Chief settles into AFLCMC role

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  • By Daryl Mayer, AFLCMC Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (AFLCMC) – “I'm just an Airman,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jamie Newman.  “I came in the Air Force as an Airmen Basic and when I look in the mirror every single day that's the guy I see, Airmen Basic Newman.  I've been in the Air Force now 26 and a half years so that picture has changed a little bit over time, but that's kind of me.”
 
Chief Newman sat for AFLCMC’s Leadership Log podcast after he became the new AFLCMC Command Chief in May.  He spent the last two years as the Command Chief for the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano AB, Italy.  This is his first assignment in Air Force Materiel Command.
 
“I came in a Defender by trade, a Security Forces Airmen, and loved every bit of that.  I had the opportunity to do some pretty cool things across the Air Force and unique jobs in my time,” he said. 
 
A 2002 graduate of the Army Ranger Course, Newman served in Air Mobility Command’s Phoenix Raven program which are teams of specially trained Security Forces personnel dedicated to providing security for aircraft transiting high terrorist and criminal threat areas.
 
Prior to his selection for this job, the chief said he didn’t know much about the center, but is anxious to see firsthand the many ways AFLCMC impacts the lives of Airmen across the force.  He hopes to visit as many work centers as possible to meet AFLCMC Airmen.    
 
“Wow, we have so much more going on in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center than I ever could have imagined,” Newman said.  “I've just gotten a glimpse up to this point only being here two weeks and excited to see where it goes from here.” 
 
Another new experience is the diversity of the workforce in terms of active duty, civilians and contractors.  The chief said he has only worked with a handful of civilians over the course of his career.
 
“In these last two weeks, I’ve worked with or been around more civilians that I've seen in my entire career, so it's been pretty cool. And the perspective I'll tell you though is almost the same whether you're enlisted, active duty, reserve, guard or just core civilian GS, it's interesting to see how the perspectives are almost identical with what they know and think about how we do what we do,” he said. 
 
It fits right in with a sign in his home that encapsulates his leadership philosophy: Better Together. 
 
“We can't do this alone.  We're not on an island.  We have to be able to do it together and we're better together,” Newman said.  “The diversity across the Air Force is what makes us a really good organization and what makes us powerful.” 
 
A runner who enjoys endurance-type challenges, the chief is excited for the return to PT testing and the potential for team building that group PT sessions bring.   
 
“Try to listen more and talk less,” he offered in closing.  “I think ultimately we'll be better together and if we are all kind of doing those small things, they equal those big things and the Air Force will still be great 200 years from now.”

To hear the full conversation, you can watch Leadership Log on YouTube at https://youtu.be/MEa_oXh6xaY.  You can also listen by searching “Leadership Log” on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Overcast, Radio Public or Breaker.