Owen: sad to leave, optimistic about future Published Aug. 1, 2008 By Amanda Creel 78 ABW/PA Robins Air Force Base, GA -- Maj. Gen. Tom Owen and his wife, Mary Beth, will say goodbye to Robins for the third time in his active-duty career after the change of command Aug. 7. After two years as commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, the general said it would be hard to bid Robins farewell. General Owen said he was thrilled to have the chance to be commander of what he thinks is one of the greatest Air Force bases. He said he knew when his name appeared on the two-star list there was a chance he could return to Robins for a third assignment and he was excited about the prospect. In June 1996, General Owen made his first appearance at Robins as a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 93rd Logistics Group, which was part of the 93rd Air Control Wing, a predecessor to the 116th Air Control Wing. His first goodbye was as a colonel two years later in July 1998. It was only a few months later in February 1999 when he returned to Robins as the C-5 System Program Office director at the WR-ALC. He bid farewell a second time in September 2001. His third appearance was in August 2006 as he took the reins of the WR-ALC as a brigadier general and was promoted only two months later to major general. "There is nowhere I would have rather come to serve our country as a two-star than the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center and Robins Air Force Base because of the wonderful men and women that work here --the civil servants, the uniformed members as well as our contractor workforce," he said. He said he has enjoyed working side by side with the men and women of Middle Georgia both inside and outside the gates of Robins as commander. "I have appreciated the dedication of the workforce here and I would hope they would remember that my objective was to do as I did as a second lieutenant at my first Air Force base when I was a maintenance officer working B-52s in Strategic Air Command," General Owen said. "My job back then was to provide my people the time, the tools, the training and the tech data to do their jobs and if I did that they would succeed and if I didn't do that they would not succeed," During his tenure as commander, he continued to provide those who turn the wrenches or play some other role in the depot mission with the necessary provisions for success. "I don't fix airplanes. I don't manage airplanes directly myself. I don't write software codes. I don't fix the commodities. I don't repair the avionics. I don't solve complex electronic warfare problems. It's the people here that do, so it's my job to give them the wherewithal for them to succeed," he added. He said he also worked diligently to prepare the center to face whatever the future holds for it and the Air Force. "I also hope members of the base and Middle Georgia community see my efforts during the past two years providing long-range vision to help this air logistics center and the men and women who work here be prepared -- not just for next quarter or next fiscal year, but be prepared for what's coming down the road five, 10 or 20 years from now," he said. Some of the many programs that came to fruition during General Owen's latest stint at Robins include High Velocity Maintenance, Georgia Robins Aerospace Maintenance Partnership, and the Electronic Warfare Life Cycle Management Group. "One that I think is really going to standout is the High Velocity Maintenance initiative and like a lot of things, we just had a vision that there might be a better way of doing things and so we challenged ourselves," he said. He added that the Center has committed itself to finding a better way to do aircraft maintenance resulting in more aircraft availability. "We have been at it for about a year and some of the brightest minds we have here at the Warner Robins ALC are really rethinking how we are going to do the full range of base-level, intermediate-level and depot-level inspections," General Owen said. He said he is very excited about G-RAMP and what the partnership means for the future of the Air Force and the future of Robins Air Force Base and Middle Georgia. "That partnership will result in more economical and more rapid support to the warfighter and our critical airlift assets that provide humanitarian relief throughout the world anytime there is a manmade or natural disaster," the commander said. General Owen said he was disappointed he wouldn't continue to see these projects develop as Center commander, but said he will still have a prime interest as he takes his new positions at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. "As the director of Logistics and Sustainment, these initiatives are right there on my radar scope," General Owen said. General Owen said he believes in partnerships because in the end combined resources and team work result in a better final product. Under the the general's command, numerous partnerships have been formed under his command such as partnerships with Middle Georgia Technical College and Macon State College. "I have used the phrase partnerships very frequently because I firmly believe that nobody achieves anything great working by themselves," General Owen said. "In our business today, our team is not just those who we see inside the fences of Robins Air Force Base." He said Team Robins includes the educational institutions here in Georgia from elementary to the university level, the defense industry, the other air logistics centers, our headquarters at Air Force Material Command and headquarters U.S. Air Force. "The attitude I have tried to bring is let's be inclusive, let's get all the right people to the table, and when we are in the decision mode, let's have open discussions and make sure we get all opinions out and I am convinced we will end up with a better answer," General Owen said. He said he is also proud of how Team Robins has used the many inspections from higher headquarters during his tenure to help improve the center. "Starting with the Unit Compliance Inspection, shortly after I got here in 2006 in which we did very well, but got a good list of things that needed to be corrected. And the Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Team came in here and gave us a wake up call and said we really needed to focus to improve many processes and make sure the people are following proper safety practices," he said. "Collectively we all focused a lot of attention and when the LSET team returned there was all positive comments with no major findings," he said. "And, it culminated with our operational readiness inspection just a few months ago where Team Robins really watered the inspectors' eyes and the overall rating for the Center was excellent."