JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
"We enable readiness."
With these three words, Col. Jeffrey DeVore, 628th Air Base Wing commander, summarized the contribution of his wing for the more than 60 DOD organizations and 90,000 people making up Joint Base Charleston, during a series of commander's calls June 19, 2014.
During these calls, the colonel discussed the wing's purpose and priorities, while giving and soliciting feedback. He was accompanied by the other members of the 628th ABW command team: Navy Capt. Timothy Sparks, JB Charleston deputy commander, Chief Master Sgt. Mark Bronson, 628th Air Base Wing command chief and Master Chief Petty Officer Joseph Gardner, Naval Support Activity command master chief
"I appreciate everybody coming out and spending a little bit of time with us today," said DeVore. "We wanted to get out, talk to you for a little bit, show you some things that are going on, get some feedback from you and answer any question we can."
DeVore began the "All Calls" by discussing his priorities for Joint Base Charleston: mission, people and resources. He then asked and answered questions from the audience, and discussed the way ahead for base services.
"Everybody wants to know, as we transition from the summer of 2014 and into 2015, are the priorities going to change, and the answer to that is no. We're still going to focus on the mission. That's our number one priority. We're still going to focus on people, that's number two. And we're still going to focus on the resources that supply both those people and that mission."
Different situations might cause the wing to emphasize one priority over the others for a time, but the priorities themselves won't change, he said.
The colonel underscored the sheer size of the installations his members service by comparing it to an unlikely place: Disney World.
"When you start comparing the similarities, Disney World has four parks, we have four installations. Disney world has about 24,000 acres that their property sits on. We have 24,000 acres that our property sits on. Disney World hosts about 90,000 people a day. We serve about 90,000 people in our military community."
Additionally, he explained the role of JB Charleston's "installation" as the fighting platform, in contrast to other services, like the Navy, where the fighting is a moving vessel.
"The installation is our platform," said DeVore. "The whole idea is that if any of our mission partners ... have to go (perform their mission downrange), they're ready to do that. That's why our vision is, 'We enable readiness."
As the host wing at Joint Base Charleston, the Airmen of the 628th ABW perform a wide array of duties. Even so, DeVore wants each member of the team to know how they contribute to overall installation success.
"What you do here is huge. Whether it's serving chow at the dining facility, processing a travel claim or working a contract issue, you are all part of the largest air, sea and prepositioning triad the U.S. military has. It's huge and you should all be very proud of the jobs you do."