The first line of effort is: “Strengthen and care for our team.”
“Our mission demands we strive to do what’s best for our Airmen and, just as important, care for their families,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jason Shaffer, 88 ABW command chief. “We have to develop and improve every day. We have to care and support our families every day. When our actions meet our words, we validate our efforts, and this line of effort is critical to that goal.”
Shaffer believes that showing care beyond each individual team member and to their families will help fortify Airmen, meeting the purpose of 88 ABW’s first line of effort.
“Strength” encapsulates not just physical attributes but also mental and emotional resilience, the chief said. A supported and cared-for Airman will further the mission more than one who gets overlooked. Caring for the team and base community as individuals will make for a stronger Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
“To care for one another, we have to recognize everyone on a team as individuals and recognize that these are real people with real lives,” said Senior Airman Chardonnay Burns, a diagnostic imaging technologist at the 88th Diagnostics and Therapeutics Squadron. “When someone is having a rough time and can only give their 20 percent, we give 80 percent. Not everything is going to be 50/50 all of the time, and that’s OK.
“They will remember that we had their backs, and that gives people the power to go above and beyond.”
Being there for fellow Airmen and helping them when they need it most will result in a stronger, empowered force, Burns suggested.
Wing leaders say being a team is essential to a functional military, and by focusing on individual needs and diversity, a team can grow stronger together.
“Strengthen and care for our team” is the first of four revised lines of effort that aim to establish a strong operational and strategic 88th Air Base Wing.
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