39th Air Base Wing survey: Just the beginning

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Eboni Reams
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIKE AIR BASE, Turkey --  Feedback is not just useful information for future decisions and development; it's a culture the U.S. Air Force seeks to cultivate - a culture which allows Airmen from all ranks, up and down the chain of command with positive and constructive information. Incirlik Air Base has embodied this culture by providing a wing-specific survey about services and facilities here.

More than 400 members of Team Incirlik took the survey that was created by Tech. Sgt. Dallas Edwards from the 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office. Edwards worked with various customer service and communication functions to provide members of Team Incirlik an easy method to provide input on their quality of life and satisfaction with base services.

The wing survey was just one of many ways Airmen and dependents can provide feedback. Other ways include Interactive Customer Evaluation (ICE) pages, the Commander's Action Line, chain of command, and other comment cards at various locations such as the medical treatment facility.

Maj. Hardy Giles, 39th Force Support Squadron commander, explained how feedback and knowledge is power for approval and improvements.

"Feedback is the backbone of customer service. We use your feedback to improve our processes and programs, to craft the 39th FSS you want, as opposed to what we think you want," said Giles.

The consolidated information from the wing survey responses has been distributed to all the groups and tenant units on base. The feedback received will be assessed by subject matter experts who will determine how to best use the data collected to improve base services.

1st Lt. David Liapis, 39th ABW Public Affairs officer, commented on the content and responses for the survey.

"Most of the questions were specific to certain customer service functions such as finance, the force support squadron, and the chapel, but the final 'anything else to add?' question was probably the most beneficial," said Liapis. "I think every unit on base has something to chew on as a result of this survey, and I'm confident we'll see positive change as a result."

The Public Affairs office plans to do feature stories on the different stages of progression as suggestions and concerns turn into action all around the base.

"It's all about opening lines of communication and being able to take the pulse of the wing," said Liapis. "The twenty minutes our Airmen and family members each spent making their voices heard was time well spent. Our leadership is now better equipped to uphold our wing priorities of enhancing the quality of life and shaping a sustainable future for our Airmen and their families."