(upbeat music) - Hi, everybody and welcome to Behind the Wing the 315th Airlift Wing's official podcast. I'm your host, Lt. Col. Wayne Capps along with my co host, Master Sgt. Bobby Pilch. - Good afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel and that is a brand new oak leaf cluster. - It is, it is. - Congratulations on the promotion sir. - The last time you guys heard me it was Major, so if you hear me call myself Major, it is what it is. - Yes, yes, sir. Well, very excited for you and glad to see that that promotion. - Thank you so much. So, Behind the Wing has been on hiatus for a little bit of time, but we're back and we're gonna keep this thing going at least monthly right now. So just to give everybody we've had some pretty good followers on our podcast for quite a while and we kind of fell to the wayside mainly because of budget and time constraints that it took to put this together and we had a really busy summer and funds just wasn't, it wasn't there like it normally has been. So we've. - And we also had a couple new folks join us too. So we had some training going on, which is our primary focus, making sure new folks are spun up on doing what they need to be doing. So, yes sir, excited to be back doing this. - Absolutely, we've been been on the road a little bit this summer and at the late summer and the fall is happening, this 90 degree fall, I guess. - Beautiful, beautiful Charleston, fall weather, nothing like 90 degrees in September, October. - So Behind the Wing for our new folks who are listening, let's give a little overview about Behind the Wing. Behind the Wing is the official podcast of the 315th Airlift Wing, the Air Force Reserve Wing at Joint Base, Charleston, but it's not just for wing members. I want everybody out there to understand what the Air Force Reserve at Charleston is doing. So if you're an aviation buff, you're an aviation enthusiast, we're here for you. So we want you to know what's going on, what our folks are doing, sometimes we get in a little bit in the weeds. So we're gonna do that a little bit later when our Command Chief comes in. We get a little in the weeds, but that's okay. Well, because we talk about 315th business as a whole, but I want everybody to know this is not just for wing members and air force members. If you like aviation and you like folks who serve their country, give us a listen, I think there's something for everybody. - Exactly sir. And also two, it's for our veterans out there, former members of the 315th and our locals. We have amazing local support here. And we will touch a little bit on a civically or flight we did earlier in the year. But yes, so this podcast is open for all audiences. - So we've had the questions, where have you guys been? So I'm gonna tell you exactly where we've been. So we've been all over the world. And I remember earlier this summer, you remember when the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis kicked off? - Yes, sir. - Well, the 315th was front and center. Actually, I was called up into the boss's office and I left that afternoon, so that was about 7:30 in the morning, when I heard that we were going into Columbia, just a mile and a half from the Venezuelan border to deliver C-17s loaded full of humanitarian supplies. So we were all over the news and ladies and gentlemen, that was us. That was the 315th down there and our crews were busting their hump, making sure all of this humanitarian aid got to Columbia, so that when we could truck it into Venezuela, we could actually get it there. And the good news, I think, out of the five or six C-17s, full of humanitarian aid that went into Columbia, the Venezuelans burned two tractor and trailers full of the aid, but about one C-17 carried around three tractor and trailer full of food and supplies. So even though they got some, most of the equipment aid that we supplied got to the people in need. So that's fabulous to hear. - No, that's fantastic news sir, and the humanitarian missions are nothing new to us. We do many throughout the year. And for us to be able to do this was a huge honor and a huge win for the folks down there. - Exactly, and I actually talked to the President and Vice President of Columbia about this same topic. So when we went down, I was lucky enough to be kind of the crew liaison and the President, Vice President and their version of the Secretary of State, met our air crew, and he said he wanted to personally meet and shake every member of the American crews hand and thank them for what they were doing. So I was extremely excited to help be the liaison with the crew and the crew did such a fantastic job. We had air crew members from the 315th, and we had our partners with the 437th who were helping out some. So it was a really nice joint effort to go down there. And when the president of Columbia shook my hand and he whispered in my ear, you guys are changing the world today and you don't even know it. And, that brings perspective back into what you're doing, thinking that sometimes we get caught up and we're just dropping stuff off and taking off and doing our job. But sometimes what our folks are doing, it makes a difference. - Exactly, for those of us that are what we call TR, is Traditional Reservists, we get called upon on the weekends to cover missions like this, and we'll leave on a Friday and we go back to our civilian jobs on a Monday like nothing ever happened. But sometimes we get caught up in that minutia of well, it's just another mission. And sometimes it slips the mind that, we really are impacting hundreds of thousands of lives around the world over a weekend. - And if you want more information, just google C-17 Venezuela, let me tell you, we were on every news outlet in Central and South America. It was just really good to see our crews and that C-17 with the Charleston tail flash, doing the