Farewell to a leader Published Nov. 4, 2013 By Senior Airman Elizabeth Van Patten 94th Airlift Wing Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Col. Tim Tarchick, 94th Airlift Wing commander will retire on Oct. 31, 2013 after 35.6 years of military service. He will turn the wing over to Col. Brett Clark, currently the 908th Airlift Wing commander, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. It's been more than three years since you took over as commander of the 94th. Now you're on your way out. How does it feel? TARCHICK: Well, it's bitter-sweet. For the last 12 years, I have been a wing commander. This is what I do. God made me to be a commander. I am doing exactly what I was born to be and now He is changing my course. I'll certainly miss it. You know, the weight of command is heavy - physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am looking forward to the hopefully short break, until I find a new job in the area. It is widely known that you are a family man. Are you looking forward to potentially having more time with your family? TARCHICK: Absolutely. However, I think I do a fairly good job of that now. It is a huge and number two priority for me. It's not the amount of time I'll gain with them, so much as the quality of time and the engagement with my family when I'm home. For our six children, you know their dad has always been a wing commander so this transition is a tough one. Many times my wife, Cindee, has said, "When you're here, you're still not here." Being a wing commander is sort of like being a neurosurgeon. You're never really off. That weighs on you, so I'm hoping that there will be a return to normalcy in my house. What challenges have you faced during your time at Dobbins? How did you overcome them? TARCHICK: My challenges have come from the busyness or tempo of the base. I came from Minneapolis, which is on a postage stamp of only 288 acres. You could walk everywhere in about three minutes. There were only 3,000 people on the base. Here, there are almost 12,000 folks, to include Lockheed, on 1,700 acres. As you know, we own the runway, the tower, and are responsible for all the tenants and their aircraft. It's a lot. So, the challenge for me here has always been to keep my professional nose above the waterline so to speak, and to juggle all the balls at once and keep them all in the air and not drop any of them. I would say the number one challenge from all of that responsibility has been being able to timely communicate effectively and efficiently with everybody around me. Another challenge for me has been that people outside the fence always want a piece of the base, or a piece of me or the staff. It has always been a challenge to keep my 3 professional priorities day to day which are first and foremost, the mission, which is flying and fixing our C-130s, next is our people and last is everything else. On this issue relating to the tempo of the installation I spoke about earlier. That tempo, for me anyway, can make you become somebody that you're not at times.There is so much to do every minute of each day that getting things and taskers done usually was my focus, and not getting out from behind my desk as much as I wanted to, to visit with people is a big regret of mine. I regret not being more relational. Tarchick makes time each Unit Training Assembly to attend the Newcomer's briefing, during which he memorizes each person's name and a fact about them. We all know you are a Blackberry wizard. Your thoughts on that? TARCHICK: Many years ago I mastered the use of the Blackberry. The Blackberry is a blessing and a curse, but has definitely been a force multiplier. I don't do anything on paper anymore - it's all on this Blackberry. One of biggest challenges with a base this big, with so many people, and so many tentacles is being able to communicate effectively and efficiently so having a Blackberry is a necessary evil. It's impossible to get it right 100 percent of the time. Today we rely a lot on mass communication because what we have going on here affects thousands of people. We obviously rely a lot on email. My philosophy has always been to send the email and let the recipients decide if they need it or not, rather than not send it and they get cut out of the communication chain. What are some of the Wing's most significant achievements that occurred during your tenure as commander of the 94th? TARCHICK: I think the biggest rock has been converting from a training wing to a combat-coded tactical airlift wing. I am very proud of our folks and how they made that happen with minimal pain, so to speak. Also, we have deployed our folks around the world and they have returned safely with no fatalities or major injuries. We've had people deployed 24/7, 365 days a year since I've been here and we will continue to operate this way for the foreseeable future. Can you describe some of your proudest moments over the past 3 1/2 years? TARCHICK: My proudest moments were seeing our C-130s bringing our Airmen home from their 5 month deployment last year and really anytime we receive our Airmen back here after their deployments... They always successfully complete their missions with honor. I love to see the families re-unite.... Chokes me up. Next, had to be seeing that chapel moved down the road and "taxiing" down the runway to its new location on the Clay side of the base after weeks, months and years of coordination. What would you want people to say about your time as commander of the 94 AW? TARCHICK: I would hope they would say that I was an effective leader and that I was fair, firm and consistent, that I led with honor, integrity and great passion. That I treated people with respect and that I tried to do the right thing, no matter what the cost. What do you feel is your legacy here? TARCHICK: I hope my legacy would be that I was a positive example on how to lead to others. That you can be in the military and give time to you family, and juggle the two. Hopefully, I showed that it can be done. I want people to remember that my personal priorities were (and are) my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my family, and everything else, in that order, every day. A visible, tangible legacy will be the decision to move the Chapel. That was a hard thing to do! The Chapel was the number one, non-mission essential decision I had to make here. It was here for six or seven decades, you know. Due to force protection mission requirements, it was going to be torn down, but we got it moved. I am a results-driven, action-oriented kind of guy and doing nothing with the Chapel wasn't an option any longer. Something had to be done. I refused to take the easy road on that one. In the end, the community, the Air Force and National Guard benefited. Also, I took great pride in tackling head-on the "Big Elephant" cultural issues we had here. When I first got here I realized this wing had a larger than normal amount of complaints coming through the Equal Opportunity Office. I called in an EO Team from AFRC to come here in January of 2011 and I mandated that every Reservist, Civilian and contractor had to sit through a 2-hour class on Cross-Cultural Communications Training...And guess what, it worked! The EO complaints went down by about 80% over the course of 2 years. I am proud that I have had a hand in shaping the future of the Air Force Reserve here at Dobbins and over the course of my career. I believe I will leave this wing in better shape, across the board, than when I arrived. Do you have any parting words to your Airmen? TARCHICK: Our Airmen give up a lot to serve. It takes a lot of sacrifice and effort to get the mission done safely. They all don't have to do this. I know it's not about the money. It's about duty, honor and sacrifice. This is something bigger than any one person. To everyone, It has been an honor and privilege to serve as your wing commander. Not everyone gets the opportunity to command. It has been a joy. What advice will you pass on to your successor, Col Brett Clark? TARCHICK: He's going to realize early that this is a busy place, and that he needs to be a good time manager. I've known Brett for 25 years and he's an outstanding leader. This will be his second wing command, but he hasn't been an Installation Commander yet, so he is going to need everyone's help in getting spun up on some of the things he will now be responsible for that he hasn't had to at Maxwell AFB. If he treats the people here with respect, which I know he will, they will go that extra mile for him. I truly wish him all the best and much success. Do you have anything else to add, Sir? TARCHICK: I've been doing this for more than 35 years. That's a long time. I love the Air Force and I love the mission. I am going to miss putting on the uniform and will miss the Air Force...I have been so Blessed and am very thankful to the Lord for allowing me to serve for so long....See ya around the pattern!
