317th AG: Farewell, Colonel Montgomery

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Carolyn Viss
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The 317th Airlift Group said farewell to Col. Paul Montgomery after almost two years of serving under his capable command.

The group’s large size and high-operations tempo made it a unique assignment for Colonel Montgomery, and he spoke highly of the success they’ve had while he’s been at Dyess.

“I came in knowing it would be heavily tasked,” he said. “That’s the nature of how the United States prosecutes and wins peace, and the C-130s are typically used extensively in the process of winning the peace.”

He said he knew folks were already tired when he first came, but he was able to relieve some of that weariness by getting them to the point where they could anticipate what was coming up next.

“I took it upon myself early on to stabilize the training at Dyess, and make it predictable,” Colonel Montgomery said. “I wanted to add regularity and normalcy to the main tasks they were doing.”

In order to do so, he said, the airlift group narrowed the single-flight window, emphasized operations and maintenance training, and identified what their deployments required up to eight months in advance.

“Command recognized that we were at 100 percent capacity,” Colonel Montgomery said. “They pretty much allowed me to run things the way they needed to be run.”

Speaking of challenges that needed to be addressed, the colonel highlighted the fact that the group absorbed 10 additional aircraft with no additional manpower in order to compensate for the fact that two thirds of their aircraft were restricted from combat flying because of their high number of flight hours.

“The way we did it was through smart scheduling, and a regularized approach to how we maintain airplanes,” he said.

The 317th AG has won what the colonel called “an incredible number of awards,” including seven consecutive Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards and two consecutive safety awards from the Society for the Cooperation of American Air Forces. He attributed the group’s success to the leadership that exists in the unit, both formally and informally.

Many challenges and taskings have been handed down to the 317th during the last
two years, particularly this year as natural disasters struck America. The Airlift Group participated largely in hurricane relief work and homeland defense, which Colonel Montgomery called “easy.”

“We’re just always ready,” he bragged. “When short-notice things come up, the guys like that kind of activity. It’s them helping other Americans. They have the initiative and skill level to take care of anything that’s thrown at them, and plenty of routines allow us to be agile in response to anything that comes our way.”

Working on a base that’s home to a bomber aircraft has not conflicted negatively with
those special operations, the colonel said. It’s all a matter of working together to schedule scarce resources and assets.

“An airfield is an airfield, and the Air Force is the Air Force,” he said. “It’s not a question of different aircraft and mission types -- we have an understanding across the board and we’ve done well over the last few years. Senior leadership has established priorities and handled every conflict in scheduling so that all parties in the negotiation are happy with the result.”

Now, Colonel Montgomery is moving on to be the vice wing commander at Yokota Air Base, Japan. His wife, Michelle, and his 14-year-old son, Andrew, will be moving with him, leaving behind his oldest son, Ian, who is a sophomore in college. Colonel Montgomery said he is very excited because Yokota was his first assignment.

“Going back after 20 plus years will be a riot,” he said.