Rice mentors Columbus AFB Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Charles Dickens
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Gen. and Mrs. Edward A. Rice Jr., commander of Air Education and Training Command, and Chief Master Sgt. Gerardo Tapia, AETC command chief , visited Columbus Air Force Base June 17 and 18 to speak with Airmen from around the base about issues and concerns throughout the command and Air Force.

Three issues that Rice spoke about during an all call and his interview include progressing into a Cost Conscious Culture, the importance of proper training in today's Air Force and how junior Airmen can work to further their careers.

"This is my second time here and it gives me a chance to revisit the wing here," said Rice. "My focus has been different this time; I'm more focused on talking to as many Airmen as I possibly can and I feel I accomplished that with small groups that were reflective of the general level of thought among their peers within the wing. All in all, this has been a very successful visit."

One of the hot-button issues that Rice ensured he spoke with Airmen about during his visit was the Cost Conscious Culture initiative and how significant each Airman is in achieving the goals for the program.

"The objective of C3 isn't so much to work with less; it really is just an acknowledgement of the fact that, not due to anybody's fault, there are many areas where we are spending money that we don't need to spend," said Rice. "Just by looking into those areas we can save money and it won't change quality of life or service. What we're able to produce just saves money because we're spending money that we didn't really know we were spending in a certain way."

The AETC commander then went on to commend Airmen around the base for their efforts and gave a little helpful advice to find more areas to cut costs.

"Every base I go to there are Airmen figuring out how to look around them and find great ways to save money," said Rice. "I think if we get just in the habit of questioning how we are spending our money then we'll make a great deal of progress in having more money to spend. Every one of us has an area around us that we work in and there are opportunities in each one of those to figure out how we're spending money."

Throughout the initiative to save around the command, sequestration still affects the Air Force with several active flying squadrons being deactivated among the many changes that have been made. Rice gave insight as to why training in the Air Force has had few changes when other squadrons can't fly.

"Training is the foundation of everything else that we do in the Air Force; it has to come first and we have to do it right," said Rice. "I think the senior leadership of the Air Force understands and recognizes that and is prioritizing the limited resources that we have to ensure that we continue to have excellence in our training program."

For those around the Air Force who have just begun their careers, and even those who have been around a while, Rice gave advice on how the Airmen can advance through their ranks and become the best Airmen and leaders possible.

"It's a cliché to say that you should try to be the very best at the job you have right now, but it's a cliché because it's true," said Rice. "It all starts with the ability to be very good at the job that the Air Force has asked you to do, and then I think you should look, seek out and ask for opportunities to be in leadership positions. I got a lot of my leadership experience by volunteering to be a leader. That better prepared me for other leadership positions later on."

Rice continued by telling how being the best that he could be and volunteering helped him advance through his ranks and leadership levels.

"I did a lot of additional duties and volunteering when I was a junior officer just coming into the Air Force, but by the time I became a squadron commander, all of that paid off because I knew how a squadron worked and I had done a lot of those duties and jobs myself," said Rice. "I was very comfortable knowing what I needed to understand to make a squadron work. Unless you're engaged or involved in that way, how do you really expect to be effective later on?

"We are in the midst of a challenging time in our Air Force, but it's not the most challenging time, by far, that we've ever experienced," said Rice. "I'm very confident that the Airmen we have on active duty today are every bit as capable as our predecessors of working through this time and continuing to maintain the best Air Force in the world."