Wing kicks off new slogan contest

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Walter Thomas
  • 354th Fighter Wing director of staff
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  The 354th Fighter Wing is in need of a new wing slogan and is accepting ideas. The new short, memorable slogan should reflect our mission-change and be something people will be proud to shout out, use on banners, cards, and so on.

Entries are to be e-mailed to 354slogancontest@eielson.af.mil no later than 4:30 p.m. Feb.15. Include a brief explanation for your entry. (Ex.: "Guardians of the North!": Chose this because it was one of Eielson's first slogans from the 1940s.)

A Top 10 list of submissions will be distributed via e-mail on or about Feb. 22. Voters will be able to use Outlook to "vote" for their choice until March 21 (one vote per person).

Brig. Gen. Mark Graper, 354th Fighter Wing commander, will pick the new slogan from the top three vote getters, announcing the winner at his Spring Commander's Call in early April.

Prizes: The winner will receive a choice of either a three-day no-work pass, dinner for two at Pike's Landing, or $100 Force Support Bucks, usable at any Force Support facility on base. The next two top-voted entries will each receive $50 FSB.

Rules: The contest is open to the Eielson AFB community, including dependents.

If more than one person submits an identical entry, then the first person to submit it will retain the entry, and all others will be deleted.

Multiple submissions per person are allowed, though please use one submission per e-mail. The Top 10 will be picked by representatives from each Group and Wing Staff, based on relevance to wing mission, creativity, and good taste. You can still win even if you cannot be at the Commander's Call.

The new slogan is a necessary byproduct of the 354th Fighter Wing's new diversified mission of "Train, Deploy, Enable".

How we "go to war" has changed significantly over the past year and a half, with the departure of the A-10s and the transformation of the 18th Fighter Squadron into the 18th Aggressor Squadron. Our men and women continue to deploy to places like Iraq and Afghanistan and fight our nation's wars, but our Wing is also now very focused on providing top-tier training through our RED FLAG - Alaska exercises. We also enable other forces to perform their missions out of Eielson, such as a Tanker Task Force and Ft. Wainwright Army units.

"Valor in Combat" will remain on our Wing patch for heraldic purposes.