COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, commander of Air Education and Training Command, and Chief Master Sgt. David Staton, AETC command chief, held an all call Sept. 12 at Kaye Auditorium during their visit of Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. Columbus was the last stop of their tour of about 30 bases to learn more about Airmen and to speak about several hot topics from AETC.
Roberson began the all call by introducing, his wife, Cheryl, and his family.
Roberson also described his four focus areas; motivational mission accomplishment, taking care of Airmen and their families, leadership, and innovation.
“Innovation is in our DNA as Airmen,” Roberson said. “It is how we have operated since we became a separate service. We take the latest and greatest and adapt it to how we fight. We use it to stay ahead of our enemies, and it’s critically important we continue to innovate.”
He then spoke of his career, where he witnessed the evolution of aircraft and how Airmen have improved the world every day. Roberson then encouraged Team BLAZE to use iMatter, a program set in place to allow Airmen the opportunity to submit their suggestions for improving processes and procedures, as well as their ideas on how to improve the command as a whole. Roberson spoke of his personal leadership philosophies and his “three C’s.” He explained competence, care, and character in leadership will equal trust in Airmen.
“It takes every one of us doing our job to make Airpower happen,” Roberson said. “Airpower is always a part of the equation when we fight. You are producing the largest percentage of pilots for our Air Force and I think that is pretty important for our country.”
Staton was up next to speak with Team BLAZE. Staton led with his reasons for continuing his career in the Air Force and why it is important that leaders get to know what motivates their Airmen to serve.
“People have invested in me,” Staton said. “Along the way, people have invested in me. I continue to serve because of the people that have invested and encouraged me. When I was down throughout my career, I had someone there to pick me up.”
Staton encouraged Team BLAZE to “keep doing what they do best” for the Air Force.
“The most important resources we have are you, every single one of you,” Staton said.
As his speech came to a finish, Roberson quickly covered several topics such as the upcoming T-X, the future of RPA pilots, sequestration, and more before taking a couple questions from the audience.
Afterward Roberson thanked Team BLAZE for their hard work and dedication, and ended the all call with his motto “Airpower starts here.”