HORSHAM AIR GUARD STATION, Pa. -- Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice, director of the Air National Guard, and Chief Master Sgt. Ronald C. Anderson, command chief master sergeant of the ANG, visited the Air Guardsmen of the 111th Attack Wing (111th ATKW) here, March 11.
The ANG leaders met with members to feel the pulse of the wing with possibly the Air Guard’s most interesting story of resilience.
”Our team is here visiting this base to see what’s so special about Horsham [Air Guard Station],” said Rice. “There is something distinctive here in that this base has been able to absorb such a tremendous amount of change, direction and mission. Yet, it has done some exceptional things around the community, overseas and in partnerships built within the community, the State and the country.
“It’s inspirational to us all and I want to see and talk to Airman about that because it’s really special and unique -- a jewel of our Air National Guard right here at Horsham.”
Rice and Anderson’s visit – their 49th throughout the Nation -- corroborates the director’s priority of 21st Century Guard Airmen. The interaction also displayed a support for the balance of civilian careers and family responsibilities with domestic response needs and combat operations.
On the snow-swathed installation, 111th ATKW Commander Col. Bill Griffin and 111th ATKW Command Chief Master Sgt. Paul Frisco accompanied Rice and Anderson during the event. Local leadership saw the day unfold as a resiliency reinforcement, noting the importance of connection up and down the chain of command. This practice asserts the 111th ATKW vision of complete resilience by means of trust, loyalty and family involvement.
“The Director of the Air National Guard is here at our base to talk to our Airmen, which illustrates the importance of connection,” said Griffin. “Everyone here should feel that this is a community and having that face-to-face interaction between all ranks and positions is imperative in strengthening that community.”
The Wing Guardsmen coined by Rice and Anderson acknowledged the feeling of unity instilled by the action. This sense of value comprises a vital element in the Comprehensive Airman Fitness tenant of being socially fit.
“It’s pretty epic,” Tech. Sgt. Jeny Thompson, 111th OG weather forecaster, said of the lieutenant general and command chief master sergeant's stopover “To have them come here sends a message that in the ANG, a very high level of leadership is willing to get in the trenches with his people to see day-to-day operations. It’s motivational.”
The role Comprehensive Airman Fitness – with its social subdivision – performs in fostering resilient Airmen was neither dismissed by Rice and Anderson nor did it go undetected the 111th ATKW Airmen they met.
“Being socially fit is a big piece of what we are in the Air National Guard; it’s our strength because we live, grow, raise our families in the same community in which we serve,” said Rice. “That continuity of service at one location, with all the complexities and changes that the Air Force brings, postures us to be socially interactive with not only the [military] community, but also with family and neighbors.”