News

Group commander's first goal - learn to fly the C-17

  • Published
  • By Sandra Pishner
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  Good first goal for the new 446th Operations Group commander - learn how to fly the C-17, aircraft of choice here.

Col. Scott Snyder, who assumed command of the operations group March 3, had just about a week to reacquaint himself with the area after his move from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., to McChord. Now, he's off to Altus Air Force Base, Okla., for the C-17 initial aircraft commander course.

"My stuff is here in storage, and it will be for the next five months," said Snyder, who has flown the C-141, KC-135, and KC-10 aircraft. "I had five years in C-141s here, and now the C-17." Snyder served at McChord on active duty from 1995 to 2000.

Not only is Snyder familiar with the area, he's familiar with many of the people.

"I know a lot of people in the squadrons, about 30 or 40 within the ops group, that were on active duty with me. There are a few who were in the Reserve back then and we flew with the Reserve a little bit back then. So it's nice coming in when you know people and there's some familiarity."

One of his first orders of business in his brief stopover here was to meet with his group's leaders and familiarize them with his leadership philosophy.

"We had a staff meeting and I got to throw a lot of that (leadership philosophy) on the wall. We talked about safety first, about compliance, playing nice with others and of course talked about the boss' requirements," said Snyder, referring to the 446th Airlift Wing commander, Col. Bruce Bowers. "We're in a period of less with less; we're resource limited at this point. It really it all boils down to taking care of people and they'll take care of the mission."

According to Snyder, there are going to be some interesting challenges over the next few years.

"Flying hours are dwindling; right now the money is okay, but that will be a dwindling resource. The active duty is already feeling it as they struggle to get the right kind of training and get people ready to upgrade and maintain just basic currency. We're not yet in that situation because we have a lot more experience; so we don't have the problem right now, but that's just for right now," said Snyder, the father of two teen girls.

Snyder is expected to return to McChord from training in August.