good things that they were doing. - Indeed, yes, sir. (slow music) - Switching gears from our humanitarian aid for just a minute, we're talking about the things that we've done this summer and what the 315th has been up to. One thing we got to do is go to the Royal International Air Tattoo, the largest military air show in the world. It was in Fairford, England. It was a pretty amazing event, wouldn't you agree? - Yes, sir. I think we saw north of 225,000 people over the course of the three day air show. So we got to shake a lot of hands. - A lot of kissing babies, a lot of shaking hands. - Definitely, definitely. And a lot of folks walking through the jet. And we were so well received, the folks over there are amazing, and probably some of the most enthusiastic aircraft, how would I? - Say, are some aviation buffs in England, like none other than we've ever seen around the world. But the cool thing for me is, air shows used to be a part of our culture. We used to do air shows all the time, all over the world, times are different, our budgets tighter, and the amount of real world training that we have to do, the real world training and the real world missions that we have to do are just a lot higher than they used to be. So for us to do an air show and to tack on a training requirement, we don't get to do it as much anymore. So to get to do the largest in the world, largest military air show in the world, it's a pretty cool event. So to have 250,000 people visit your aircraft gets a little exhausting, would you say? - It definitely does. We drank a lot of bottled water and put a lot of miles on the feet there. But I think another thing was pretty cool was the fact that it was a chance for our crew to network and meet with a lot of our partner nations from around the globe, and see some other aircraft and things that we don't really get to see on a day to day basis. - Absolutely, and perfect transition because we're gonna talk about some of the partnerships that we've had with other nations and our aerial medical evacuation has a partnership with the the British RAF aerial medical evacuation folks at Brize Norton in England. And we did a training mission with them and I loved hearing the stories about how our aerial medical folks and their aerial medical folks work together on the C-17, they came together and it's amazing to see every thing kind of come together even though we're from different nations and different specialties and aircraft, it just everything just seems to flow like we've been together forever. - That it does. And I think it's a good opportunity for our medical crews and their crews to form the best practices and share ideas and things like that, which again, out in the field and downrange, they work side by side. - And that's why we do training. That's why we do training, is because it helps us get ready for whatever happens. And that was a perfect example of a real world situation, when things happen we don't care if they're Brits, if they're Americans, if they're whatever, if they need help, we're gonna help them, we're gonna bring them home safely and that's what they trained to do. I thought it was pretty amazing. - Indeed, definitely. - So we talked about the Royal International Air too and our partnerships overseas. The last thing I wanna touch on about where we've been this summer, Hurricane Dorian. - She was a nasty lady. - She was, but she missed us, sort of. We evacuated, I think my house lost power for a good two or three days. I lost the fridge full of food but if that's all that happens, I'll take it. - I think I had some leaves down in the yard so I spent the weekend raking the yard. But we did have to evacuate the base and so our jets had to had to take off. So cause a little bit disruption in our normal day to day but nothing nothing too major. - Absolutely, and we do humanitarian all over the world and people, right away people were saying, we need to send C-17s from Joint Base Charleston to the Bahamas to get them humanitarian aid. Well, guys, we didn't have planes. So that's one of the issues that we had to deal with. - One of the sites you seldom see in Charleston is a empty flight line, and it was completely empty for several days. - Somebody posted on our Facebook page, we posted a picture of our flight line, somebody said hey, is that Citadel Mall parking lot empty? - No, we just had to get out of town for a few days, but quickly everyone, all the crews flew back and the jets came home. And it was back to normal operations in quick fashion. - But other bases took up the slack where we weren't able to directly impact the humanitarian aid mission going to the Bahamas. So good on those people, but when it's as close as it is to us, we're not one of those folks that's gonna jump in if we have to recover our jets as well. (upbeat music) And coming back, transitioning to the pulse of the wing. I wanna find out what's going on right now in the wing and what we can look forward to. We've talked about what you guys missed this hour, but let's talk about what's going on right now. So the biggest thing on people's mind right now is lodging here in Charleston. - Yes, Lieutenant Colonel. There is a new initiative by leadership that is gonna be coming down the pipe very soon here, where E-4 and below will be lodging together and there's actually a big picture, big mission and focus behind that initiative. - Absolutely, so when I first heard it, I thought, well, this is a money saving measure. We'll see how that goes. And for you folks that don't know, that aren't part of the wing, we have folks from all over the Southeast who actually work here at Joint Base Charleston in the 315th Airlift Wing. When we do our regular drill, regular unit training assembly, as we call it, your weekend drill, folks come in from out of town and we put them up in on base, at hotels and