AFLCMC Leadership Log Podcast

In this “Leadership Log”, Yolanda McCain, Director of the Small Business Office within the Business and Enterprise Systems (BES) Directorate. McCain discusses her job matching small business resources with the Air Force’s needs to support warfighters.

In this “Leadership Log”, to learn more about DMM, the AFLCMC Public Affairs team spoke with two practitioners: Kevin Torres, Digital Architect with the Mobility and Training Aircraft Directorate and Oren Edwards, Chief Engineer, Medium Altitude UAS Division with the Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) and Special Operations Forces (SOF) Directorate.

The Personnel Directorate serves as the Center’s human resources department and manages recruitment and staffing needs. Personnel leadership provide counsel to Center leadership on staffing matters. “People are the lifeblood of our organization,” Leingang explains, mentioning how an Air Force civilian career allows for growth and training without losing seniority by having to jump from one to company to the next to climb the experience and career ladder. In this Leadership Log podcast, AFLCMC Director of Personnel Greg Leingang explains how his team supports uniformed and civilian airmen across the Center.

In this Leadership Log podcast, we “pull back the curtain” and look at how the Business and Enterprise Systems (BES) Directorate provides essential tools and services to warfighters. As Deputy Program Executive Officer and Deputy Director Col. Walter Bustelo explains, BES’ services are enormous - “we're impacting 3.3 million people every day” - and that BES “run[s] the systems that run the Air Force.”

In this “Leadership Log,” Kevin Rusnak, Chief Historian with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, walks listeners through how changes in the post-Cold War environment contributed to AFLCMC’s creation, and how Air Force command and acquisition structures have constantly evolved to meet the needs of their time across the service’s existence.

Early aviation history has many connections to the Dayton, Ohio area, and through a series of events and the needs for the United States, modern Air Force development and procurement also maintained a presence in the region, with far-reaching consequences. In this “Leadership Log,” Historian Kevin Rusnak guides listeners through aviation’s roots in Ohio, how world events impacted the U.S. Army’s aviation efforts, and how a burgeoning Air Force created and evolved its support, technical and acquisition abilities to serve challenges of the Cold War era.

Dennis D’Angelo, SES, came to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center in September and serves as Executive Director. He previously held the same role at the Air Force Sustainment Center. Being Executive Director of AFLCMC is a large role that encompasses many responsibilities and requires many skillsets. The role acts as a civilian right-hand to the Commander and largely focuses on manpower issues. During a recent episode of “Leadership Log,” Mr. Dangelo talked about his background, his love of flying and his excitement in joining the AFLCMC team. Before becoming a civilian, Mr. D’Angelo spent 30 years in the USAF and retired as a colonel in 2008. He was primarily a C-5 pilot, worked in operations and logistics. He spent time at Wright-Patterson as 88th Logistics Group and Vice Commander of the 88 ABW. “I did a lot of things with the combatant commands to prepare for war, to be able to move large masses,” explains D’Angelo of his logistics experience. “After I retired, I spent time at Stuttgart, Germany at U.S. Africa Command Deployment and Distribution Operations Center (AFRICOM). I worked on the African continent for a period of time while I was there doing logistics type activities.” During the interview, D’Angelo shares some stories during his time as a pilot, including recalling being shot at by an angry individual. He also recalls flying through the Northern Lights. “But probably the coolest thing was I've probably seen the space shuttle recover from the airplane more than most people have seen it recover to either Edwards or the Cape,” adds D’Angelo. “…The early space shuttle missions would start recovery somewhere over Guam. And sometimes I was flying over Hawaii, and they'd fly right over us on the way in. And it does look like a big flaming star. It goes by you.”

On November 6, Lt. Gen. Shaun Q. Morris will say goodbye to the Air Force as he retires as commander of AFLCMC. He is just the fourth person to fill the role. In a special edition of “Leadership Log,” AFLCMC chief historian Kevin Rusnak interviews Morris on a USAF career that began in 1988, the pivot toward digital materiel management, becoming commander of AFLCMC during a global pandemic and a massive hiring push. For the latter, experience in the seat and listening to advisors across the Center helped make the hiring push successful. By making external hiring a priority through an initiative called Mach 3, the Center was able to adjust some hiring practices and add new individuals to the Center workforce. From a personnel perspective, 2023 saw the largest growth of the Center since 2016. “The goal was to increase our Center size by reducing the amount of attrition and increasing the hiring. Our attrition has stayed about the same,” Morris explains. “But most of our retention incentives, I think are a little bit forward looking. I'm hoping that has longer term impact.” The hiring push will be part of the legacy that Morris leaves for the Center. Today’s hirings are done with tomorrow in mind, attempting to find civilian personnel with the right skillsets for future technologies. That requires looking at individuals with different backgrounds and education than might typically be employed by AFLCMC. Morris will be succeeded by Lt. Gen. Donna Shipton as the Center’s next commander. Shipton will be the first woman to fill the seat. She is currently the Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. It is not clear when Lt. Gen. Shipton will assume command. Her move is in limbo as part of an ongoing block of general and flag officer promotions by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) regarding Dept. of Defense abortion policy. To hear the full conversation, you can watch “Leadership Log” on YouTube at https://youtu.be/AWSjz6lCal0 You can also listen by searching “Leadership Log” on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Overcast, Radio Public or Breaker. REMINDER: The retirement ceremony of Lt. Gen. Shaun Q. Morris will be broadcast live on the AFLCMC Facebook page Monday at 2 p.m. ET.

