Butcher heads CINC's Action Group

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- U.S. Transportation Command's new chief of the Commander in Chief's Action group is building on the teamwork that is the hallmark of the group.

Air Force Col. John Butcher recently took charge of the CINC's (pronounced sink) Action Group at USTRANSCOM.

The group is responsible for providing special support in developing and articulating continuous improvements and future enhancements to the Defense Transportation System. It is also the single point of contact for all congressional activities of the CINC, USTRANSCOM, and central point of contact for all USTRANSCOM component command congressional activities.

"I want to continue the good work this team has been doing," he says, "and build on it. They have done extremely well."

Butcher does have some over-arching goals for the future.

"I want to ensure we have the most responsive group we can to meet the CINC's, DCINC's and chief of staff's needs, and support the directors," Butcher says. "I really think that we do that best when we work effectively with the directorates, so they can best support the leadership."

The colonel says it's like bridge building, understanding what the boss is thinking and where he's trying to go, and help everybody get there.

Butcher has been at Scott AFB before. In 1992 and 1993 he was the chief of the KC-10 standardization branch at Air Mobility Command, then later as chief, congressional affairs section.

"I occasionally dealt with USTRANSCOM during that time, and I learned a little about ground and sealift," he says. "But, I will be getting smarter on all aspects of what USTRANSCOM does."

Given current world events, the colonel says folks will learn very quickly the importance of USTRANSCOM and what a huge spectrum of responsibility the command has.

"It's a command that does its job well every day, but with little fanfare," he says, "and because things get done, I'm not absolutely sure people know how vital it is to our warfighting and day-to-day peacetime operations. They will see that as time goes on."