around town wherever we can get them. We got a new policy, we're gonna start bunking up. And I thought it was about finances and the boss was quick to tell me it was not about finances. It boils down to one thing, taking care of our folks. Now, the age demographic from 18 to 21 is the highest suicide demographic in the United States. So we all know that military suicides is an issue. And this is an opportunity for everybody to have what we call a wingman or what we used to call a battle buddy. This is an opportunity for folks to not be separated in that highest suicide demographic, not to be separated after busting their hump, quitting their civilian jobs and their family on hold to come and be a reservist for the weekend, because things can get stressful. So, to put them in a hotel by themselves, not knowing what's going on in their lives can be a little different. And, I was talking to the boss, he said, "we can't afford to do nothing." And this isn't an initiative to actually look out for our folks. So I think it's a good thing. - Exactly, sir. I would definitely agree. When you travel away from home and you come here for your UTA, and you're alone in that hotel room 18 to 21, it can be kind of lonely, and it's nice to be able to have somebody from your squad or your unit with you, maybe someone that you're close to. And that's the other thing I believe, is they're able to choose who they room with and they're gonna be paired up with like members of their squadron. - Well not to get in the weeds of it, but everybody, they're gonna have the opportunity to be with folks from their own unit. They're gonna get a chance to choose who they're with. So, but I think the overall program is gonna be good for our folks and about, it's about looking out for people, so I think that'll be a good thing. All right, and some more upcoming events, our wing change of command, we're getting new 315th leadership, that's always a big deal. Col. Greg Gilmore has been here for a long time and he's coming to the end of his career. And we're gonna say a fond farewell to Col. Gilmore, and we're going to welcome our new commander, Col. Adam Willis, he is the Wing Commander at Wright Patterson Air Force Base right now. So Col. Willis is coming down. We're excited to have him down here in a while, make sure we put him on the Behind the Wing podcast as soon as he's able to get involved and get checked in a little bit and gets his head wrapped around the wing. - Exactly, once he drops the luggage and puts his artwork in the office, we'll get him in here. There's another leadership change as well, sir. I believe it's happening today, it's the 38th Aerial Port Squadron, and the outgoing commander will be Lt. Col. Jason Snyder, and the incoming is Major Calvin Coker. And so we wish both those gentlemen a congratulations and a fond farewell. - Absolutely, being a squadron commander, they say it's one of the most rewarding jobs in the Air Force. So congratulations to both of those gentlemen. They've got one heck of a squadron, that one is leaving and one is taking over. - Indeed. (upbeat music) - So Bobby, we've got an exciting guest coming in the studio here in just a minute. Chief Master Sgt, J.P. Burke, the command chief of the 315th Airlift Wing. He's excited about being part of the podcast. And to be honest with you, the whole format of this podcast is very informal. And we told all the commanders, we don't want any leadership on our podcast. And everybody's like, we wanna come on and talk. But we don't want the commanders and the senior folks part of this podcast, because our normal guests are the airmen, and we want the airmen in the trenches, who are out there knuckle busting and busting their hump everyday, those are the guests we like to feature on the wing. But every now and then we've got a good reason to bring somebody in, and that chief was so excited about wanting to be a part of the podcast, and he wanted to talk about some initiatives that he has coming up and about talking with the airman. What better way to get a pulse of the wing than to interview our command chief. (upbeat music) Joining me right now is Chief Master Sgt J.P. Burke, our command chief. Chief, what's going on? - It's a great UTA. Thanks for letting me come out here and enjoy the podcast. First time I've done this. This is a new and exciting, little different, but looking forward to it. - And you know, you're actually the first member of senior leadership in our wing that's participated in the podcast, because we normally don't really want that, but we want the perspective from the airman but we feel like having you on this time is actually gonna give us the perspective of the airmen and the pulse of the wing, especially since we haven't been able to do this podcast and in several months, so we're kind of getting back on that horse and talking about all things 315th. - I hope I don't let them down. - Well, we do to chief. Actually, so let's talk about, we got a change in leadership, we talked about it just a few minutes ago, we've got a change in leadership coming for the 315th Airlift Wing, historically that kind of puts people, makes them a little nervous, the culture kind of changes. Give us your thoughts and perspective on that. - Well, again, just kind of natural. Some people change is bad, they fear change, but this is something that just goes along with military organizations throughout time. Leaders come leaders go through different ways. This is it goes along with that our new commander, really excited to be able to work with him. I've worked with him previously through the NAF, and really excited to be able to see what he brings into the fight. I think you're gonna find that he is much more like Col. Gilmore, than not. But there'll be some differences but really excited for that. I think we're gonna see kind of the same things