Mrs. and Col. Westgate visit Tinker, impressed by team spirit

Published July 14, 2008
By Brandice J. Armstrong
72nd Air Base Wing

72nd Air Base Wing -- Business may have brought the Westgates to Tinker, but they said the Team Tinker attitude made the trip worthwhile.

Barbara Westgate, Air Force Materiel Command executive director, and her husband Col. Charles J. Westgate III, visited Tinker July 1-3 for a source selection project and the 654th Combat Logistics Support Squadron's inactivation ceremony. Mrs. Westgate was the source selection authority for a $10 billion effort, and Colonel Westgate was a former 654th CLSS commander.

"I always love coming to Tinker, because I'm just so fascinated by the power of humans when they work as a team and what we can accomplish," said Mrs. Westgate, who has been selected as the next assistant deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Programs at the Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"The team concept is really wholly embraced here in Oklahoma City," Mrs. Westgate said.

Mrs. Westgate said she also spoke with Tinker officials about several Lean accomplishments including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Program, which Tinker implemented in June 2007. The program ensures a better level of safety and health protection in the work environment by encouraging OSHA, management, union and Tinker employees to work together.

"The VPP program is really alive and well here," Mrs. Westgate said. "When you empower people, they improve their processes because they do the work everyday, it's amazing the amount of efficiency you can get. We have a really strong partnership with the union here (American Federation of Government Employees Local 916) and its president, James Schmidt."

Mrs. Westgate has served AFMC for nearly five years, and as the executive director since July 2005. In her tenure, she's helped change the culture of the command. With Gen. Gregory Martin, AFMC commander from 2003 to 2005, and current AFMC Commander Gen. Bruce Carlson, Mrs. Westgate introduced wings, groups and squadrons to the organizational set-up, and later standardized the units.

Mrs. Westgate said she is now preparing for her next challenge, assistant deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Programs at the Air Force Headquarters.

"After five years in AFMC, it's probably time for me to move on," Mrs. Westgate said. "I could keep doing this and I think I would still be efficient, but it's time for someone else to take the change in AFMC up to the next level."

In her upcoming role, Mrs. Westgate said her biggest challenge could be trying to maximize today's budget with its constraints, while trying to make appropriate decisions to stretch the dollar and better tomorrow's Air Force.

"People are the only asset that appreciates," Mrs. Westgate said. "Everything else only holds the value it has at that moment, from the moment they roll it out, it depreciates."

Colonel Westgate said returning to Tinker for 654th CLSS inactivation ceremony was like coming home. He served as commander from 2000 to 2002.

"Coming back for the ceremony was very rewarding," said Colonel Westgate, who will soon begin classes at the Industrial College of Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. "It was a great opportunity to see people that I have not seen in a number of years."

The 654th CLSS was an aircraft battle damage repair unit, and one of several that will be inactivated due to a change in the way the Air Force fights its battles.

"I consider it to be the '911' force for logistics," the colonel said. "If anyone across the world needed something, we were always there to help out." For more on the CLSS inactivation ceremony, see the story and photos on pages 12-13.