AL UDEID AIR BASE, QATAR --
Chief Master Sgt. Daniel Crudup, 379th Air
Expeditionary Wing command chief, sat down with the public affairs office to
share his thoughts about the past year as the command chief at Al Udeid Air
Base, Qatar. Crudup spoke on experiences, changes that occurred, living
conditions, developing the airmen he worked with and what he has learned from
them. Each answer is hyperlinked to an audio source to hear what he had to say.
1 Q: How do you feel about your tour here and
now that it’s coming to a close?
A: I
feel a lot actually; it’s been an
honor and a privilege to be here. As
general Hartford has said a lot, ‘it is a historic time’. This last year we
have accomplished so much here. It’s a bit overwhelming at times, but extremely
rewarding. So I’m going to look back at this time as the most challenging but
rewarding time in my career. It’s been fun, it’s been frustrating but it’s been
remarkable. To watch the airmen accomplish the things they accomplished over
the last year has been amazing. So I walk away from this job, learning a lot,
seeing a lot and with a deeper appreciation of what our airman do on a
day-to-day basis.
2 Q: I know there have been some changes
here. I spoke to an airman while driving
on the flight line the other day and he mentioned that half the things here
weren’t here last year.
A: There have been a lot of changes on the
base over the last year. Some of them should’ve happen years ago, and they’ve
been in the works for many years. Again, it’s been a remarkable year, and we’ve
done a lot here, we’ve accomplished a lot here. But there still a lot left on
the table to take care of.
3 Q:
What will you miss the most from Al Udeid?
A: (sighs)
That will probably be the easiest question you ask me: the people. Beauty of
this job is every three to six months I get a whole new set of airman to get to
know, influence and mentor. And for a chief, that’s heaven. So this place
affords you the opportunity to meet a bunch of the best airmen in the world. So
that is the part I will miss most about this job. Being able to see and
influence a large group of airmen over a long period of time.
4 Q:
Is there anything you wish you finished or accomplished while you were here. I
know you touched a little bit on that subject at the mentor breakfast the other
day.
A: This
is something that I realize that is not in my exactly my hands to do. I wish
that we could’ve got more airmen out of the CC trailers and into hardened
billets. Again, I understand that that’s
not something that Gen Hartford or I could do, but the walking into the door we
expected way new building to be online by now and more airmen out of those
trailers so I wish we could’ve got our airmen in better living conditions, that
would be my one regret walking out of here.
5 Q:
I noticed there are some changes happening with the new dorms being built. Is
there anything you see that will be beneficial to the airman in the future?
A: I think once all the new facilities come
online, once all the double stacks are opened up and the other two BPC
buildings open up, I think the quality life for our airmen rises dramatically.
Getting indoor plumbing for everybody on this base makes everybody’s lives a
lot easier. I think for the most part we do, as a wing, do a very good job of
providing support. Providing events and concerts to kind of give people the
opportunity to let their hair down. And try to give them the best facilities that
we possibly can for them to be comfortable during those off hours which are not
very many. We understand that people have to work really hard here, for a whole
lot of hours and for a whole lot of days every week. So if we can give them a better
quality of life when they’re off duty, that is the focus, and that’s what we
should strive to do.
6 Q:
With the new CMSgt coming in, do you have any words of advice, tips, trick
anything to pass along?
A: (laughs) No tips or tricks. I think the
best thing for him is to take it slow. There are so many different things going
on in this wing and when you first walk in, it can be extremely overwhelming,
so making sure to take the time to really wrap your mind around everything
that’s going on here is probably the best route to go. This is not something you
can really jump in with both feet and just start running at 100 miles an hour
in this job, because there are way too many things going on.
I
tell him to give our airmen support, give them direction, and then get out of
their way. Let them do what they do, and everything will work just fine. I
think at times, we as leaders get too involved. Airmen are so capable today of
doing so many great things that if we get out of their way, give them
direction, and give them support, everything else tends to take care of itself,
which would be my advice for him. Take the time to learn what’s going on
here. Again, provide direction, provide
support, step back and let them go.
7 Q:
I’ve only been here a month, and noticed you going around and interacting with
the Airmen daily. I’ve seen it from other chiefs but it doesn’t seem as
meaningful.
A: I
think it’s important. For one, I hate sitting in my office all day; it’s just
not what I do -- I don’t like it. I’d rather interact. I think it’s extremely
important for airmen to see leadership to be able to interact and ask questions.
Part of my job and part of my number one of my priorities in this job is to be
able to have my boss to come to me and say ‘Chief how are the airmen doing?
What’s the morale like in the unit?’ if I’m not out and about, if I’m not
interacting with airmen, I can’t answer that question. So to do my job and do
it effectively, I need to be out. I need to take the pulse, quite often, to
find out exactly how people are doing, what the big issues are, what problem you’re
having. It’s very easy for us to be insulated in this office. I can sit in this
all day, and think everything is running just perfectly because nobody is
telling me it’s not.
But
to get out and talk to airmen, like I purposely have lunch with a group of
airmen every single week from each of the different groups every single week. A
different group whether it be airmen, NCOs, SNCOs; a month of airmen, month of
NCOs and a month of SNCOs. We rotate that every month. I sit down with them and
talk about the issues going on. I glean so much from those conversations that I
can better advise my boss on how to make decision and what issues there are
bubbling up. This gives us the opportunity to fix issues before they become
problems or answer their questions, or maybe to dispel rumors is the biggest
part of that -- because there are always rampant rumors running around this
base. That gives us the opportunity to put the truth out there and that airmen
are informed as much as possible.
One the last questioned asked was how the chief felt he
has grown personally since being here. He touched on several subjects, mainly
the airmen, and his previous career experiences what he has learned. Crudup
said he is walking away a much better CMSgt and much more capable and
knowledgeable. Crudup also gave his last message to the men and women of the
grand slam wing and their accomplishments.
(LISTEN
TO CMSGT CRUDUP’S PARTING WORDS HERE)