here. - Good, good. Well, I wanna talk to you a minute about an organization here with the wing called the Rising Six. Since you've been here, you've you've been putting a big emphasis on the Rising Six. It's a organization consisting of E-1 through E-6 that meets every month. Give me your perspective on that, why is that organization so important and where do you see them going in the future? - Thank you for that. So Mark Barber did a great job really trying to move force developments. - Sir, former command chief by the way, in case non wing members are out there listening. - So Chief Master retired Mark Barber, our previous command chief really set in motion some great enlisted force development for the wing, creating the top three, and really got that moving forward. And one of the things he and I talked about was really putting in charge for me of getting the Rising Six to the level that the top three is at right now. So that's really one of my big pet projects, is the support of the Rising Six. Why do I think that's important? E-5, E-6 is probably one of the most important pay grades in the United States Air Force, period. They are the first line supervisors for our airmen, they link in our airmen to the mission, but they link with their concerns to Squadron and group and wing leadership. They are where the rubber meets the road. What's best way is that organization to take future airmen and existing NCOs and getting them ready and all the tools needed to do that job. That is my job, is to empower them and help them out to succeed. They succeed, the wing succeeds. - Well, I remember back a long time ago when I was an airman, I actually was part of the Rising Six. They called it the Bottom Six back then. We hated that name worse than anything in the world. So, I'm so glad it's now the Rising Six. - It is the Rising Six. - Good, because they are and that was that was back in the day. That was one of our biggest complaints. Somebody started that and called us, the bottom six, and we hated it. - I don't know that saying that. If there is an organization that has my full focus, it is that one, not to say the other ones don't, but that is where the bulk of my efforts are going right now because it affects the largest demographic within the wing, and really getting them moving forward. - Well, not only that, I think it nurtures upcoming leaders for the Air Force and Air Force Reserve. And I think that's just so important because you and I were both there back a long time ago. - Not too long ago, come on now. - Come on, it's a little longer than that chief. And if somebody wouldn't have taken us under their wing, there's no telling where we would be right now. And I think for me, it was Master Sgt. Lou Argus, my old crusty first sergeant at the time. And if Sgt. Argus wouldn't have taken me under his wing, I know I wouldn't be an officer right now. I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't still be in the Air Force. So I think that mentorship and guidance in those programs are just extremely important. - Absolutely, that's kind of what we're doing here is that the Air Force as a whole and we're not immune to it here in the 315th. There's a culture that we're having to get back to, and changing culture is one of the most difficult things you can do. You've got a lot of us that have been around for a while, I'm not gonna say how long, but for a while that remember back in the day you're having burger burns and wings softball tournament and you brought your family and it wasn't forced fun. You wanted to do this. Squadron commanders wanted to win that traveling trophy, as I remember that's a thing of pride. But we've gotten kind of away from that for whatever reasons. So we're trying to get back to that. We care about our people, and having those connections and going from there. And part of it is, "Hey, I'm not just talking the talk, "I'm walking the walk. "I'm helping out the airmen." The best way to do it right now is through the Rising Six and why you want to be part of a professional organization and then that arms you with data to take to your work centers, and help your work centers out. - Okay, Chief, I'm gonna switch gears on you here in just a minute. Earlier in the podcast, we actually talked about you call it a buzzword, call it what you want, sometimes people in the Air Force call it resiliency or whatever you wanna call it, it's about taking care of your folks. And we were talking about an initiative earlier in the podcast about E-4 and below, rooming together. The suicide rates are sky high in the military right now. Talk about this from a wing perspective and your thoughts and the commander's thoughts on why we're doing these initiatives and where you see us going in the future? - Sure, so the first thing I wanna say is that this is not a money issue. I'll repeat, it is not a money issue. If you take a look at the demographic and what our budgeting item is for lodging, we're not saving a whole lot of money. I'd be lying to say that we're saving some money, we obviously are, but that's not it. It's about people. This is just one aspect of a lot of things the wing's trying to get after, to help culture and people and connections. So one of the things we're looking at is that demographic in the wing, those are community E-4 and below of rooming together. That's just one part of this very quickly, starting hopefully in the January UTA, we're gonna put entire squadrons together in the same hotel. So, your first sergeant's, you're traveling folks that are from squadron leadership, they're all together to be able to see their members not just at work, but able to see them in a more relaxed environment at their hotel to go out and do things. Things like trying to go communicate through the top three, the first sergeant's Council, the Rising Six, the great things you guys are