Year one: 442nd Fighter Wing commander discusses his first 12 months

  • Published
  • By Maj. David Kurle
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Col. Steve Arthur took command of the 442nd Fighter Wing July 8, 2006, and in his first year has overseen one of the wing's busiest years ever.

He welcomed home 420 of the wing's Citizen Airmen from deployments abroad, including an aviation and maintenance package from Afghanistan, a civil engineer squadron from Iraq and security forces returning home from Kyrgyzstan.

The colonel took command as the wing gained nine A-10s and more than 200 people as mandated by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. In addition, upgrades to the A-10, which are still ongoing, will move the aircraft into the digital age.

He has guided the wing through the on-again, off-again operational readiness inspection schedule and led the 442nd through its first unit compliance inspection in five years - an inspection the wing passed with flying colors.

The wing hosted a number of guests, including Lt. Gen. John Bradley, Air Force Reserve Command's top officer; U.S. Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond and even Vice President Dick Cheney, all of whom required involvement from the wing commander.

In this busy year, Colonel Arthur has also had a little time to look at the future.

Some of the milestones in the coming years will be the upgrade to the A-10C; the completion of a post-BRAC building boom, in which 14 construction projects are underway; more deployments in 2008 for aviators, maintainers and expeditionary combat support reservists; as well as the addition of a geographically-separated A-10 flying and maintenance unit at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.

At the end of his first year as the wing's 24th commander, Colonel Arthur shared a few of his thoughts with The Mohawk, the 442nd FW's monthly magazine.

Mohawk: You've been the wing commander of the 442nd Fighter Wing for one year. What have you learned about this wing during your first year?

Colonel Arthur: I have learned that this wing is a very talented, very experienced, very dedicated group of Citizen Airmen.

Mohawk: This is your second wing commander job, but you've been in fighter wings all over the Air Force Reserve. What traits does the 442nd Fighter Wing have that make it unique?

Colonel Arthur: Some of the unique things that drive the 442nd Fighter Wing are: Number one, its location. It's on an active-duty base. Some of our wing structure is built on specific support from our host, the 509th Bomb Wing. Being a tenant unit on an active-duty base drives, obviously, how we're organized and how many bodies we might have in specific functions. The way this wing is organized is based on the support provided from our host.

Another unique factor to the 442nd Fighter Wing is the experience and talent levels of our people. Given the short period of time I've been wing commander, we've shouldered a heavy load and a huge amount of taskings. This wing continues to operate with an absolute calm, professional response and displays a very strong work ethic.

Mohawk: How has the wing responded to your leadership style and management principles in this first year of your command?

Colonel Arthur: I think people have done really well. All commanders have their own little quirks and issues that are important to them. One of the things I've found, when I start reviewing our status on those items that are important to me, there's typically a lead-turn in the wing and those issues have been dealt with already. Again, that's the experience level of this wing manifesting itself.

Mohawk: How do you like living and working in Missouri?

Colonel Arthur: Well, this past winter was a little cold, and, other than digging my truck out of a snow bank, it really is nice to live here in the Midwest. It's beautiful, it's got great people, my family absolutely loves where we live. The cost of living is really hard to beat.

Mohawk: How healthy is the 442nd Fighter Wing's relationship with our active-duty host unit, the 509th Bomb Wing?

Colonel Arthur: It's a great relationship, and I think that is really driven by the leadership in the 509th Bomb Wing. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that when General (Gregory) Biscone talks about "Team Whiteman," the 442nd Fighter Wing is a part of that team. They give us great support, everything we've needed from them, they've responded to.

Mohawk: We cleared a big hurdle recently, which was the Air Force Reserve Command unit compliance inspection. How did the wing perform in your estimation?

Colonel Arthur: I think the wing performed admirably. The preparation was way better than I expected. As I was telling you before, the high operations-tempo people have been working under in just the short year that I've been here, absolutely amazes me. And yet, they get everything done and get it done in compliance with regulations, directives and the law. Everything is according to the "the book."

Mohawk: What are your top priorities for the wing during the rest of your command? Have these changed over the past year?

Colonel Arthur: My priorities haven't changed a bit. The obvious number-one priority is preparation for battle, and that's combat-ready people, combat-ready equipment.

Both of those things are pretty challenging issues right now because as we go to 24 primary-assigned aircraft, we're getting a lot of young people who require a lot of training to become combat-ready. All the modifications we're doing to airplanes and the workload associated with those modifications, as well as aviator training to be proficient with those modifications, is a huge workload.
We're doing great in both of those areas right now.

Mohawk: As you look ahead at the next few years, what changes are in store for the men and women of the 442nd Fighter Wing?

Colonel Arthur: The obvious change is the stand-up of the A-10 associate out of Moody (Air Force Base, Ga.). That's going to be a big change for people in the 442nd Fighter Wing because we're going to be directly supporting the reservists - 190 of them - at a separated unit, associated with an active-duty fighter wing.

Initially we're going to do all of their support for them - we're going to do all their financing, cutting orders, getting them paid and other requirements. We're going to take care of all those things until those capabilities stand-up at Moody.

I don't see any changes in our participation in the war, nor do I see any changes in the expectation that we will accomplish inspections to ensure that we're ready for battle. But, I think over the next couple of years, when I look at my "crystal ball," I think we're going to see changes in the basic construct of some of those inspections to reduce their effect and footprint. We can better utilize the money and time spent performing inspections by applying it toward preparing for combat.

Mohawk: Is there anything else you would like to address?

Colonel Arthur: I don't do this often enough, but I'd like to thank all the people in this wing for the good work and effort that they put into the 442nd Fighter Wing. It's an absolute pleasure to be their wing commander. People are really talented in this wing, the competence on display here is unmatched.