Building our Warrior Heart culture

Lindsey Wilkinson AMC PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Macdill

AIR

Force

BASE, Fl. — On Jan. 28, 2022, Gen. Mike Minihan, commander for Air Mobility Command, posted a tweet with four simple words: Warrior Heart. No Stigma., along with a screen shot of a mental health appointment on his calendar. From that moment on, Warrior Heart became the mantra for a culture focused on fine tuning the mind, body, and craft to fortify the will to win.

That was the focus during the opening days of Spring Phoenix Rally held at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, April 17-21, 2023. More than 250 Total Force Mobility leaders and spouses spent two days discussing ideas and ongoing efforts that bring the mind into balance with body and craft.

“Warrior Heart is not a program, but rather, about our climate and our culture,” said Minihan. “So when I say mind, body, craft, I mean elevating the mind to the same level as body and craft.”

Minihan continued with his three objectives to helping airmen put their mental health on equal footing with physical fitness and honing their craft: eliminate stigma, lower barriers and increase access and options.

Col. Derek Salmi, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander, led the discussion that looked at warrior culture from a variety of different lenses including

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Salmi highlighted CAPT (ret) Charlie Plumb, a Vietnam War prisoner of war who spent 2,337 days in the Hanoi Hil ton after being shot down on his 75th mission. According to Plumb, post-conflict surveys showed signs of post-traumat ic stress in about a third of Viet nam veterans, while PTS among former POWs was only between four and eight percent, dramat ically lower despite everything they endured.

“Captain Plumb attributed that to one thing,” said Salmi. “The leadership that was in the Hanoi Hilton and the fact that they set the conditions, set the focus and embodied what Warrior Heart is. Leadership matters.”

Coach Scott Davenport, head coach of the Bellarmine men’s basketball team, discussed his approach to building a winning culture, which include pressure on and off the court.

“We have a saying in our program that preparation is going to lead to confidence,” said Davenport. “But at the end of the day, when they leave that huddle, who do they have? Each other. They don’t have us, they have each other.”

You need a plan academically, athletically and socially to build a winning culture, he continued. It is about being a part of something bigger than you and wanting it for others.

He also urged everyone to never delay gratitude. “It takes 1.8 seconds to say ‘thank you,” said Davenport.

Following Davenport’s speech, several wing commanders highlighted initiatives at their bases including Operational Support Teams at Little Rock AFB that’s focused on embedded support and care within at risk squadrons; the White Rope program at Dover AFB, which is a continuation of a support program typically seen at basic military training and technical schools; Vance AFB’s Comprehensive Readiness for Aircrew Flying

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Training (CRAFT) facility, a human performance lab that includes cognitive and nutrition specialists among other things; and Travis AFB’s Mind Gym and Comprehensive Airmen Fitness Madness Challenge, which funds quality of life upgrades in the dorms, work facilities and fitness areas.

It was a small sampling of ongoing initiatives across the Mobility Air Force, but the roundtable allowed for crosstalk and information sharing in order to fuel mind, body and craft together.

AMC’s Command Chaplain Mike Newton focused on the Will, which he defined as the

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ON THE COVER Airmen assigned to the 56th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight cross over a low depression filled with water on a firing range at Camp Navajo, Ariz., April 10. The airmen participated in exercise Furious Alpaca; an exercise with the objective of operating in degraded environments alongside foreign forces against a near peer threat. Staff Sgt. Noah D. Coger/U.S. Air Force