Stough shares insight on career, wing accomplishments

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  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Col. Michael S. Stough will relinquish command of the 100th Air Refueling Wing to Col. Eden J. Murrie during a change of command ceremony June 22 at 10 a.m.
Colonel Stough departs RAF Mildenhall to become the Headquarters, U.S. Air Force Global Mobility Division chief at the Pentagon.

Colonel Stough recently sat down with the staff of the Marauder Online to share some insight on wing accomplishments, career highlights and what it's like being a commander in a post-9/11 world.

Q. What do you feel like was RAF Mildenhall's biggest accomplishment during your tenure? 

A. I feel like we actually had two. One was surviving the year of compliance. When I first got here we had four months to get prepared for the wing's first-ever ORI. Then right after that we had to get ready for ATSEP, ASEV, LSET, Information Assurance, UCI, you name it. There were a lot of big exercises coming up all at once. Everybody knuckled down and we did really well. 

I think the second biggest accomplishment has been the implementation of AFSO21 across the wing. We're seeing some huge strides - this isn't just window dressing. We're actually seeing differences being made in the amount of time it takes the maintainers to get their tools so they can get to work on the flight line, and then in the time it takes them to turn in their tools and get home. It's making a difference in people's lives.

Q. What was the most difficult situation you were faced with as the wing commander, and how did you deal with it? 

A. There are always challenges. I'm one of those guys who think that everything is just something to be dealt with whatever that thing might be. But the most painful times for me were losing three members of this wing in three separate incidents. Anytime you lose a member of your team it hurts, and I lost a lot of sleep over that. How do you deal with that? Well, we tried to go out there and look at the root causes of every incident and then go back and see how we could help everybody else to keep it from happening again.

Q. During your career what was your biggest mistake, what did you learn from it and how did it affect your current leadership style? 

A. I tended to ignore the little warning voice in my head on several different occasions - or even the warning voices from outside my head, you know when somebody says to you, "Maybe this isn't what you think it is," or "this isn't going the way you want it to go." If I had paid attention to that, then maybe things would have turned out differently.

Q. What's the best advice you've received during your career? 

A. The best advice I ever received was from a squadron commander when I was at Charleston Air Force Base (S.C.), and I wanted to go fly for the 89th but was being told by several people that it was a lateral move and wasn't the right thing to do for my career. The squadron commander told me, "Don't worry about it Mike, go do what you want to do in the Air Force, do the best you can at it, and the rest will take care of itself." It's advice I've given over and over again. You know, there's a whole idea of "bloom where planted", so plant yourself where you want to go, and do what you want to do. 

Now on the other side of that coin is "service before self." You do what you're asked to do sometimes, you don't always go where you want to go, and I've had that happen in my career too. But I've never worried about whether it was somewhere I wanted to go or somewhere the Air Force wanted me to go. All that mattered is that I went there, made the most of the situation, tried to have a good time, did the best that I could and everything took care of itself. That's the best advice I ever got.

Q. Looking back over your career, what advice do you wish you'd received?
I'm not really sure that anybody would have given me this advice necessarily, but I think the best advice for any commander is to "always be yourself." When you first start out, you're trying to be what you think the model of a commander should be, even if that's not really you - I've learned over time that the most important thing is to be you - to be who you are. There's no one formula for that, everyone has something different and that's OK. I think if there is anything I would have liked someone to say to me when I first took command, it would be, "OK Mike, take command but be yourself."

Q. What's the most significant way RAF Mildenhall has collectively changed the way we do business and what is your assessment of it?
One has been on the Information Systems side of the house - we've begun the consolidated help desk at Ramstein (Germany). We no longer have operators on the base, it's a consolidated switchboard, so we're starting to see a lot of IT functions at Ramstein. That has forced us to look at the way we're doing business. For example - making sure the Blackberry for the new wing commander coming in gets turned on and activated so that when she shows up it's ready to go. 

