Commentary: From snow to sand

  • Published
  • By Col. Hubie Hegtvedt
  • 442nd Fighter Wing commander
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  442nd Fighter Wing - welcome to another drill weekend! As I've said many times over the past month, I'm honored and extremely lucky to be part of the most talented and skilled fighter wing in the Air Force Reserve.

Your commendations have been nothing short of spectacular, and, another air expeditionary force deployment is already on the horizon. You'll be called up again in 2014 to demonstrate your tactical war-fighting skills overseas. I've heard over and over that if there's one thing this wing is known for - it's getting the job done.

While an impending deployment is still nearly a year out, it's never too early to begin preparing yourself for the mission. Over the next few months, you will have the opportunity as a midwesterner to get outdoors and take advantage of the great weather.
There will be no better time to get your fitness in check than summer in Missouri. While the weather has been erratic this spring, we've already had many great opportunities to run, bike or pick up a new athletic outdoor hobby. I encourage all of you who want to deploy to maintain that excellent fitness level so nothing gets in your way of volunteering for this opportunity.

Secondly, one of our priorities this year is to improve our training processes. One thing you can do to help that is to check your training status monthly with your supervisor to see if there is anything you need to do to stay current with your qualifications. I know for some of you, many months it seems like all you do is come in and do computer-based training. But, getting the career-based and annual CBTs out of the way now, will only make your job easier when you're looking toward all the pre-deployment training necessary.

Lastly, your family care plan and information is likely still up to date from the consolidated unit inspection. But remember to take charge if you have any changes in your status so you're not worrying about it at the last minute.

This "down time" is the perfect time to take care of your fitness, training and day-to-day paperwork to ensure you're ready for your first - or maybe your fifth - deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

I look forward to meeting more of you this month and toward the missions we will accomplish over the next couple years.

- Col Hubie "NATO" Hegtvedt