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Undersecretary of Defense visits Joint Base Charleston

  • Published
  • By Michael Dukes
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. --  Jessica Wright, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, visited the world's largest C-17 base Aug. 22 and 23 to learn of the Team Charleston mission and discuss resiliency and to promote sexual assault prevention and reporting with service members.

Her visit kicked off with a mission briefing from Joint Base Charleston's mission partners of the active and Reserve Air Force, Navy and Army. The Undersecretary said the briefing was "a huge learning experience" and that she appreciated the joint spectrum.

The Undersecretary discussed the many budget challenges ahead for the military. One example under her area of responsibility, she explained, was the commissary system. "The commissary system currently has a $1.4 billion budget worldwide." For 2015 the same budget is proposed to be about $400,000. But she also said that no commissary closings were included in the current proposal, rather "the average savings to our service members and their families would drop from 30 percent to 10 percent. But that is pending approval."

Next, Wright visited a C-17 Globemaster III on the flight line where she met some of the frontline Airmen charged with making the Team Charleston airlift mission the success that it is. As she stepped onto the C-17, the Undersecretary was greeted by Lt. Col. David Kern, 317th Airlift Squadron, who explained the scope of Team Charleston's C-17 airlift accomplishments.

A team from the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron explained their life saving mission to Wright. Master Sgt. Luis Gomez, an AES trainer and scheduler, along with flight nurses and aeromedical technicians, told the Undersecretary how the C-17 was the most advanced platform for aeromedical missions because besides offering plenty of room for casualty litters and medical staff, the jet has all the oxygen and electrical connections needed when transporting sometimes critically wounded service members back home from the combat theater.

The 437th Operations Support Squadron Aircrew Life Support specialists gave an overview of the services they offer, including night vision goggles, life rafts and other emergency survival gear.

Members of 1st Combat Camera Squadron explained their mission and how beneficial it was to be collocated with the nation's often busiest C-17 base.

At the ramp of the jet, aerial port Airmen explained how cargo is loaded onto the jet. Outside the jet, they walked the Undersecretary around several k-loaders which are used to load pallets onto the jet.

Joint Base Charleston leadership then took Wright on an immersion tour of the 17,000-acre Weapons Station, which includes the Naval Consolidated Brig, Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, and Naval Health Clinic Charleston.

Saturday morning Wright had breakfast with active and Reserve Airmen in the Gaylor dining facility. There she asked Reservists sitting around her what their Reserve job was, and what their civilian job was. She asked Staff Sgt. David Rippy, 315th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, if he had ever been to the Pentagon. "No, I don't know anyone there," he responded.

"Well, now you know someone there, you should come visit," Wright said with a smile.
Wright explained that when she was in the Army National Guard she flew CH-47 Chinook and UH-1 Huey helicopters. Senior Airman Austin Gause, a 317 AS loadmaster, asked if the Army had loadmasters.

"We call them flight engineers," Wright said. "But when it comes to calculating the cargo load weight, the pilots are responsible for that."

Undersecretary Wright spoke at the base theater to 315 AW aircrew members at a 315th Operations Group symposium and later at an "all call" open to Reservists, active duty airmen and civilians. She immediately addressed a key concern that most military members have - the uncertain future of the Defense Department budget and what that means for their jobs. "We will be in a world of hurt," she said bluntly, "if congress does not do away with sequestration."

Wright said that currently the DoD was looking at a 1 percent pay raise in 2015 instead of 1.8 percent. "This will help us to be more able to focus on quality of life." But she said everything is in "Jello" right now and can change.

The Undersecretary explained that once the drawdown is completed in Afghanistan there will no longer be congressional justification to have Reserve and Guard members on long term orders, but with several "hot spots" that continue to develop in places like Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, "we will still be as busy as we have been since 9-11," she said, "so we are looking for other options," to continue the mission.

During the question and answer session, Lt. Col. Stan Davis, 317 AS commander, described one of the biggest challenges he faces as a leader. He said Reservists currently spend a majority of their time with recurring training requirements rather than their actual mission. He said he was often more of a task master than a leader. "This affects my ability to be a good leader," Davis said.

In response, Wright said she shares in the pain of this type of burdensome tasking, "As painful as it sometime is, we have to complete this type of thing because it is important. This is something that [Secretary of Defense] Chuck Hagel has recognized as well."

Wright then deferred to Army Reserve Sgt. Maj. Mike Schultz, the senior enlisted member in her office. "This happens across the board and we are looking at it. At the DoD level we have 16 tasks that go out, but as it filters down the list grows." He said the Air National Guard is working on best practices that will also affect the Reserve.

Master Sgt. Allen Larson asked the Undersecretary why Reservists were not eligible to use space available flying like active duty members.

"There was a recent law passed saying that DoD has to look into this and take care of it. It's an important benefit," she said.

The secretary had a working lunch at the golf course where she was joined by Lisa Sweatt, director of 315th Airlift Wing Airman and Family Readiness, Catherine Hallett, 628th Air Base Wing social worker, Regan Morris, 315 AW Psychological Health program, Florine King, Sexual Assault Response coordinator. They discussed various topics involving Airmen health and readiness.

The undersecretary also visited the 315th Aerospace Medicine Squadron where she toured the health clinic and met Reservists performing health assessments. She also talked to Col. Charles Ellis, Chief Master Sgt. Ann Hamilton and Senior Master Sgt. Jehad Karriem, all from 315 AMDS, and Maj. Kimberly Champagne, 315 AW performance planer, about how work groups examined the one unit training assembly concept that the wing is about to test.

Saturday afternoon Wright saw 315 AW aircraft maintainers in action as she toured fabrication and structural testing shops. She ended her maintenance tour in the Viper Hangar where she was very excited to see the mini C-17.

Wright is the senior policy advisor to the Secretary of Defense on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits for 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, 1.1 million Guard and Reserve personnel, 748,000 Department of Defense civilians, and is responsible for overseeing the overall state of military readiness.

(Eric Sesit, 628th Air Base Wing contributed to this article)