The other has been in the wing itself. Again, AFSO21 has been the biggest change in the way we're doing a lot of things, in looking for smarter ways to do business. It could be anything from the communications squadron moving a server so they can eliminate the need for someone to sit in a room 24 hours a day to, again, the way the maintainers pick up their tools. It's all things everywhere, but collectively it's a huge change, and we're doing it.

Q. While you were here, were you able to travel as much as you liked, and what are some of your fondest memories? 

A. You can never travel as much as you like, but I like the way the chief (Command Chief Master Sgt. Michael Warner) puts it. He tells all the newcomers that they need to sit down and make a list of all the things they want to do professionally, the things they want to do personally and the places they want to go while they're here. My fondest memories would probably be of Paris - we loved that city - and Edinburgh, (Scotland). That was a very good time.

Q. What has being a commander in a foreign country in a post-9/11 world taught you?
A. It has taught me that you have to work very hard to maintain relationships outside the fence. It's easy at the level of local senior officials, we can maintain relationships with them pretty well - we go to many functions, we can bring them on the base. But we have to be careful that the average citizen doesn't look at this base as being some kind of super secret base, where they feel like, "We don't know what goes on in there, and all the Americans do is hide on there and never come outside the gate." A lot of Americans live on the economy, but sometimes that gets separated, and people can think, "Sure you're an American, and I know you're my neighbor, but we don't associate that with the base." So that's something we need to watch out for and it's much more difficult to do since 9/11.
Q. Was there anything you were able to adopt from British culture that you will take with you? 

A. I'm not sure I'd say I adopted this as much as I'd say it has been reinforced. I've always felt like you should be on time anywhere you go, but there is a tendency in this country towards punctuality; it's very important that you're on time anywhere you go. I really like that. In my mind it's consideration and respect for others. If you say you're going to be there, that's when you're going to be there, and people do that here. I appreciate it. 

I've also been the one walking into (a function) and as an American wearing a uniform, you always feel like you're the one standing out; it can feel pretty awkward. Someone always came over, so I think you can learn that you can do an awful lot with just a couple of words to someone standing alone to make them feel comfortable. I've met some wonderful people over here, that's for sure.

Q. Have you ever worn a kilt? 

A. (Laughter) Oh, yes, twice now. I wore it for Burns Night, and felt very manly. I would say that everyone should go (to Burns night), relax and have a good time. But definitely make arrangements for alternate transportation.

Q. What was your proudest moment as the 100th ARW commander? 

A. I think when I was sitting there listening to the litany of grades leading up to the overall score for the UCI, and knowing the incredible amount of work that had gone into it by so many people, I was just really, really proud to be sitting there as the wing commander. I was proud of them, and I was happy for them because I knew they had worked so hard.

Q. Most people know you as an avid runner. What do you use that time for? 

A. I use my running time one for a little bit of spiritual time, and that's the time I center on myself a little bit. Then it always turns into - and this is twofold - it's problem solving time, and because I run in the morning it's a chance to think about what's coming up in the day. It's actually a very productive time for me. I find that after I get done running, I've made decisions, I've come up with solutions, and I think about the things I've been needing to do.

Q. What's the most important thing you've learned from a subordinate? 

A. That it's OK to speak your mind respectfully. I've really come to value the inputs that come from subordinates. I'm one of those people who think out loud, and sometimes I'll say something and people can take it as gospel because the wing commander has spoken. I really respect that I have people around - whether it's the execs or other commanders who'll say, "Yes sir, but have you really thought this through? Is this really what you mean? Is this really what you're looking for?" And I've got to say that it has really helped me out.

Q. Do you have any parting words for the people at RAF Mildenhall? 

A. I think this is a wonderful wing and a great place to be. I really do think that it's important that Airmen have the philosophy - and that includes everyone in the Air Force family - that they should be spending some time every day counting their blessings. We're blessed to be in this Air Force; we're blessed to be in England, and it's easy to forget that some times.