Meet the new leadership: Flyer and maintainer leads 509th Maintenance Operations Squadron

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Stan Coleman
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  It is not every day a pilot is able to directly oversee the maintenance of the aircraft he is trained to fly, but Lt. Col. Matthew Snyder, 509th Maintenance Operations Squadron commander, has that responsibility. 

"A flyer in a maintenance squadron, this is a once-in-a-lifetime good deal," said Colonel Snyder. "I have the best of both worlds." 

Born and raised in Switzerland, Colonel Snyder knew he wanted to fly at three years old. He is the son of missionaries who served in Europe throughout his youth. His mom is from Missouri and his father is from Ohio. 

Fast forward his life to 17 years after his graduation from the Air Force Academy with a major in astronautical engineering. He has never regretted a day of his Air Force journey. "It is a unique and rewarding experience to have the opportunity to fly a weapon system such as the B-2," he said. "The B-2 has been very successful over the last twenty years." 

Upon meeting Colonel Snyder one observes that he appears low-key and finds that he will answer his phone within three rings if he is available. Conversing with him reveals he believes in learning from experiences, taking care of Airmen and thinking outside of the box. 

"I have traditional military values," he said. "You respect your Airmen as individuals; you uplift them through support and education and you empower them to do the job. 

"We ask more of our military members than we do of our civilian counterparts in our American society. Our military jobs come with a lot of sacrifices when it comes to our personal lives and our families. We give a tremendous amount of responsibility to our Airmen--junior and senior." 

With the changes in resources and personnel manning Colonel Snyder believes in the Airman being proactive. "We have to find solutions within a number of scenarios. Those scenarios and new situations will require us to think differently," he said. "Ultimately the B-2 has to be ready to perform its mission any day of the week. 

"Air Force Smart Operations 21 is very useful when you can put the right people together to think through problems and come up with solutions." 

Colonel Snyder attributes his inspiration to think creatively to his third and fourth grade teacher in Switzerland. She encouraged the development of new ideas and projects. "From that experience I was influenced not to micro-manage," Colonel Snyder said. "All of us have good ideas. I want to see those ideas harvested through innovation and proactive anticipation." 

Colonel Snyder's outlook on innovation and belief in the Air Force Core Values--Integrity; Service before Self and Excellence in all we do--is shaped through one of his favorite studies--World War II history. "That period in time exemplifies all of our core values and my belief in team work and creativity," he said. "As a result of the magnitude of that conflict our country came together--Service before Self. During that time the maturity of the capability of airpower came into being--Excellence in all we do. There were ideas, teamwork and creativity. We learned a lot of lessons that we can use in application to the world events of today--Integrity first. 

"During this particular time in history, the United States has the opportunity to influence positive changes on an international level. Through the lessons learned from past world events such as World War II we must ensure we don't squander those opportunities," Colonel Snyder said. 

Colonel Snyder is married to his wife Sarah of 17 years and has three children.