22nd Air Force Commander Visits 403rd Wing

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kimberly Erickson
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS. --  "Thank you for what you do," Maj. Gen. James T. Rubeor, 22nd Air Force commander, said in a March 6 wing call addressing more than 1,400 Reservists assigned to the 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.

"There are a lot of Americans rolling out of bed right now to have breakfast with their families and relax while you folks are out here, honing your combat skills and preparing to serve your nation," he said.

General Rubeor and his wife, Michele, toured the 403rd Wing's units March 5 - 7 to assess the needs of Reservists and the support they receive from the wing, said Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Woitalla, 403rd Wing command chief.

By identifying the policies, manpower and resources the 403rd needs to better perform its mission, General Rubeor said he can work the processes needed to make those changes at the 22nd AF level.

"I hope to get 22nd Air Force focused on the things that the 403rd Wing needs," he said.

"A lot of leaders fix what was broken 20 years ago," General Rubeor said. Instead, he said he believes a better approach is to talk to those doing the job today and focus on addressing current challenges.

It's that mentality that brought him to the 403rd Wing, he said.

General Rubeor highlighted full operational capability and total force integration as key concepts to the 403rd's mission success, as well as lauding Reservists for their continued contributions to contingency operations.

"The active duty can no longer accomplish any major theater campaign without mobilizing its Guard and Reserve components," General Rubeor said. He said Reservists are indistinguishable from their active duty counterparts in a deployed environment, a testament to their operational capability.

"We're constantly working to keep deployments as short and infrequent as possible," General Rubeor said, ascertaining longer deployments as detrimental to Reserve retainability.

Balancing the Reserve triad of family, employer and Reserve extends to all aspects of family readiness, starting with educating spouses on benefits, said Mrs. Rubeor.

"In the military you have a responsibility to yourself and your employer to take care of your family," she said. "By taking advantage of programs like Tricare Reserve Select, unless you're covered by something else, you're accepting that responsibility."

General Rubeor stressed the importance of communicating those benefits to junior enlisted Reserve members. "When our young Airmen show up, they need someone to take them under their wing and not just teach them about how to do the job, but also to teach them about medical and life insurance," he said. "It really gets at the heart of mentorship."

"This was a hard fought program to get, so we need to educate our Reservists of its availability," Mrs. Rubeor said.

In his time as a wing commander, General Rubeor said he saw a lot of prior service Airmen that had been separated for some time come through the Reserve newcomer's briefings.

"Some people find that satisfaction in their civilian jobs, but a lot of people don't," General Rubeor said. "They find that the Reserve offered them the benefits, camaraderie and sense of satisfaction they were missing."

He said he attributed their return to military service to a sense of purpose they might be missing in their civilian lives.

"As I get older, I start to appreciate, know and understand the importance of a sense of purpose," General Rubeor said. "You have to be doing something that's important, something that you believe in."

For General Rubeor, he said his role as 22nd AF commander is a daily reminder of that dogma. "Every day I get up and work with all of these great folks," he said. "It reinvigorates me and reemphasizes to me the importance of what I do and how fortunate I am to work with such great young Americans."