We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Austin Guerra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Austin, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?

Starting off at my first base at Kunsan AFB, Korea learning how to do my job coming from the 6 months of training i had underwent . Learning the Big Picture of what it is that i do in the Airforce as well as what to look forward to in my career. Learning from all the different experiences from everyone that i had met as well as hearing their stories progressing through the ranks

Austin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since a young boy I have always had the goal of joining the service and doing something bigger than myself. As well as going to airshows all the time when i was younger made me strive to join the Airforce and get to where I am today which is being part of the USAF Thunderbirds. I was fortunate enough to be able to be the #8 Flying Crew Chief of which at any point in time there is only 2 people that get the privilege and opportunity to fly in the back of an F-16.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

For near death experiences that I have had would be our general maintenance practices. We have safety protocols in place, but as with everything accidents do happen. The close call i had was flying through a storm and upon landing the wheels skidded a bit and we almost went off course and into the dirt, well just flying through weather in general is always a scary experience not being able to tell the difference between up and down as everything looks the same can mess with your mind. Thankfully the aircraft has instruments to alleviate those issues!

Any advice for managing a team?

A big thing with the Thunderbirds is that we all travel a lot. About 300 something days out of the year. Towards mid-season of the airshow schedule you can definitely see a change in attitude among coworkers. Most of them are tired and ready to just be home, but it’s around that time that you need to be able to keep a positive mindset and attitude towards everything. A good way that I have found to keep people’s morale up was inviting people out on the road to do activities that don’t usually involve work as a way to destress.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.af.mil

Image Credits
Thunderbird Public Affairs Office