doing, setting up my Chief's Corner. It's all about connection to our airmen, and getting after the things that they need. - And I think that's such an important thing, and if I was a commuter, and I'd love the cultural shift, that we're trying to take our wing and especially the commuters who come in here, and I think organizational cohesion is so important, because if you can do it here at home station, when you have to do it somewhere in the war zone, you've got that built in mechanism. So I think that's extremely important. - One of the things I wanna add to this is that this is not just the wing leadership trying to force something onto the wing. The airmen that we're trying to really work with here have got to be equal participants in this. So this couple of times, that remember back in the day when we were all kids, opening up Christmas presents and we got to present a Christmas present from your grandma, you're really excited because grandma always spoils you. You open it up, it's a pair of underwear. You're like really Grandma, what's going on? I really wanted that Xbox and she's like, well, I would have got it for if you'd had told me you wanted an Xbox, but everyone needs underwear, and that's what I got. Well, here's what's going on is that doing nothing isn't an option, we have to do something. So we are trying everything we can, what we can think of, but you have a lot of folks like myself that came up from times with burger burns and softball tournaments and things like that, we're trying to think of those things and help out our airmen but it's a different culture. It's a different generation. So through the Chief's Corner, through other things, the airmen have got to have a voice to reply back to wing leadership. If this is not working, tell us what is 'cause if not, we're gonna give you a bunch of underwear. - And you know, at my age, I'm pretty happy with a new pair of underwear ever now often chief. And you brought me to my last topic, I wanna talk about something that you just started, called the Chief's Corner. It's an idea that you had. Tell me how this came about and explain exactly what this is. - Just the bottom line is, it is an extension of my open door policy. But what it's not is a sidestep of the chain of command. That we're all reservists and I love to get around to the different squadrons, and ambush the leadership in there like surprise I'm here. I wanna talk to the airman. I wanna know what's going on. A lot of feedback I got was chief, we love that you come around. We love that you wanna talk to us and you really do try to effect change in our organization. But I have to work my schedule when you just happen to come by and we're all reservists. So how do I go about doing that? So when we were at AFA, I had a couple of chiefs and first sergeant with me and and I was like, hey guys. - That's the Air Force. - AFA is Air Force Association. - There we go. - And AFA, they're a national convention every September, that is probably the premier force development, force mentorship conference, I highly suggest anyone if you had a chance to go, go. But while we were there, I took some chiefs with me, first sergeant with me. And we're at dinner and I was like, guys, I have a problem. Here's the problem set. It's access to me and getting information to me. And for starters from the OSS, Sgt. Robertson's like, hey, wing up, why don't you put something there. I was like, that's genius. And immediately got on that, it's now live. Anyone with the wing out anywhere in the world of Wi-Fi can send an email directly to me and only to me to action on. - Exactly, so bottom line for folks that wanna contact the chief, it's really easy. Just log on to our 315th smartphone app and he's right there under Chief's Corner and any message you wanna send directly to our wing leadership goes through the chief will go right there and I promise you will get a response fairly quickly. - I've already had two today. - So please be careful what you ask for chief 'cause you might just get it. - I am absolutely. - Welcome to our world, that's for sure. All right chief, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know he's headed over to the Rising Six right now. Thanks so much for being part of Behind the Wing, and we're happy to have you on as a guest. - Anytime, thanks for the invite. Appreciate it. (upbeat music) - That was a great perspective from the chief and very excited to have him in here in the studio with us and driving home a lot of important information. - Absolutely, and I love talking to guys like that who are so passionate about what they do, it's a good refresher to let you know that there's folks out there who let me tell you, they really care about what they do. - He definitely does. The chief has a plan, has a mission and he's sticking to it and he's getting out there and talking to and visiting with the airmen which is great to see. - Absolutely, so the most important thing, Behind the Wing is back guys. - We are back. - We're excited about having the 315th Airlift Wing's podcast back. We're gonna be back next month for you guys. So we're gonna have some fun things ahead. We're gonna get Michael Dukes back in here on our news and we're gonna do some segment from some of the airmen. We're gonna talk to airmen who are in the trenches doing some cool things look for that. Next month, we're excited about it. So until then, I'm Lt. Col. Wayne Capps, I'm your host for Behind the Wing here with my co host. - Master Sgt. Bobby Filch. - And we will see you all next time right here on the 315th Airlift Wing's official podcast, Behind the Wing. (upbeat music) - You slammed it. - I gotta make sure I call you. I just want to sound upbeat and radio, say something, say something. Something, something nice. - Let's just start this whole (beep) second. - Hold on one sec. (upbeat music)