Incirlik Airmen challenged to become resilient wingmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Anthony J. Hyatt
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Winter Wingman Day 2011, held here Feb. 24 offered a pause in the day-to-day mission to reinforce the wingman concept, to help build resilient Airmen and focus on unit health.

Resiliency is the ability to withstand, recover, and/or grow in the face of stressors and changing demands, according to Chief Master Sgt. Marcus Snoddy, the 39th ABW command chief.

"[Resiliency] is the Airman who returned from a deployment who witnessed hostile fire, but channeled that stress in a positive way by sharing experiences with fellow Airmen," said Col. Eric Beene, the 39th ABW commander. "It is the Airman who, despite peer pressure, identifies behavior that can lead to disaster and intervenes. This is resilience, and it has never been more important that it is now."

Airmen kicked off Winter Wingman Day 2011 with their monthly wing run. Then, units broke out to conduct training sessions, small-group discussions and teambuilding exercises.

Each unit at Incirlik divided up into small, interactive groups and held training focused on resiliency and the Wingman concept. Commander-selected facilitators lead the discussions and illustrated important topics.

The Wingman Day Resiliency Training covered four areas in resilience core skills: check, control, connect and confidence. In the training, "check" referred to an individual's ability to check himself, understand his purpose and maintain situational awareness. "Control" covered self-regulation and recharging one's self, while "connect" centered on communication, leading from the front and being wingmen for others. Lastly, "confidence" involves strategic thinking, problem solving and mental rehearsal.

After the small-group discussions, units continued Winter Wingman Day 2011 with team-building exercises, sporting and recreational activities, and process-improving events.

Some groups participated in sports, such as volleyball and ultimate Frisbee within their own units. Other units took teambuilding to another level by expanding their reach and competing against other squadrons in teambuilding games.

"Wingman Day gave us a chance to self-reflect and make us, not only as individuals, but as an Air Force whole, realize that we are in it together and there is always someone there to have your back like a great Wingman should," said Staff Sgt. Jaime Garza, 39th Contracting Squadron contract administrator.

The important take-away in all of this is to step back and reflect, and think about how we as individuals can enhance our Wingman skills by being more vigilant and resilient, said Colonel Beene.

Wingman Day concept is more than an event, it is a culture of Airmen taking care of Airmen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, according to the training planners.