460 SW command chief visits ARPC, says farewell

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rob Hazelett
  • Air Reserve Personnel Center Public Affairs
BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Chief Master Sgt. Craig Hall, 460th Space Wing command chief, bid adieu to service members and civilians at the Air Reserve Personnel Center here Oct. 10, 2014, thanking them for their service and letting them know the impact they had on him.

Hall was greeted by Chief Master Sgt. Ruthe Flores, ARPC command chief, then spoke to enlisted personnel in the center's Heritage Hall where he was presented coins from the ARPC commander, presented by Flores on behalf of Brig. Gen. Samuel "Bo" Mahaney, the Top 3, via Master Sgt. David Smashum, ARPC Top 3 president, and Junior Enlisted Advisory Council, courtesy of Senior Airman Evan Joacin, JEAC treasurer.

"I know my commander thinks a lot of Chief Hall, and I'm sure if he were here, he would have gone out of his way to present him his coin," Flores said. "That's the kind of impact he's had on ARPC."

Hall mentioned the value of working in conjunction with ARPC.

"While I was here, I always wanted to take care of the wing and get rid of any barriers between the mission partners," Hall said before touring the center one last time. "Thank you for being such a great mission partner, we've done so much together for Buckley Air Force Base."

Hall said ARPC has stood out, especially when he saw how the people hosted the Team Buckley Quarterly Awards Ceremony here Aug. 8.

"The center was impressively involved. Not only did you take the ceremony, which is the first time anybody has done that, but it was the best Team Buckley ceremony we've ever had," he said. "It was powerful. Each time ARPC was up for an award, it went up a notch. And I thought, 'This is how it's done.'"

Hall recalled ARPC being the first mission partner to begin wearing their squadron morale t-shirts here and said he will never forget the red shirts.

"Chief Hall was the first person we wanted to show our red shirts to on base, so the shirt [Senior Master Sgt. John Neeley, ARPC first sergeant] and I went to his office, and when we found it empty, took a selfie and posted it on Facebook to show him ARPC was leading the way," Flores said. "He's a great sport!"

Flores added what it meant having Hall work with the center.

"Chief Hall has been our total force partner and advocate since day one; we have a great relationship with the wing because we don't just play total force, we live total force," Flores told the audience. "He is our friend and we will miss him."

Before leaving, Hall said ARPC is very family-oriented. He pointed out former ARPC commander, Brig. Gen. John Flournoy, and former ARPC command chief, Chief Master Sgt. Brian Wong, wasted little time in contacting him once they learned his new assignment was in close proximity to theirs.

"They both sent me an e-mail and said, 'Welcome to the neighborhood,'" he said. "Now that's family."

As the 460 SW command chief, Hall serves as the principal senior enlisted advisor to the commander on matters influencing the health, morale, training, readiness, quality of life and effective utilization of 1,500 personnel supporting 13,000 base-assigned multi-service/multi-national forces and family members in a total force environment. He provides the commander the enlisted perspective as the wing provides space-based warning and awareness--protecting the homeland and global warfighters.