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Honorable Duehring visits deployed Airmen

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing public affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The Honorable Craig Duehring, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Washington, D.C., met with Airmen from the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing at an air base in the Persian Gulf Region recently.

The visit is the first of many for Mr. Duehring, Brig. Gen. William Busby, and Col. Anne Hamilton, as they make their way through the deployed theater to gain insight on manpower, morale, and Reserve affairs issues affecting today's Airmen and much more.
As a political appointee who heads a four-division department that deals at the policy level with Air Force manpower and Reserve affairs issues, Mr. Duehring is responsible for providing overall supervision of manpower, military and civilian personnel, Reserve component affairs, and readiness support for the Department of the Air Force.

"What I try to do when we conduct these town hall meetings is to listen to what people have to say, but also to give them some insight on what's happening at the top with senior Air Force leaders and the plans, programs, and policies currently being worked on," said Mr. Duehring. "Engaging Airmen face-to-face in a group setting is great because the questions asked can build on each other, whereas one person asks a question and a couple others piggy-back on the topic and add on to it."

During the meeting here, Airmen discussed topics such as Web-based training, educational benefits, retirement programs, and the pros and cons to Weighted Airmen Promotion Testing in the deployed theater.

"I want to find out what the issues are affecting our Airmen and take some actions right away," said Mr. Duehring. "My priorities have been to continue the programs already running by my predecessors, plus some programs I want to get underway, which is why we embarked on a tour of Air Force bases throughout the United States and the Pacific Rim, and now out in the deployed area of responsibility."

Inputs from the field are critical in addressing potential changes in policies, said Mr. Duehring who is working the continuum of service and personnel policies impacting Air Force personnel. Additionally, he said he wants to determine any processes that may need to be changed in the deployment of Guard and Reserve personnel.

"It's important to continuously evaluate the number of people we have deployed, because sometimes, leadership gets used to having a certain function being performed, but the requirement have dwindled away, thus wasting valuable resources which are best suited somewhere else," said Mr. Duehring, a 28-year Air Force veteran fighter pilot who flew more than 800 missions during the Vietnam War. "I have policy responsibility for all the people programs related to active-duty, Guard and Reserve personnel, their families and their employers."

The Guard and Reserve give up a lot to be here and if people keep that in perspective, they'll realize everyone is contributing to the Global War on Terrorism in their own way, said Mr. Duehring, who said he's happy to see everyone out there in uniform.

"I have deep respect for them," said Mr. Duehring.

Those who came in for the education benefits and not to go off to war are long gone. Mr. Duehring said the folks who are here now are better educated, highly motivated, more skilled, than any other generation in the Air Force.

"Thank you very much for what you're doing," said Mr. Duehring. "It's a very, very remarkable story. I hope you go away from this meeting with a sense that we're doing as much as we can, on behalf of our country, to give you what you need to accomplish your mission."