AFLCMC Leadership Log Podcast

Embedded within the program offices are acquisition professionals, known as Security Assistance Program Managers, who work to ensure international partners receive the war winning capabilities they need, when they need it.

It’s the age old question from “Ghostbusters.”  Who are ya gonna call? “For some, they find it very comforting they're not held accountable, the mentee, to find the perfect mentor,” said Scott Boyd, Deputy Program Executive Officer for Mobility Aircraft.  “They're relying upon more senior leadership to help find a good match for them and we've had great success today with doing that for...

In large organizations, problems and solutions can exist on the opposite sides of a cubical wall without any means to cross over. Emily Farley, Chief Venture Officer for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance/Special Operations Forces Directorate, was brought on to find such instances and bring the two together.

A new initiative in the F-16 Division co-located at Hill AFB, Utah and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, called the Harmony Council, was created to expand perspectives of members to see life experiences unlike their own.  Col. Tim Bailey, F-16 Division chief, Vince Lewis, F-16 Deputy Program Manager for Nuclear Matters and Rosmarie Edwards, F-16 Avionics Engineer, all are involved with the Harmony...

As the COVID pandemic continues to rage, personnel in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center can expect continued reliance on telework where mission execution allows.  Sherri Artuso, AFLCMC Director of Personnel, Jennifer Bauer, Chief of Personnel Programs Division and Angie Benito, Personnel Program Division Telework lead, joined for an episode of AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast to help...

You might say the Air Transportability Test Loading Activity, or ATTLA, is a small office with a global reach.  The small group of nine located in the AFLCMC Engineering Directorate is responsible for what we call certifying unusual or problematic cargo. In short, nothing flies on Air Force aircraft unless this team has done an assessment and published detailed instructions loading, positioni...

AFLCMC is seeking top talent to fill critical roles across the AFLCMC software enterprise! Interested candidates are invited to participate in a Zoom Live Q&A with experts on Jan. 5 from 4:30 to 5:30 Eastern Time at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sdeCgrDIjGtZVlrmZDdB8zu_dNJqKvUaf?fbclid=IwAR39PkJFpXaF3fvkELGJBQiQ_huUdYM1peik2W28QPNiC3wtrNLX5C2e5cU

The KC-46 Pegasus Tanker Sustainment Team completed its first year of organic 1C-Checks at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma producing 23 of 23 aircraft ahead of Depot schedule. Col. Leigh Ottati, KC-46 Division Chief and Jody LeBlanc, Depot Activation and Sustainment team lead, joined for an episode of AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast to share their experiences in launching this sustainment effort.

Enlisted Professional Military Education courses use guided discussions to educate, develop and inspire enlisted leaders.  The courses are designed to let students share experiences, ideas and work together to achieve various educational objectives, according to the Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education. Recent graduates from the three primary courses, Airman Leadership School (E-4,...

A partnership between AFLCMC’s Propulsion Directorate and the Rapid Sustainment Office is realizing the promise of additive manufacturing by producing real engine parts for real jets.

Col. Pat Miller, 88th Air Base Wing and Wright-Patterson AFB Installation Commander and his counterpart at Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts, 66th Air Base Group Commander Col. Katrina Stephens, shared their experiences as Installation Commanders during a recent episode of AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast.

Returning to the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate a decade later, Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey admitted it felt a bit surreal walking back in the building and into the Boss’s – now his – office.   Cropsey served as the Materiel Leader in the Pacific/South East Asia/Americas Branch from August 2011 to July 2013.  Last month, he returned as the AFSAC Director.

The Air Force Security and Assistance Cooperation Directorate manages all foreign military sales for the Air Force.  It uses Command Country Managers assigned to international partner nations to help them successfully interact with the US Government. Three command country managers recently had a discussion of their experiences on AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast.  They were: - John Harrin...

Welcome back for another episode of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Leadership Log podcast. It's our 50th episode and we’re going to mark this milestone by talking about one of the oldest platforms in the Air Force’s inventory, the B-52 Stratofortress otherwise known as the BUFF. For more than 60 years the BUFF has been an icon of global reach and central to the Air Force’s ability to p...

AFLCMC's Rapid Sustainment Office went from a mere concept to a full out sprint in just a few short years, and has been leading the way in solving enterprise-wide sustainment issues across the Air Force inventory. RSO's military deputy program executive officer Col. Nicole "RL" Ruff-Lehman, started her career working sustainment problems for the bomber fleet. Since that beginning, she has had a mu...

Lansen Conley is the director of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Logistics Directorate. In this episode, he talks us through what to expect during the upcoming 3rd annual Product Support Manager, or PSM, Forum. The forum's theme this year is "Advancing Logistics, Digitizing Sustainment and Modernizing Product Support." Like last year, the three-day event will be on zoom .gov and runs...

At what is officially known as the Air Force Packaging, Technology, and Engineering Facility, but better known as the packaging lab, a team of 16 AFLCMC members made up of engineers, designers, crafts, and acquisition professionals, develop, investigate, test, and evaluate specialized materials, containers, and techniques in order to safely move and protect Air Force equipment wherever it’s needed...

In this discussion, we talk with Luke Schultz who is AFLCMC’s small business program office director. Schultz walks us through how his team of 14 small business professionals is working to support the warfighter by encouraging program offices to seek and consider small businesses when they are developing their acquisition strategies. Schultz brings a deep level of experience to the job from his ye...

In this discussion Lt. Col Jameson “HEAThER” Locklear and Mr. Joe Baker explain how the Air Force is incorporating digital engineering tools into how we are thinking about, designing and acquiring new weapon systems. Locklear is the deputy program manager for the eT-7A Redhawk program, and Baker is the director of engineering for the Mobility and Training Aircraft Directorate. As Baker explains du...

In this discussion Cesar Vega-Flores walks us through the efforts being done in the AFLCMC Rapid Sustainment Office’s Rapid Austere Focus Area. Vega-Flores is a member of the AFLCMC / RSO Innovation Integration Team. The goal of his team is to provide the warfighters working in austere locations with critically needed tools, while reducing the logistical footprint needed to deploy and employ those...

Col. John Kurian is the senior material leader for AFLCMC's Agile Combat Support Directorate's Simulators Division. In this discussion he explains how his team of dedicated professionals work to provide state-of-the-art ground-based training systems to the warfighter. The sims portfolio of systems spans across 2,700 devices at 160 sites around the world. The sims team directly impacts the warfight...

The Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate's Foreign Military Sales Construction Division was recently elevated from a branch to a division, and Dr. Carlos Braziel is its first division chief. Braziel oversees a team of dedicated professionals who are currently working 29 different FMS cases involving 22 international partners in 14 different countries. In this episode we discus...

“You’ve heard these words over and over from supervisors and mentors. There's only one person that can manage your career, and that's yourself.” The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Executive Director Kathy Watern said that quote as she explained the opportunities that the Civilian Educational Development, or CDE, portfolio of programs offers the federal civilian workforce. This is part thre...

Welcome back for a new season of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Leadership Log podcast In the first episode of the season we have a discussion with Taylor Ruffin, from the AFLCMC Rapid Sustainment Office other wise known as the RSO, about the effort to bring augmented and virtual reality, or AR/VR, to the Air Force. Taylor is the lead product manager for the AR/VR effort. Her team is w...

This is the last episode of our first season and we really appreciate that you’ve come along with us for this ride. We hope that you’ve gained something from the content  we’ve been putting together during our inaugural season. We’d really like to hear about any ideas that you have for future episodes, so please drop us a line. Our e-mail address is in the show notes. For the season wrap up e...