Fort Leonard Wood impresses commander of Second Air Force

By Brian Hill, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs OfficeAugust 11, 2022

Air Force Maj. Gen. Michele Edmondson, Second Air Force commander at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, speaks with Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Lazo, a combat arms heavy weapons instructor with the 343rd Training Squadron detachment here, during a tour of Fort Leonard Wood’s Air Force footprint Wednesday. Edmondson visited the installation this week to witness the Air Force training missions, hear from the cadre and learn more about the unique joint-service partnerships here.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Michele Edmondson, Second Air Force commander at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, speaks with Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Lazo, a combat arms heavy weapons instructor with the 343rd Training Squadron detachment here, during a tour of Fort Leonard Wood’s Air Force footprint Wednesday. Edmondson visited the installation this week to witness the Air Force training missions, hear from the cadre and learn more about the unique joint-service partnerships here. (Photo Credit: Photo by Brian Hill, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Air Force Maj. Gen. Michele Edmondson, Second Air Force commander, visited Fort Leonard Wood this week, giving her an opportunity to witness the training missions, hear from cadre and learn more about the unique joint-service partnerships here.

The Second Air Force — headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi — has the mission to train, develop and inspire Airmen through basic and technical military training at five Air Force installations and nearly 100 operating locations around the world.

Edmondson began her three-day visit with an overview of the missions of the two Air Force units on post — the 368th Training Squadron, which provides initial skills and advanced training in civil engineering, pavements and equipment, emergency management and logistics readiness ground transportation — and the 343rd Training Squadron, which has a detachment here to conduct advanced training for security forces personnel.

Developing highly-skilled, technically-trained Airmen is at the top of her list for making sure Second Air Force and its units are successful, Edmondson said, and on Wednesday, she visited some of the living areas, schoolhouses and training areas where Airmen learn their skills. She said she’s very impressed with the professionalism and passion of the NCOs training the next generation of Airmen.

“There’s a lot of really great things to take away from this,” she said. “I think it certainly starts with the instructors, and how proud they are of what they do — how invested they are. You can see it in their Airmen — they’re proud; they’re excited; they’re professional; they’re bought in, and you can tell usually right away in a unit if they have that kind of culture. It’s pretty clear that they do here.”

Edmondson also made time to host a sensing session with the instructors. One of the attendees, Master Sgt. Timothy Weahry, Military Training Flight chief, said having in-person engagement opportunities with senior leaders is important.

“I think that especially being out here at Fort Leonard Wood — being on an Army installation — it’s sort of like being on an island,” he said. “I think it shows us that our senior leaders are fully invested in our development, and it gives us more motivation to continue what we’re doing.”

Weahry said one of the topics he found helpful was improving how instructors are reacclimated back into their career fields when their duty here ends.

“Getting them back into those career fields as better NCOs — I think that conversation helped us out in planning for the future,” he said.

Edmondson has years of experience in command of Air Force training units. She is a former commandant of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, along with several Air Education and Training Command assignments — AETC is the major command over Second Air Force. She said she hears about the great work being done here “all the time.”

“Until you come and see it, you can’t appreciate everything that’s going on,” she said. “Just to see it, for me, has been incredibly rewarding. It makes me know that these training pipelines are in good hands.”

Edmondson also highlighted Fort Leonard Wood’s natural beauty and the great example of a joint environment being set here.

“I really like Missouri,” she said. “Fort Leonard Wood is a beautiful place — a hidden gem. I’ve really been impressed. What a great partnership. This is what right looks like.”