Leadership: What it means to truly take care of your people

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Michael Johnson
  • 88th Inpatient Operations Squadron
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  My family recently went through a very tough life event; we lost our daughter after six years of battling with numerous medical conditions/issues. Upon notification of the tragedy, my flight leadership went out of their way to come to my house and offered condolences.
 
In addition, they wanted to make sure that mentally I was stable enough to care for my family in our time of need.

While my flight leadership was making sure everything was taken care of at my house and I was prepared for my travel to be with my family, my squadron leadership was gathering the necessary information regarding Serviceman Group Life Insurance (SGLI) benefits and the return of medical equipment.

As the week went on and the memorial service was coming closer, my leadership stayed in contact with me to ensure I was doing OK and had everything I needed. I was informed of the required documents for SGLI, in contact with a case manager to handle the medical equipment pick up and informed that my family was in everyone's thoughts and prayers. The last part is normally a simple "comforting factor," but when it was told to me, I honestly believed it. This is due to the concern that had been showed to me by my leadership.

After the memorial had taken place and things settled down, my family and I traveled back to base and were prepared to resume our lives without our daughter. It was going to be our new normal.

Upon arriving home, my wife got the mail and in it was the death certificate; she had a really hard time with this and broke down. I had to come to the base, turn in a copy for SGLI purposes and place a copy in records.

While I was here, my squadron leaders gave me face-to-face condolences and sympathy cards. However, that wasn't all; it was the mentoring they bestowed to help me see the positives from this unfortunate event, such that my daughter was no longer suffering, she is happy to be free and is no longer restricted to a medication regimen and a wheelchair -- all of which is very true, yet had been lost while we mourned. I am grateful for the leaders pointing this out to me because it allowed me to look differently at my loss, and, more importantly, it allowed me to mourn in a different, somewhat happier manner.

After meeting with my squadron leadership I came to my unit and spoke with my leadership. I informed them of the receipt of the death certificate and the toll it had taken on my wife. I asked if it would be possible to switch shifts for a few weeks to help transition my wife to our new sense of normal.
 
My flight was willing to help me; they gave me the night off to be with my wife and reworked the schedule so that I could console my wife while she mourned.

I am blessed to work in this squadron as they have really spent time getting to know me as a person or as a troop.

This experience has truly opened my eyes to how leadership should treat their people. It is no wonder that I truly feel that they get the most out of their people because they 100 percent genuinely care.