On Jan. 5, Col. David Shevchik Jr. took command of the Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing.
A native Vermonter, Shevchik replaced Col. David Smith, who retired after more than 30 years in the organization. Shevchik was born in Springfield and grew up in Essex. He graduated from Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington before attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. As a pilot, Shevchik racked up more than 2,000 flight hours on the F-16 — first on active duty and then inside the Guard, which he joined in 2007. He has since held a series of senior Guard positions including Maintenance Squadron Commander, Fighter Wing Inspector General and Operations Group Commander.
Shevchik enters this role at a pivotal time for the organization. His most immediate challenge is facilitating a total transition from the F-16 fighter jet to the F-35. This work has required extensive remodeling of the Guard’s facilities and exhaustive retraining by airmen on all levels.
Not only must Shevchik oversee a shift to this new mission, but he must also contend with longstanding community concerns over the jets, particularly noise. New maps projected a tripling of homes adversely impacted by the planes’ engines. (So far, the Guard has received 102 F-35 noise complaints since the new planes touched down last September.)
Another priority of Shevchik’s is restoring public trust in the Air Guard. VTDigger published a seven-part series in December 2018 revealing allegations of rule breaking, sexual misconduct and a toxic “good ole’ boys” culture that negatively impacted women. One story spotlighted the inappropriate behavior of a previous Wing Commander, Col. Thomas Jackman, who flew a fighter jet to Washington D.C. for a tryst.
In an article in the St. Albans Messenger, Adjutant General Greg Knight called Shevchik “extremely well-suited” for the job.
“We have a lot of work to do in the next couple of years, and it won’t be easy,” Knight added. “I have every expectation that our outstanding 158th Fighter Wing team will get it done and support Colonel Shevchik in leading this amazing organization.”
Earlier this month, VTDigger spoke to Shevchik about the future of the fighter wing and the F-35. The interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
VTDigger: Why do you believe Adjutant General Greg Knight chose you for this position and what are your priorities moving forward?
David Shevchik: I appreciate the question. General Knight – I hope that he chose me because he felt I was the most qualified candidate. I feel very honored and privileged for the opportunity. As a commander I choose folks for positions based on their character, competence, and capabilities. I would like to think that I was chosen for some of those same reasons.
VTD: In your conversations with the adjutant general, have there been discussions about restoring public trust in the Guard? We at Digger released several stories last year raising serious allegations from the past. Gen. Knight made a priority in his campaign to reform the organization and improve conditions for women, specifically. I’m interested in how you plan to take action in response to his concerns.
DS: We have had conversations. Obviously, the adjutant general is very busy, as well. Public trust of any organizations is absolutely critical and integral to any successful, high-performing organization. That’s what I expect and want out of our team going forward. I can’t speak to past cases or specifics. But moving forward, trust is absolutely paramount to me. It’s paramount to my team. I trust them implicitly. I expect them to trust me. I expect a lot out of them. I expect them to expect a lot of me, as well.
VTD: Can you speak to any specific changes you’ve implemented or plan to implement?
DS: I think one thing that we are trying to grow is our community engagement and community outreach and involvement. That’s one aspect that we are continuing to expand on. Another is accountability and trust. Those are all important as we go through this transformation to be a premier F-35 Fighter Wing.
VTD: You were once the inspector general of the fighter wing and I know you can’t speak to specific cases. But I wonder if in that position and in others you’ve held inside the Guard, you ever felt concerned over the culture or how allegations were handled?
DS: I can’t speak to specific cases from that job or previous ones. But moving forward, culture is certainly an emphasis item and a focus for me, as it is for the adjutant general. Continuing to build a culture of trust and accountability. That’s paramount to any team or organization and that’s something we’re going to continue to focus on. My supervisors and my team know that. It starts with trust internally, externally, relationships both internally and externally. That’s important and I’m going to spend a lot of time and effort there.
VTD: Is it your belief that fighter pilots in the wing are treated any differently or receive favoritism when alleged to have engaged in wrongdoing?
DS: I want to build, going forward, an organization and culture where everyone is valued, respected and protected. That’s important to me, no matter what job someone has had, or someone currently has, or what job they are going to have moving forward. They are an integral member and a valued member of our organization and they need to be treated as such.
VTD: One of the stories we wrote on the Air Guard concerned a recreation room that, at times, was a fairly exclusive space for officers and fighter pilots. In the remodeling of the building where this bar was, we learned that fighter pilots successfully lobbied to expand that bar. Since then there have been some mixed messages over whether that space still exists. Now that this space has been renovated and is back up and running, were there any changes to the rules? Have you focused specifically on making it a welcoming place? I know a number of Guard officials felt it reinforced a culture that troubled them.
DS: Right now, we have a club on base called the “F-35 Club.” It’s a social, inclusive club. That’s basically where everybody congregates for camaraderie, both officers and enlisted can go. We have ceremonies and events there. That’s the place where we can collectively get together as a team and enjoy some camaraderie. They do have a liquor license there.
VTD: What about the so-called “Afterburner Club,” which, again, is a separate space from the public one. This one, at times, can be cordoned off for officers and pilots. Are you concerned at all with that still existing? Have the rules been changed in any way?
DS: I was previously the Operations Group commander. Obviously, any type of behavior or actions like that I was very deliberate with the team in terms of direction. There was no unprofessional behavior. There was no bar. There was no drinking. There was a heritage room that was remodeled. But when it comes to getting together socially for any get-together or ceremony, anyone can go to the Club 35.
