AFMC Commander's Log -- COVID-19 Update #3

  • Published
  • Air Force Materiel Command

Team AFMC

As this fast-moving situation continues to unfold, I want to assure you that AFMC’s leadership remains at the forefront of balancing our top priority, the safety and wellness of you and your families, with the careful monitoring and assessment of our mission in the midst of COVID-19.

Military installations around the globe raised their Health Protection Condition levels to the second-highest level in response to this pandemic.  This ‘new normal’ requires our commanders to make tough decisions about mission essential activities and the Airmen who perform them.  Please know these decisions are a responsibility we do not take lightly.

To minimize our risk of exposure to COVID-19, we continue to maximize telework and only conduct essential in-person meetings with the least possible attendees.  For the most part, our Airmen who are high-risk and unable to telework have been afforded weather and safety leave.  I say for the most part because we must execute our wartime mission and have called some Airmen back to work for critical mission support.  Lastly, for our Airmen still in their work environments, we have implemented social distancing, rigorous cleaning practices, and the wear of face coverings as outlined by the CDC to ensure health and safety.  Additionally, we are procuring and providing necessary supplies and personal protective equipment for your use.

Many installations have restricted access to the base and services for extra mitigation efforts.  Our command-wide efforts appear to be working, but over the coming weeks, we are facing peak infection rates in many locations.  Now is not the time to let our guard down.  Our collective diligence with regard to social distancing, wear of cloth face coverings, and other PPE have made a difference and we must keep it going.

Your commanders are carefully reviewing the models and predictive analytics and working with local communities to determine when we can start to ease any of the restrictions put in place and open our aperture to increase mission throughput.  We must do this to support the larger Air Force and DoD mission.   While we look to increase mission throughput, the safety of you and your families remains my top priority.

I encourage you to find ways to remain connected and fulfilled.  This crisis has created many challenges for parents and caregivers who are now home with children full-time while trying to manage telework, homeschooling and parenting.  As you look after others, please remember to look after yourselves as your personal wellbeing and balance enables everyone:  exercise your brain, stay socially connected virtually with your support network, continue physical fitness at home, or go outside to enjoy the sun with a walk.  Keeping yourself mentally and physically strong while keeping good social connections will help us all get through this challenge. 

Our unity of effort remains rooted in the health of our workforce and serves as the baseline for readiness.  We continue to perform our wartime mission every day.  We know that you’re encountering a host of rapid changes and challenges; and that now more than ever, we are relying on each other in new and different ways.  Each of you are integral in how we accomplish our mission today and into the future.  I am proud of how you have flexed and adapted to continue to work together as One Team powering the world’s greatest Air Force.

Thanks

Arnie

ARNOLD W. BUNCH, JR.
General, USAF
Commander, Air Force Materiel Command 

 

RESOURCES:

AIR FORCE EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP)

EAP Available to Civilian Employees and their family members:  https://www.afpc.af.mil/EAP  or call 24/7/365 to 1-866-580-9078

CIVILIAN HEALTH PROMOTION SERVICES (CHPS)

Active Duty personnel and Civilian Employees can visit our wellness website portal and create an account at www.USAFwellness.com 

MILITARY ONESOURCE AND MILITARY FAMILY LIFE COUNSELING

Available to Active Duty and their Dependents. Call us at 1-800-342-9647 or visit www.militaryonesource.mil 

MISSIONFIT APP

Active Duty personnel and Civilian Employees can still stay fit-to-fight thanks to the Defense Health Agency MissionFit mobile app. Available in both the Android and Apple app stores—just search ‘MissionFit.’