Q&A: Meet the new command chief Published June 1, 2013 By Bryan Magaña 419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Last month, the 419th Fighter Wing welcomed its new command chief, Chief Master Sgt. Carmen Madia. I recently sat down with the chief to learn more about him and talk about his priorities for the wing. What are your top three priorities as command chief? Mentoring: I'd like to broaden the scope of our NCOs for leadership and other career opportunities in Air Force Reserve Command. Our future leaders need to have the four pillars of leadership--a joint assignment, the D.C. area, a wing and a Numbered Air Force. We must all realize the importance of training our replacements. My tenure here is only three years and I'm already looking forward to mentoring my replacement. Personal development: I'll advise and guide our junior leaders on career development, such as upgrade training, professional military education, and completing their Community College of the Air Force degree. All our NCOs need to complete their CCAF degrees to compete for promotions and special assignments. Our Air Force is much more technical than it was even five years ago and will continue in that trend as we become a smaller and more agile force. Fostering NCO initiative: I want to ensure our NCOs understand they have the freedom to use their own initiative in decision making and training. Tempered with their own experiences, they will become credible leaders when they know and understand the commander's intent and have the necessary tools and resources to do their jobs in a timely and efficient manner. A command chief is the epitome of dedication and professionalism in appearance, knowledge, upholding standards, and having genuine concern for people. I hope I will not disappoint our commander or our Airmen when it comes to meeting these standards. Why did you join the Air Force Reserve? I missed the Air Force! I completed 10 years active duty and I separated to go back to school. After attending six years of night school, including four years of law school, and working full time for the California Department of Justice, I wanted to go back into a career that I enjoyed and accomplish something for the greater good. Joining the Reserve was a blessing and a great way to grow, mature and see the world. Talk about the road to becoming command chief. I always believed that if I did a good job, gave my best to my unit and my Airmen, and met all training and readiness requirements, promotions would happen for me--and they did. My first mentor, Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Green, was my inspiration. Chief Green mentored me as a young staff sergeant and always told me that I had the right stuff to become a chief. I never forgot those words of encouragement, and in all my subsequent interviews for promotions, when the question came up "Why do you want this promotion?" I always said I didn't want to disappoint my chief. This is another reason why mentoring is such a high priority for me. If you could talk face to face with each of our Airmen, what would you say? Our UTA time is short and I don't want to fly a desk on the weekends, so I plan to be out and about every UTA meeting Airmen. My focus will be on what we are doing right, what can we do better, and how their families are doing with the stress of military life. When I came in the Air Force, our motto was "Aim High"; nowadays, I like to tell our Airmen to "Aim Higher." There are great things on the horizon for our Airmen and it's a good time to be in the Air Force. I hope to meet every one of our Airmen. Tell me about your civilian job. I'm fortunate to work for the State of California. I'm allowed 30 days of military duty a year so I can better support the mission. I work in the legal department of the California Air Resources Board, which is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Most of my civilian work can be balanced with my Air Force career, but there are times when I have court dates that conflict with a TDY. Luckily, if I have my orders in hand, I can provide the court a copy and have the case rescheduled. My coworkers and bosses are very supportive of my military career. As a leader, how will you face the challenges of being a traditional reservist? It all boils down to good communication. With technology - cell phones, BlackBerrys, email, video conferencing - it's not hard to keep the communication link open 24/7. But sometimes I like to go "old school," so if someone has a pressing matter, they can call me. I'm never too busy to take care of our people, one Airman at a time! Tell me about yourself outside of work. I love motorcycles, skiing and baseball. I've only skied in Utah one time, but I remember the snow being incredibly light and fluffy--a big change from our "Sierra Cement" that we have in Northern California. So I'm looking to take on the slopes later this year. And growing up on the north side of Chicago, I'm a Cubs fan who is already saying in June "Wait till next year!"