Words of wisdom from four stars to two stripes

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Victor J. Caputo
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Gen. Paul Selva, Air Mobility Command commander, spoke to members of Team McConnell during a visit to the base Dec. 18, 2012.

During an "all-call" conducted by the general, Selva, who has been in command for 18 days, spoke to active duty, Guard and Reserve Airmen and answered questions while laying out his plans as AMC commander.

"You make history every single day," said Selva. "Every other Air Force in the world wants to be you."

Selva spoke about one of his top priorities: executing the mission. He acknowledged the high operations tempo of AMC and the duress it can cause personnel.

"When I ask you to do hard things," he said, "and I will ask you to do hard things; when I ask you to make sacrifices for the good of the country, I need you to trust each other."
While speaking about the importance of morale, Selva assured everyone in the crowd he understood the significance of establishing a caring and respectful workplace for every Airman. One in five female Airmen in active duty reported being sexually assaulted at some point in their career, while more than 5,000 males reported the same.

"Just one is too many," said Selva. "You can take the call to action. I choose to take the call to action."

He called for Airmen to not stand by idly while these assaults happen and to begin taking an active stance to purge this problem--much in line with the Air Force Chief of Staff's vision.

"He really showed how important respect is in the Air Force and why a lack of it hurts our culture," said Airman 1st Class Zackery Conway, 22nd Communications Squadron airfield system technician.

During his time at McConnell, Selva also stressed to the younger Airmen in attendance how much one can accomplish throughout their careers with the proper training and attitude. He mentioned his time as the commander of the 22nd Operations Support Squadron to show how far one can go.

"I was the OSS commander for about 13 months as a young major," Selva said. "Now I'm 10 years further along than I thought I would be. I cannot think of a better job in our United States Air Force than being your commander."

Selva's self-description of his career encouraged some of the younger Airmen to continue their hard work.

"I was surprised when he spoke about his former role as OSS commander," said Airman 1st Class Stephan LaMothe, 22nd Logistics Readiness Squadron plans shop logistics planner. "It inspired me to continually stay motivated and see where the Air Force takes me."

After sharing his view of air mobility to Team McConnell, Selva thanked everyone in attendance and thanked McConnell Airmen for their accomplishments.