LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Brig. Gen. Len Patrick will mark six months as the commander of Lackland's 37th Training Wing at the end of July. During his time at Lackland, he has been able to become familiar with the wing in a way that has helped him set goals for the future.
"One of the things that I saw when I was at Air Education and Training Command is that we would look at the production of numbers and kind of ignore the people that were doing the work," he said. "The mission statement used to say we promote warrior Airmen. What we missed was the permanent party and the training staff. One of my biggest goals is to make all the Airmen understand what their job is, why it's important and what they bring to the fight."
General Patrick said that one of his biggest challenges upon assuming command was the size of the wing.
"I had a feel for it previously, but until I got out and just started walking through the buildings and talking to the people, I really didn't fully grasp it," he said. "I would have to go into three and four buildings a day, every day of the year in order to hit every facility in this installation. With almost 1,000 acres, we're big. Also, our mission spreads throughout the city, through our medical group, and throughout the world with the Defense Language Institute and the Inter-American Air Forces Academy."
The general added that he has noticed how every person in the wing brings a positive attitude to work each day.
"They come to work, they're energetic and they know at the other end of whatever they're doing, they're making a difference," he said. "The relationship that we have with our 70 or more mission partners on the installation is wonderful: they can't do their job without us doing ours. Frankly, at times, we can't do our jobs without them doing theirs."
As pleased as General Patrick is with the wing, there are changes he has in mind for the future.
"We're going to expand basic military training from 6.5 to 8.5 weeks. That is critical to the future of our training mission," he said. "At the same time there are a number of physical improvements I hope to make. Recapitalizing our BMT training complex is about a $900 million undertaking. The first dormitory is in the 2009 president's budget.
"Also, realize that Team Lackland is involved in the Global War on Terrorism. More than 1,800 Team Lackland personnel deployed in fiscal year 2007."
General Patrick said his favorite part of coming to work every day are the constant learning experience and watching people care about making a difference.
"I can come to work every day and learn something new," he said. "At the same time, I have enough experience that when I see things go awry, I can rely on my commanders to get the job done. Through that we're all better."