YOU can make all the difference

  • Published
  • By Col. Michael Francis
  • 131st Bomb Wing vice commander
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo --  Everyone wants to work at an enjoyable job with mutual respect for co-workers. Within the 131st Bomb Wing, we have the unique opportunity to ensure people we work with are highly motivated and of a high caliber.

This is because within the ANG, we have the luxury of recruiting our own personnel to serve alongside us in the 131st BW. However, with this opportunity comes great responsibility to take an active role in recruiting the best for our wing.

YOU make an enormous difference to our wing when you actively promote and discuss the wing's mission and benefits to your family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances.

If 900 guardsmen that live and work in our community actively look for great men and women to serve beside us, we will find that we will have a wing full of the best and brightest Missouri has to offer. If you think someone would be a positive addition to the wing, let them know how they will benefit from the Guard. Tell them what you do as a Guardsmen; it's an easy sell.

Whether you maintain the nation's premier high tech bomber or operate a highly secure and widespread computer network, it's all world class training and experience. And don't forget to tell them about how we help the community recover and rebuild after Mother Nature wreaks havoc on our state.

Of course the mission is only half of the story. The other half is the unit and the people. Tell them about your shop and the great people you serve with. Ask them to become part of the team. A team that honors all that is great about our country. A team entrusted with the defense of the state and nation.

The final piece of this story is living up to the promise after someone joins your unit. Take responsibility for that person the way you would anyone in your family. Welcome them, guide and mentor them, and reward them.

Don't take their service for granted, but instead appreciate what they do every day and work to keep the organization strong and something everyone can be proud of.

Recruiting and retention means finding and keeping our most valuable resource, our people. People make the mission go. We need the very best in the 131st BW and the B-2 mission. It's everyone's responsibility to find the right people for the Missouri Air National Guard.

YOU can make all the difference.