, they adapted and solved a modern tactical problem with World War II-era field phones, rapidly establishing manual lines between our entry control points and the command post. That moment captured exactly what we have been trying to build: Airmen who understand the broader mission well enough to keep it moving when the primary system fails. That was not an exercise in nostalgia; that was real-world readiness in action.
Our Logistics Readiness Squadron Fuels Flight proved that same standard of excellence conducting hot-pit refueling of F-35s when they earned the Golden Derrick award as the best fuels team in the command. Our Security Forces Defenders pushed their tactical capabilities forward by integrating night-vision operations with local SWAT partners, while our Civil Engineer Squadron carried both our mission and our heritage forward through vital restoration work at historic Wendover Army Air Field. Concurrently, our Aerial Port Squadron helped enable the future of agile logistics by safely transporting the first nuclear microreactor to Hill AFB. These examples represent different mission sets and specialties, but they all share the exact same lesson: the 419th does not simply support combat power--we generate it, protect it, sustain it, move it, defend it, and make it possible.
The future operating environment will demand even more from us. Airmen must be able to operate seamlessly across Air, Land, Sea, Cyber, and Space, fully understanding that actions taken in one domain create immediate consequences in all the others. This is the true essence of 5-Domain warfare. It requires innovative Airmen who can think across traditional boundaries, challenge baseline assumptions, learn quickly, and act with decisive purpose inside a commander’s intent.
This is where Griffin Grit becomes defining. Grit is not just physical toughness, nor is it simply enduring hardship. Grit is the disciplined habit of showing up ready, staying fiercely connected to the mission, taking care of each other, and improving one percent at a time. It is the culture that allows a wing to absorb rapid operational change without losing its identity, becoming more adaptable without becoming less grounded. It is also the realization that we are sustained by two distinct families: our “Blood Family” at home who gives us our foundational purpose, and our “Blue Family” in uniform who ensures we survive the forge. We must invest heavily in both during the quiet times so that our collective cohesion is unbreakable when the fire arrives. As my father would remind me, "familia manet una," or “a family as one.”
The next high-end fight may test us through cyber disruption, AI-enabled deception, contested logistics, drone threats, GPS denial, degraded command and control, or simple exhaustion. It may arrive as a sudden global crisis, a home-station emergency, or a quiet moment when an individual Airman has to decide whether to wait for perfect guidance or act on disciplined initiative. Because of that reality, my charge to you is simple: do not wait for perfect conditions to be excellent.
Train now. Build trust now. Be ready in every way now.
Know your mission well enough to keep it moving when the network goes down. Know your people well enough to recognize when they are struggling. Know your standards well enough to uphold them when no one is watching and know your commander’s intent well enough to act decisively when the next order cannot get through. That is Mission Command. That is ACE. That is the MacGyver Mindset. That is Griffin Grit, and that is individual Readiness.
As I prepare to leave command, I am immensely proud of what the 419th Mission Support Group has achieved, but I am even more proud of what those accomplishments reveal about the broader Air Force. They reveal Airmen who are capable of far more than merely executing a static checklist. They reveal cross-functional teams that can innovate under intense pressure, and a culture that deeply understands readiness is built in small decisions long before it is tested in large moments.
There was no instruction manual back in 1945 and there is not one in 2026 to address unpredictable and contested situations. To the Airmen of the 419th Fighter Wing: keep building, keep adapting, and keep questioning outdated assumptions. Continue investing in your teammates and training for the day when the easy answer is gone and only disciplined initiative remains. The future will not be simple, predictable, or well-equipped with perfect tools and instructions. But that is exactly where Griffins are at their absolute best.
Griffin Grit, Never Quit!
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About the Author: Col. Gregory M. Kuzma commands the 419th Mission Support Group. He is a published advocate of ACE, resilience, and innovation. He believes resourceful Airmen - those who improvise, adapt, and persevere like MacGyver in human form - will shape the future force. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2026 15:33 |
| Story ID: | 566896 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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