MSG Corner: "One team, no seams" Published May 28, 2012 By Col. Dwayne Thomas 36th Wing Mission Support Group ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- The 36th Mission Support Group is implementing a bi-weekly MSG Corner to highlight our skilled professionals as well as provide situational awareness of various community activities, events, projects and much more. 36 MSG consists of over 1,500 personnel across six squadrons: Civil Engineer, Communications, Contracting, Force Support, Logistics Readiness, Security Forces and one detachment located at Diego Garcia. While these organizations may just look like words on paper, let me help explain how our group spans a wide range of responsibilities that one can equate to the same span of control of both a mayor and a city manager. For comparison purposes, we have a Department of Land Management, spanning 19,000 acres to be exact, to include cultural and natural resources. And how about a director of public works, managing 1,800 facilities, 163 miles of roads, 145 miles of water, 93 miles of power lines and 32 miles of fuel lines just to name a few. Then there is a director of Housing & Urban Development where we manage 1,300 houses, 673 dorm rooms/studio apartments, building inspectors and a dining hall that serves 9,000 meals a week. Let's not forget a major port authority function that maintains two active runways, four arresting barriers, multiple aircraft navigation aids, and radio and weather systems, along with a 66 million gallon fuel storage and distribution capacity. Who said 36 MSG can't spell F-U-N as we execute a full Department of Parks and Recreation with youth and teen centers, arts & crafts and auto hobby centers, eight playgrounds, five playing fields, pool, beach, fitness center, and a library. On the flip side, it is a reasonable expectation to work and live in a safe environment led by a Department of Public Safety that encompasses fire, law enforcement, K-9, bomb squad, physical security and disaster preparedness. Moving over to resources for the whole family that are offered through a Department of Social Services, one can receive financial counseling, child care, job skills and resume building, education services, loan locker and deployed spouses programs. To occupy your personal time, we have a Department of Tourism with 239 hotel rooms, four restaurants, a combined club, golf course, bowling alley and an outdoor tours and recreation facility. Furthermore, the installation can't function without our business operations capabilities with human resources, telephone systems, local area networks, information security, post office, a 1,200 vehicle fleet, travel agent and procurement office that average over $70 million a year. Finally, we do things a city manager can only dream about such as conducting combat arms training, deployment planning, background checks, honor guard services across the island and managing a supply warehouse with over 19,000 different items on-hand since you can't just drop in on a Napa parts store to get an oil filter for a F-22. I hope that gives you a sense of some of the actions the 36 MSG does for the community on a daily basis. With that, we hope you enjoy the MSG Corner and continue to learn more about our professional Airmen, their roles and responsibilities on the installation, and become more aware of the many activities, events and projects that impact you across the community.