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Former CMSAF Gaylor shares wisdom with Team Whiteman

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Shelby R. Orozco
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Former Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Robert Gaylor took time Aug. 7- 8 to talk with Whiteman Airmen and get a first-hand look at the B-2 Spirit mission.

Gaylor, who served as the fifth CMSAF from 1977 to 1979, said getting out and talking to today's Airmen is his version of paying back all the Air Force gave him during his 31 years on active duty.

Members of Team Whiteman certainly appreciated that effort.

"It was a great honor and pleasure to have met and learned from Chief Master Sgt. Gaylor," said Tech. Sgt. Jessica Hildebrand, 509th Communications Squadron Wing Information Assurance Office NCO in charge. "His service to the Air Force is a true definition of the Air Force core values. It was very humbling to hear of his trials and tribulations during his career and how he was able to stay positive and apply the lessons to life and his career. He is truly a sincere and respectable individual. I look forward to the next opportunity to hear him speak."

The former CMSAF made time in his busy itinerary to sit down with Public Affairs and answer some questions about life in the Air Force.


Q: Now that you're retired, why do you still choose to be involved with the Air Force?
"That's a good question because I've asked myself that. The answer might be a little bit corny, but in 31 years the Air Force did so much for me -- the opportunities I had, the privileges that I had, just serving in the force. I wanted to pay back, I wanted to share. So many people helped me during my career that I thought maybe something I say might help them. It was just a cycle of activity, and the more I did it, the more fulfilling it became.
"I've had Airmen say, 'Chief, don't ever stop doing what you're doing.' And wow, that's money in the bank, that's reinforcement. I never thought I would do 43 bases in 2003. I was travelling more than I ever did while on active duty! But it's so enriching. It's what I do. I consider my base visits like mid-air refueling -- it just pumps me up and I want to do more."'

Q: What's one of the things you enjoy the most about getting out and interacting with the Airmen?
"That's it! Talking with the Airmen and interacting with the Airmen. I want to know how they feel about what they do. I want to make sure they're feeling their contributions the way I want them to feel it.
"I worked for Gen. Dave Jones, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he used to say to me, 'Chief what is the pulse feel? Go out and feel the pulse.' And what he was telling me to do was to go out and find out what the Airmen were saying, doing and feeling."

Q: What is something you would say to a young first-term Airman just getting into all of this?
"Let's pretend that you are less than a top Airman, and you do just enough to get by. You come to work and you give it a shot and you duck the supervisors, and then at some point you change your mind and say 'Hey, I'm ready to be promoted!' And then we say, 'No, no! You didn't do what you should have done along the way!'

"So I think my message is you have to prove yourself every day, earn your way each day, so that you will achieve the rewards at the end of that. You can't go from here to here without stopping here, here and here along the way. Now it sounds rather simple. But there are days when you may not feel like it; maybe something has not gone right. Those are the days you have to reach inside and pull out that extra flow so you can do your job.

"Something else I found, and this happened to me in my career, is if someone in a higher position only sees me occasionally, I'd want them to see me at my best. Not knowing when they are going to see me, well that means I have to be at my best all the time. If I go running down the street in the Air Force without my cap on or my shirt unbuttoned that just might be when the head of the promotion board might see me! You just have to be on your toes each day."

Q: What about an Airman who is at a turning point in their career, when they're thinking of maybe separating or reenlisting? What's made you want to stay in for 31 years?
"I frequently ask first-term Airmen, 'What is your plan?' and they have varied answers. I can give you a couple examples, one from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. There was a senior airman who was getting out, so I said, 'What's your plan, Airman? Where are you going? What are you doing once you're outside the gate?' And she said, 'I'm registered at Baylor University, I'm going to start college.'

"So I said, 'Do you know where you're going to live?' She said, 'Oh, yes. I have a reservation in the dorms.'

"I asked, 'Do you know what courses you're going to take?' and she said, 'Absolutely, I am pursuing a medical career, and as a matter of fact, I may come back in later in a commissioned position.' Now I'm surely not going to say to her, 'You need to reenlist!' She had her act together, so I said good luck to her.
"Another time, there was a young airman at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. He was security forces and they had him guarding a flightline post. His plan was to get out. I asked him, 'Where are you going?' And he said, 'I don't know, probably back to Florida where I enlisted.'

"I asked, 'Where are you going to live?' And he said, 'Oh, I don't know, maybe with my parents.'

"I said, 'What if they don't want you?' and he said, 'Oh, I don't know.'

"And I stopped him and said, 'Young man, you are on thin ice. You better give this some thought!'

"Here's the difference -- somebody has a plan and somebody doesn't. I guarantee you that the young man with the sketchy answers in about two weeks is going to say, 'Oh, I made a terrible mistake. I should have stayed in.'

"My advice is to think it out. If you're married, you need to discuss it with your spouse. You need to have a plan. That's always been my goal with my Airmen. 'Can I ask you a few questions? What are you going to do?' I want to make sure they have thought it out, like the young lady going to college."

Q: Do you have any final words of wisdom to share?

"Not everybody may have the passion that I have for the Air Force. Maybe it's just my personality. I've talked to people who say, 'Oh, I've served my Air Force,' or 'I've put my life on the line.' We can all say that, and I applaud you, but I want you to look at it the other way around. The Air Force reached out to you and gave you the opportunity to serve.

"It's a two-way street. It's not just, 'I did this for the Air Force.' I say I am grateful to the Air Force for allowing this young kid in and allowing me to become part of its program. I have a different way of thinking of things. It's a two-word difference. It's a simple philosophy, but it has worked for me. I've never said, 'I HAVE to go to Whiteman tomorrow.' It's 'I GET to go to Whiteman tomorrow.'

"And then it becomes like Christmas morning, 'Oh, I GET to!' So I'm an 'I get to' guy, almost to a ridiculous point. I've had people say to me, 'Gaylor, you're crazy,' but it works for me.
"I say, 'I get to go to Whiteman. I get to meet the Airmen.' And it establishes it as an opportunity, a privilege."