JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. --
The new Air Force District of Washington command chief arrived at Joint Base Andrews less than a month ago. Since that time, he's been learning about the command's mission and its people.
AFDW Command Chief Master Sgt. Jose A. LugoSantiago moved here from Joint Base San Antonio, the largest joint base in the Department of Defense, where he served as the installation command chief for nearly a year and a half.
Prior to becoming a command chief, he served as a test, measurement and diagnostic equipment technician, quality assurance evaluator, flight chief and squadron superintendent of an aircraft maintenance squadron. He also performed special duties as an Airman Leadership School instructor and military training instructor in Air Force Basic Training. These experiences led him to believe teamwork is a crucial ingredient of success and directly ties to the Air Force Core Value of "excellence in all we do."
"We must work together, we have to be approachable, we have to take care of our Airmen (which includes our enlisted, officers and civilians)," he said. "Those are things I think are important and we have to be able to do them with excellence. The word excellence is so overused; sometimes I think people forget what it is."
LugoSantiago feels a story shared by former Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Robert D. Gaylor provides a solid example of excellence. One day Gaylor was at a hotdog stand where he saw a working man call out "Juan!" A boy came running and the man handed him a bag. Then the boy then took off Olympic-fast. When Juan returned, Gaylor asked him why he left so fast. Juan told him he delivered French fries and that he ran fast because people like hot French fries.
"We have to know the people we serve and be able to deliver 'hot fries' just like Juan did," LugoSantiago said. "That is excellence to me."
The command chief wants those assigned here to know they can expect constant communication from him.
"I will engage in a lot of communication," he said. "I try to give them as much information as I can. I will serve them. I think this is what I have to do."
In order to maintain open lines of communication and foster teamwork, people can expect to see LugoSantiago in the hallways and visiting their work space.
"I will be walking around," LugoSantiago said. "I have this problem staying in an office. I need to be out and about figuring out what is happening and how (I can help) enable our teams successes."
One of the tools he uses to communicate with his team is a personal blog called "Craft Your Journey." He posts twice a week, sharing leadership messages and words of wisdom.
"This blog was built to help you do two things: achieve personal victory (lead and inspire) and be your weekly inspirational lighthouse (words of wisdom)," LugoSantiago said.
Just like Airmen have expectations of LugoSantiago, he also has expectations for his Airmen.
"I expect them to be motivated and to form relationships," LugoSantiago said. "I think relationships are very important. When we are united, it gives us a lot of power, power to accomplish things, power to changes things."
In addition, he expects leaders to develop strong and capable Airmen.
"For me a top priority, following from the commander's intent, is to develop strong and resilient Airmen so that they can accomplish (the mission) and deal with adversities," he said. "Hopefully we can develop our Airmen so they can learn to pause and reflect on what they are doing, so they can adjust their methods to fit the situation and never give up."
Visit the chief's blog at
http://joselugosantiago.wordpress.com/tag/craft-your-journey/.