SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Thirty-seven Colorado Springs community members and leaders attended the annual State of the Base at Schriever Air Force Base, March 7.
The annual event is held the first Wednesday in March and provides Schriever AFB leadership the opportunity to strengthen community ties.
Col. Jennifer Grant, commander of the 50th Space Wing, began the event with a mission brief.
“We are really in a new era in terms of war in space and we have adjusted and adapted our mission to ensure we evolve our space and cyberspace superiority through innovation and collaboration,” she said. “Our mission is expanding.”
Grant also discussed upcoming changes to the installation, induced by continued mission growth.
Highlights included the opening of the Schriever Event Center in June 2017, and the future Youth Center construction to support Airmen and families.
“We are hopeful our MILCON request for a fitness center expansion will be approved for FY 21,” Grant said.
Grant hopes to expand the base in all areas, including personnel.
“The perspective of Schriever is changing,” she said. “We are not isolated out here and we are expanding our services to keep pace with our mission growth. But, we are realizing base operating services also need to expand.”
Col. Traci Kueker-Murphy, commander of the 310th Space Wing, followed Grant with the 310th SW mission brief, explaining how they support Schriever in many mission areas.
“What I want you to come away with is that we have such a great relationship out here at Schriever,” she said. “The relationship we have with the 50th and the community is really what makes us successful.”
Kueker-Murphy explained the people who best support the 310th SW mission are members of the Colorado Springs community, and in turn, military members want to stay in the area.
“You as a community are an attractive place for people (uniformed members) to separate,” she said. “We can all work together to make this a perfect partnership.”
The event ended with a question and answer session, where community members had the opportunity to ask the base leadership about Schriever and what they could do to strengthen and utilize their relationships.
“There is an appetite I have not witnessed in the Air Force,” Grant said. “We need to make sure we are adequately equipped and manned. We are at a historic precipice, and we will ask for what we need to execute the mission.”