‘Focused right now on the mission’: New command chief gets started at Fairchild Air Force Base
Twenty-four hours sometimes aren’t enough for Chief Master Sgt. Daniel Guzman.
As the new command chief for the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base, Guzman’s responsibilities include keeping the Wing commander apprised on the readiness, training and professional development of the unit’s personnel.
Part of making sure the 92nd’s airmen are mission-ready is connecting with them individually about their well-being, said Guzman, who joined the 92nd in late December. Are they sleeping right? Is their housing situation secure? Are their families OK?
“That’s something that I’m constantly working through and navigating through. I want to be able to have rapport with just about as many people as possible for them to feel comfortable talking to me and vice versa,” he said. “You feel like your days never have enough time in them, right? You feel like you need 25, 26 hours in a day to get to where you want to get.”
Guzman comes into the role after an approximately two-year stint at Ramstein Air Base in Germany where he served with the United States Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Guzman said he and his family moved in 1989 to Miami where he went to middle and high school. But after various odd jobs, from collecting shopping carts and stocking shelves to warehouse work, Guzman enlisted in April 1997 on the allure of military life’s travel and potential opportunities, he said.
Among various leadership and management certifications, Guzman’s education includes a master’s in business administration/military operations management from Trident University International and a master certificate in human resource management from Villanova University. His accolades include a Bronze Star.
Promoted to chief master sergeant in 2016, Guzman was eventually identified as a candidate for a command chief position. Col. Cassius Bentley III was impressed with Guzman during the interview process, saying he could tell the chief master sergeant “put airmen first.”
“It’s not about him. It’s about how we can best support the airmen and support our mission here at Fairchild. He had me at hello,” Bentley said. “His reputation preceded him. I did a lot of phone calls to other folks that really, really knew him, and I could really tell what he was going to bring to the team here.”
Guzman, meanwhile, said he decided to take the Fairchild position knowing what he knew about the base, Bentley and the local community.
He expects to serve on the base for the next two to four years – a typical stint, he said, for people in similar career paths and one not unlike the lengths of his past assignments. And while he’s unsure of what the future might hold, Guzman said that isn’t much on his mind right now.
“I’m focused right now on the mission here with these folks,” he said. “Even my last job, my focus was solely on that job for the two years I was there. You take care of the job in front of you, you take care of the people to your left and your right in the position you’re in, it all kind of takes care of itself.”