Jackie Janning-Lask, AFLCMC Engineering Director and Karen Hudson, Chief of the Avionics Engineering Division, attended the 37th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards and STEM Conference in National Harbor, Maryland earlier this month. In addition to Hudson receiving the Black Engineer of the Year Outstanding Achievement Award, they both participated in a “A Day in the Life of an Air Force Engineer/Scientist” panel discussion.

The Rapid Sustainment Office is charged with finding innovative solutions and looking for opportunities to apply them across the Air Force enterprise.

While Operations Security is as old as warfare, the expansion of the virtual information space has presented new challenges.

Dozens of professional development opportunities for civilian Airmen will open this week under the Air Force-wide Civilian Development program.

There is an organization in AFLCMC whose primary purpose is to act as a force multiplier for the broader acquisition workforce. The Acquisition Center of Excellence, led by Melanie Marshall, is a group of multi-functional experts ready to offer on-demand assessment and advisement to groups facing challenges in the acquisition process.

“Just because there's a song that says it's the most wonderful time of the year, give yourself permission to have whatever it is you're experiencing. It’s going to come, and it's going to go, but trying to get rid of it might keep you stuck in it,” said Maj. Aaron Esche, clinical psychologist, at the Wright-Patterson Medical Center. He and Maj. Carlos Salazar, also with the Mental Health Clinic, talked about dealing with stress over the Holiday season on a recent episode of AFLCMC's Leadership Log podcast.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” is an adage dating back more than 350 years. It hasn’t lost any utility with age. Speaking on a recent episode of AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast, Capt. Adam Brewer, AFLCMC Commanders Action Group, said he finds the balance between his varied personal and professional interests keeps him sharp.

Lt Jimmy Doolittle looked to the cool, fair skies over the city of Dayton, just across the river from where he stood on the periphery of McCook Field, home to the Air Service’s Engineering Division and its cadre of expert test pilots. His keen eyes tracked a pair of airplanes flown by his comrades more than 2,000 feet overhead, heading southeast over downtown.

“It’s important that you care for the Airmen under your charge. Without that, in my opinion, everything else can be very futile. That needs to come first. You need to care about your folks,” said Chief Master Sgt. Rob Jones, Senior Enlisted Leader for the Cryptologic and Cyber Systems Division.

For nearly three decades, the C-17 Globemaster III has provided the bulk of airlift for the Air Force. When something absolutely positively has to get there, the C-17 is the aircraft for the job. The prime example is its performance in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, Operation Allies Refuge, the largest non-combatant evacuation airlift in U.S. history. The C-17 was key in evacuating more than 124,000 people over 17 days at the end of August 2021.

An early member of the Aeronautical Systems Directorate, a predecessor organization of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, recently made the trek to Dayton, Ohio, site of the early days of his flight test career. Dr. William R. O’Brien, 91, traveled from his home in Maryland to visit a plaque installed in his honor by his family at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. While here, he sat for an episode of AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast where he reflected on programs like Skybolt and NATO AWACS as well as his role in the development of “matrix management” system of providing technical expertise to program offices. It was a long and fruitful career that began in a moment of happenstance or perhaps serendipity.

Megan Kane, a Mechanical Engineer with the Armament Directorate at Robins AFB, Georgia, led the effort to develop an app that locates suitable spaces for nursing mothers who need to pump breast milk on a regular basis. The creation of lactation spaces either from converting existing rooms or the installation of “pods,” is one of many programs led by the Women’s Initiative Team which is part of the Department of the Air Force Barriers Analysis Working Group. Specifically, WIT is charged to identify barriers to women’s service that influence and impact women’s propensity to serve and advocate to eliminate those barriers through policy change.