New base position gathers community resources, support Published Feb. 6, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Kali L. Gradishar 460th Space Wing Public Affairs BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- For the last few months, a new face has been traveling around the base and outlying community gathering information on activities and events to share with members of the Team Buckley community. Christina Stump is the 460th Space Wing community support coordinator, and her position is a unique one within the Air Force. Less than a handful of community support coordinators have been hired in Air Force Space Command; Stump is currently one of three in the command, she said. "It's a brand new position (identified) as a need at installations worldwide," Stump said. "I see this position as being a focal point. ... It's being that link - that communication link - to help push out information to our service members." While she is a single point of contact, there are several different pieces to being the community support coordinator, she said. From coordinating with countless on- and off-base agencies to communicating with base senior leaders about the programs, issues and common concerns on base, the community support coordinator has her hands full. "For a long time now, this has been an additional duty for folks sitting in this chair. ... It eventually came to be too much for that person," Stump said. "So (the Air Force) identified that this is a position that needs to be identified solely to work with support services on (and) off base and leadership so we can create and build a more resilient Air Force." Main issues the community support coordinator currently focuses on include sexual assault and suicide prevention and awareness. Building upon the efforts to prevent such acts from occurring within the service, the Air Force developed the Comprehensive Airman Fitness program, which was modeled after the Army's similarly named program. "We know that not just the Air Force, but the DoD as a whole, has been through a lot with the war. The war for the last almost 12 years has really impacted our military families in a lot of different ways, and so we have developed a lot of programs and services because of what our family members and service members have been through to help them become more resilient," Stump explained. Comprehensive Airman Fitness, or CAF, has four different pillars: social, spiritual, physical and mental. "Of those four pillars, we truly believe that for somebody to be truly resilient and to be strong and to be able to bounce back from adversity, you really have to be strong in all of those pillars and all of those different areas of your life," said Stump. "Part of this position as my job is working with those installation agencies to help promote those services and those programs that provide the support for those pillars to our service members and families so that they can become more resilient." Stump has vast experience with the Air Force way of life, and she uses that experience to her advantage as she assists service members and their families in many ways. "I'm a product of the Air Force. I've been with the Air Force my entire life as a military brat. ... That's why I enjoy working in the career field I do is that we can help make a difference," Stump said. "This is an exciting time right now in the Air Force; it really is. The military is constantly changing and we have been able to keep up with that constant change and that constant demand." The nice thing about her position, she added, is that it is also constantly evolving with the changes in the service.