Commander in touch with every Thunderbolt

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Bryan Bouchard
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The Luke Air Force Base wing commander, Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, spoke to nearly every Thunderbolt last week as a part of his quarterly commander's calls. 

These commander's calls not only provide the boss with an opportunity to speak about time-sensitive issues pertinent to Luke Airmen, but also provides Thunderbolts with an opportunity to ask questions of the base's most senior officer. 

"This is one of the best opportunities I have to speak to every Airman - active, Reserve, Guard and civilian - on Luke," the general said of his week of commander's calls. 

While junior enlisted, NCOs, senior NCOs, officers and civilians all had their own separate opportunities, there were common themes throughout the week. 

General Neubauer spoke about the Thunderbolts' rich heritage and highlighted how the wing added to it by flying 29,000 sorties, logging 39,000 hours and deploying nearly 700 Airmen in the past year. He also spoke about several exciting events to look forward to such as next month's visit from the Air Education and Training Command Commander, General Steven Lorenz, the Health Services Inspection, next spring's Luke Days Open House, and the AETC Operational Readiness Inspection. 

The general also discussed the Air Force fall safety campaign. He noted that several motorcycle mishaps resulting from excessive speed or alcohol impairment could have easily been prevented, and warned the audience about the dangers of driving in the local area, whether due to traffic congestion or to distractions such as talking or texting on the cell phone. 

The commander also provided updates on Luke construction projects such as repaving the commissary parking lot, renovating the combat arms training and marksmanship range, and upcoming enhancements to fitness facilities. 

The general participates in and highly encourages all Luke Airmen to try CrossFit, a scalable functional fitness program that will soon be offered by the Luke fitness center. 

He said that CrossFit provides a great combat conditioning regimen for Luke Airmen to stay fit-to-fight by combining core strength, Olympic lifting and plyometric exercises. He also mentioned that information about CrossFit is available at the Luke fitness center, the CrossFit link on the Air Force Portal, or the CrossFit Workout of the Day link on the Luke public Web page. 

Before breaking off into individual topics for each specific group, the general asked all Luke Airmen to take part in the Air Force Climate Survey. The survey, which closes out Wednesday, takes only 20 to 25 minutes to complete and will provide valuable feedback to Air Force senior leadership regarding operations tempo, deployments and quality-of-life.