MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- MacDill Air Force Base’s Logistics Officers Association, LOA, hosted a Women in Defense Logistics, WIDL, and friends immersion tour Oct. 23, 2023.
WIDL is an association that promotes discussions and opportunities for women across all aspects of the defense industry. Roughly 10 ambassadors from WIDL and associated industries were in attendance.
Leading the tour was U.S. Air Force Capt. Mitch Przybocki, 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron director of operations and former LOA national ambassador.
“Today, key industry members, many from upstart technology companies looking to help the Air Force accelerate change, came to MacDill to see how female Airmen in logistics fields support the mission,” said Przybocki. “That connective tissue from industry to warfighter is paramount. As an Education with Industry alumni and an officer who studies history, I see firsthand how a nation's industry wins wars.”
The tour provided WIDL and industry ambassadors an opportunity to observe daily operations for the 6th Air Refueling Wing and their mission partners. Stops across the installation included the 6th Maintenance Group plans and scheduling office, a KC-135 Stratotanker static tour, the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron warehouse, and the installation’s fuels distribution and storage center.
The group was also connected with the 6th ARW Bolt Cell to discuss ongoing projects and better understand areas of focus for the 6th ARW and Air Mobility Command.
“I am very thankful to have the opportunity to present some of the projects the Bolt Cell is working on,” said Senior Airman Grace Holtey, 6th ARW Bolt Cell project manager. “I hope they were able to take away something of meaning to bring back to their respective industries.”
Following the tour, WIDL ambassadors met with industry partners and 6th Operations Group leadership to discuss upcoming projects. Among the presentations was Aniza Brown, a representative for The Rosie Project.
According to Brown, The Rosie Project is a program designed to empower and employ military spouses. Their focus being to change the mindset surrounding spousal employment, bringing career opportunities appropriate to the dependent's education level.
During the presentations, John Davis DuVall, LOA Board of Advisors chairman & WIDL representative, explained WIDL’s rationale for wanting to connect with MacDill’s Airmen, saying: “We can go talk about women’s issues all we want, but we [at WIDL] wanted to make a space where women can talk about their profession. Tours and immersions like this help to better connect women from across industry with logistics Airmen so they can learn from one another.”
Tours such as this serve in support of MacDill’s continued devotion to empowering Airmen, dependents and all Department of Defense employees through community partnerships.