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Meet the new 341st MW command chief

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Brosam
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  After 19 years traveling around the world from Kentucky to Texas and Germany, one Airman has finally made her way to Montana to serve as the new command chief at Malmstrom.

Chief Master Sgt. Amber Mitchell has taken the reigns and is excited to bring her experiences, personality and goals to all of Team Malmstrom.

“I’ve served in the Air Force for 19 years and some of that was as a space operator,” Mitchell said. “We all have unique challenges and things we bring to the mission and to the fight.”

After two years of college, Mitchell joined the Air Force because she felt she needed more in her life. She asked her best friend from junior high school to join with her, and after a few months, they were off to basic military training.

Mitchell said she continued to serve because of the experiences, opportunities and the people she has encountered throughout her journey.

“There is always someone you meet that has a great story and someone you want to learn more about,” Mitchell said. “There has not been one place I’ve been in my entire Air Force career where I haven’t met someone like that.”

One of her most rewarding experiences in her career, Mitchell said, was when she was a young Airman and her leadership empowered her to do her job.

“I was trained well, I executed well and I was rewarded well,” Mitchell said. “As a young Airman I was let go to do what I was supposed to do and there was no one looking over my shoulder. Airmen will do amazing things if you empower them.”

Mitchell’s leadership style is all about transparency – ensuring every Airman is operating on the same playing field and that she truly engages with Airmen.

“I like to be interactive and present,” Mitchell said. “I think a lot of people’s biggest concern when leadership comes in and tours is that ‘you were looking at me but you weren’t really hearing what I was saying.’ I like to be there and actually listen to people.”

One of the challenges she said she will face is getting out to all of the different work sites and missile alert facilities, and seeing who does and supports the mission.

“There are all sorts of challenges when you go to a new base such as learning people’s faces and what they do,” Mitchell said. “It can be difficult when we’re so spread out and people are doing a bunch of different things in different areas.”

Malmstrom has a young force responsible ensuring the nation has a credible and reliable nuclear deterrence to support allies and keep adversaries at bay.

Mitchell said having young Airmen is not a bad thing.

“Having a young force is great,” Mitchell said. “They are ready to do good things for the Air Force. Without them doing their job, there are a lot of people who would do a lot of bad things and it’s important for them to understand that though they are a young force, they have such a great impact.”

One of Mitchell’s goals is to get to know the Airmen that make up the wing, the base and in the missile field.

“I really want to talk about development and precision mission accomplishment and how we develop our force,” Mitchell said. “I want to see what challenges our Airmen are facing and how we can be the best Airmen we can be to get the mission done for the Air Force.

“I look forward to meeting and interacting with them to see where I can best fit in and learn what their job is,” she continued. “That is a goal I will be consistently working while I am here.”

Mitchell wants to remind everyone at Malmstrom how they support the mission and wants to ensure the public that the base is taking care of business.

“They are working hard for you, they are training hard for you and they are doing what we have asked them to do and they’re doing it to the best of their ability,” Mitchell said. “It can’t get any better than that – being a proud Airman.”

Mitchell is the primary advisor to the commander on matters concerning the readiness, morale, health, welfare, and discipline for nearly 4,000 military members who support the nation’s nuclear surety objectives by operating, maintaining, and securing 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.