There are also some new alcohol policies in effect, because we take any behavior very seriously. But we also want to trust folks, not just pilots, but all folks on base, to celebrate, whether it be retirements, promotions, and encourage that kind of camaraderie, that team atmosphere. That’s absolutely paramount to what we do.
VTD: The Heritage Room as it stands — in photos I’ve seen — does have alcohol in it. So are you saying new rules have banned alcohol from that room? You’re not aware of instances where there has been alcohol in the Heritage Room?
DS: There is no bar, there is no “Afterburner Club.” There is a policy in effect that essentially allows all members, not just pilots or operations group, to ask for permission through myself and our joint force headquarters to ask and authorize that alcohol be allowed at specific events. These events must be within the Air Force instructions and policy and within the headquarters policy. Other than that, is it only authorized at the Club 35.
VTD: I recently received a Guard press release noting that roughly 1,000 Vermont soldiers will deploy in 2020. That language suggests most, if not all of those folks are coming from the Army side. But I wonder if that did include airmen and whether you have a sense of what this next year will bring for the Air Guard in terms of deployments and mission?
DS: It’s a great question. I can’t speak to the deployments of soldiers. For the air side, we’re in this transition now and building our capability. We are immersed in training with the new aircraft. I expect our first major deployment to be in the next 18 months or so. However, there are still members within the fighter wing that will still deploy outside of the aviation package in this year and next year in smaller numbers — but it’s still important for us to be cognizant of and recognize that they are going to be putting themselves in harm’s way away from their families, and that’s very serious.
VTD: Can you offer any insight into where these upcoming deployments may occur? I know they can be put together quickly based on the conditions on the ground. Also, I get that certain details have to stay out of the press because of security concerns. But is it fair to say most of these deployments will be to the Middle East?
DS: I can’t really comment on specific locations, both for operational security reasons and also for the fact that it’s on a needs-basis.
VTD: On the F-35s, have all 20 touched down in Burlington at this point?
DS: No, they have not. We have about half of our jets and we are still getting about a couple every month. We’ll have all of our jets by this summer.
VTD: Do you have any sense of how often afterburners have been used so far?
DS: I do, actually. I appreciate that question. Right now, we do keep track because that’s important. We do take pride in the fact that we have been and will continue to be good stewards to the community. We understand the concerns, so we keep track of that. Right now, there have been zero takeoffs from our Vermont jets here in afterburner.
VTD: You spoke earlier about engaging with stakeholders in the community. And I know that another pillar of Gen. Knight’s campaign was to connect to community members and activists affected by the jets. I’m wondering if you’ve done some of that work.
DS: I have, and I expect to continue to do that. It’s very important to me. In fact, today I was on the phone with Mayor [Kristine] Lott from Winooski. That kind of community engagement is very important to me and my team. Moving forward we plan to continue the dialog and be open and transparent
VTD: Is it possible the Guard would be able to alter its flight schedule based upon community concerns and complaints?
DS: We have our own mission training requirements. What we try to do is balance to the best of our ability between those requirements and also be empathetic to the concerns of the community. But we have a job to do there and that’s to be a premier F-35 fighter wing.
VTD: So, is that a yes? Is it possible that flight patterns will change depending on how the community reacts once all these planes are on the ground?
DS: We’ve already made adjustments to the pattern and we continue to listen to the community and understand concerns. We try to implement noise mitigation measures. But we also have a job to do here.
VTD: Is it possible that Vermont could see a female F-35 pilot anytime soon?
DS: It is possible. We just had a pilot selection board this past fall and one of the candidates that was selected is female. All those candidates are going through the extensive pilot training process. She’s a member of that selection and she will hopefully be coming back here sometime in the next two years, following her training.
VTD: Have the F-35s that you all have obtained in Burlington run into any technical difficulties yet or required retrofits or updates from the developer?
DS: The mission maintenance group has been doing a fantastic job of maintaining the jets, working on the jets, training on the jets. Right now the reliability has been extremely positive, the training has been extremely positive. We are continuing to progress to make ourselves a ready F-35 fighter wing.
VTD: As wing commander I wonder if you have advisers who are women? And are you surrounding yourself with folks to ensure all voices are being heard?
DS: Inclusion and diversity are absolutely integral to me and my team to make sure all perspectives and all contexts are shared. As a wing commander, my job is to make the most informed decision for my team on behalf of my team. And take care of my team. The best way to do that is hire a diverse group.
VTD: Who’s the highest-ranking woman that you rely on in the Air Guard?
DS: Well, we do have women here in the Air Guard in all ranks. They are integral members, as are all of our members.
VTD: But as far as your circle of folks at the higher end of the chain, whom do you look to specifically?
DS: Historically, our organization and culture in general has been male-dominated. Going forward, I think that all of society — we’re part of that — must continue to increase diversity. Increase opportunities for women and for all people. That’s important to make our team stronger and more ready. And to make it better.
VTD: In your short tenure as wing commander, have you been made aware or witnessed behavior towards women that felt inappropriate?
DS: Going forward I’m trying to build and continue to sustain a culture of accountability and trust. I don’t tolerate, nor does my team tolerate, behavior that’s unprofessional or unethical or immoral. We are always on the lookout for that.
VTD: So, have you seen any of that behavior and have you had to act in response to it?
DS: I have not witnessed any behavior, no.
