Pride, excellence shines throughout wing Published Sept. 2, 2010 By Col. Greg Tims 90th Missile Wing commander F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. -- This Labor Day marks another successful safety period. I can't thank you enough for continuing to keep safety at the forefront of what we do -- both on- and off-duty. Please carve out time this weekend with family and friends, and continue to be a wingman who ensures the safety of others. Our very own fire department won best fire/emergency services flight (small-unit) in Department of Defense! Make no mistake about this, this is a big deal. My hat is off to Lt. Col. Chuck Roberts, Chief McDougall and the entire 90th Civil Engineer Squadron fire department team. Now all of the DoD knows what we already knew -- our fire department rocks! In fact, I attended a two-day Incident Command System 300 course this week led by Ron Riedel, 90th CES, and he was absolutely superb. Well done to you all. Great news continues to pour in -- not only did the newest 170 Mighty Ninety staff sergeants host a party in celebration of their new status last week, we had two new lieutenant colonel selects announced: Maj. Joel Briske, 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron commander, and Maj. Phil Cooper, 37th Helicopter Squadron director of operations! Congratulations to you both! I took another Emergency War Order certification the other day. The crew commander, 1st Lt. Justin Lugo and his deputy 2nd Lt. Deul Kim, both 320th Missile Squadron, did a fabulous job. These certifications are not easy, nor should they be. Many hours are spent to ensure our crew members know every critical detail about EWO. Great job Justin and Deul. We had the honor of hosting the Defense Science Board last week. Gen. (ret) Larry Welch chaired the board. His team members included Dr. James Tegnelia, Vice Adm. (ret) Peter Nanos, and Dr. Robert Selden. Lt. Col. Glenn Harris, 90th Operations Suppors Squadron commander, did an outstanding job as the point of contact and our Protocol staff led by Vicki Liles, 90th Missile Wing, hit another home run out of the park. We had an opportunity to show them the WSA. Maj. Jerrod Duggan, 15th Munitions Squadron commander, and his folks gave a superb tour of their bay and some of the activities that they perform. Senior Airman Lyndsey Bingham, 15th MUNS, outlined a Rapid Improvement Event the 15th MUNS conducted. She did an excellent job answering all of their questions. Julie Whelan, 90th CES, provided them with a CE project update. While many folks do not get to tour this part of the base, we are placing much needed resources to bring it up to the standards we expect here in the Mighty Ninety. Following the WSA tour, Suzanne Barto, 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron, provided them a comprehensive briefing of how we ship and receive nuclear weapons related materials. Like I have said before, this is one of our critical mission areas that must be done with perfection. The next day, our chiefs had breakfast with the team discussing and dissecting the many issues that impact our combat capability. The operations group got a chance to show off some of their folks during their pre-departure briefing. The mission briefer was Capt. Kristin Nichols, 319th Missile Squadron, weather was briefed by Staff Sgt. Herbert Makimaa, 90th OSS, the codes briefer was Tony Maestas, 90th OSS, and the missile maintenance operations center brief was conducted by 1st Lt. Chris Wood, 90th Maintenance Operations Squadron. I know the DSB really enjoyed watching this well integrated brief, because they made a point to tell me so! We then moved over to maintenance and showed them what a morning looks like for a missile maintenance team. I think they found this truly informative as Master Sgt. Tyler Terrel, 90th Missile Maintenance Squadron, and Tony Maestas walked the team through their necessary steps and briefing to be sure that the team was fully prepared to take on their maintenance task for the day. We ended the tour with a lunch with all the squadron commanders. Let me just say it was a true honor to host this team. Rest assured they will champion our causes and look after our interest on behalf of this nation. Jim Headstream, Airman & Family Readiness Center, and his folks held another very successful Deployed Family Picnic. Tech. Sgt. Pam Coleman, 90th Forces Support Squadron was the POC and my thanks go out to Irene Johnigan, the Armed Forces Association Wyoming Chapter president, for her donation to the picnic. We will be having another one in a few months, and I encourage folks to attend. All the experts from around the base will show up and I can assure you this: there isn't a problem you may be experiencing that we cannot solve. Julie and I attended the annual Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce banquet where we watched Gen. (ret) Stephan Pappas win the 2009 Chamber Person of the Year. No surprise to me, because those of you who know him, know his volunteer spirit is second to none. General Pappas is a true friend of Warren, and I send my most sincere congratulations to him for winning this award. The guest speaker for the evening was Dr. James Owen, author of the book "Cowboy Ethics." He outlined several of themes for us and I wanted to share his "Code of the West" with you: 1) Live each day with courage 2) Take pride in your work 3) Always finish what you start 4) Do what has to be done 5) Be tough, but fair 6) When you make a promise, keep it 7) Ride for the brand 8) Talk less and say more 9) Remember that some things aren't for sale 10) Know where to draw the line These themes sure sound familiar! Go Forth and Conquer!