Col. Tim Monroe, Jenny Monroe farewell Grand Forks AFB

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. BreeAnn Sachs
  • 319th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  

Two years ago, on an overcast day in late June, Col. Timothy Monroe assumed command of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing and actualized what he describes as his life’s dream.

“For me personally being a Wing Commander is a legacy goal that dated back to college,” said Monroe. “I didn’t grow up in a military family, so what little I knew was from an ROTC experience at a University in Florida. I had an idea of what I thought Wing Command was going to be about, and frankly a lot of it was the cool pieces - this is what the teenage and early 20’s mind tells you - the fun stuff of being a commander.”

Monroe reminisced about the initial phone call notifying him of selection for wing command and described it as a moment of excitement and exhilaration, followed by days and weeks of self-reflection and anticipation.

“It is a rare opportunity to take the Nation’s gifts of its sons and daughters, its fiscal resources and the responsibility of protecting a Nation and you blend all of that together and now you get to be the person that is responsible for it,” said Monroe. “You are humbled by the significance of what it means, there is a small part of you - if you are very honest with yourself - you acknowledge that you’re just not quite ready.”

Monroe explained that the feeling of not being ready was not of negative connotation but served as a catalyst to continue pursuing personal and professional growth.

“You want to be given opportunities that you’re not quite ready for, because in the experience you have to rise to the occasion,” said Monroe. “If we only ever gave jobs to people that they were ready for, there wouldn’t be much of a push to grow.”

Monroe began his career as an F-15 Eagle pilot and later transitioned to pilot the MQ-9 Reaper before being introduced to the RQ-4 Global Hawk. The experiences Monroe and his wife Jenny Monroe gained in the small fighter squadrons compared to the larger MQ-9 squadrons made a modest base in North Dakota appealing.

“One of the most important things to us as a family and to me personally was relationships and just doing daily life with the people around you,” said Jenny. “We had been stationed in Vegas before, and it’s a tough place to cultivate [community] there. Grand Forks was attractive to us and we were really interested because we knew one - it was a totally different place, and two - we could see [relationship building] work in a place like Grand Forks that’s small and remote.”

Following his notification of command, and selection to lead the 319th RW, during self-reflection Monroe acknowledged his career was not of his effort alone.

“I had to really come face-to-face with the truth and the only reason I got here was a really strong family that’s helped me,” said Monroe. “I’m thankful I’ve had good opportunities, and the worth ethic to put into the opportunities that I’ve been given; but none of that would be possible without Jenny being with me my entire Air Force walk.”

The close to 2,200 airmen of the 319th RW, referred to as Griffins, are spread across four countries and support multiple mission sets that serve as the foundations for the airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and command and control options offered to Combatant Commanders. Monroe explains while he set his mission, vision and priorities for the wing, his wife Jenny offered a complementary perspective that framed the end state of those strategic goals.

“While I look at it through the frame of mission and airmen being uniformed service members, my wife looks through it with a very different lens - the family side, quality of life and longevity of service to one’s nation,” said Monroe. “In our opinion if you do it right, you find a way that those two things connect with one another. Then, you frame priorities that help to accomplish the mission on behalf of the nation but support the families that are going to continue to do this long after we are gone.”

As a military spouse of 24 years, Jenny expressed she faced many challenges and overcame the hurdles that come along with military service. She explained that her mentors and fellow military spouses along the way provided the advice and trusted council she needed to bounce back from obstacles and that she now had the opportunity to do the same for the 319th RW community.

“I was fortunate enough to start Tim’s career with him, we married and began the Air Force adventure in the same week,” said Jenny. “There’s so much as a spouse that you wonder, ‘Am I the only one that’s dealing with this? Am I the only one that’s feeling this way?’ I’ve had many conversations with other spouses that have said, ‘Thank you for sharing that because I felt like I was the only one.’ I know for myself that I needed that and continue to need that.”

After ‘be ready to fight and win,’ ‘build ready and resilient airmen and families,’ was the top priority for the 319th RW under the leadership of Monroe. He and Jenny dedicated much of their two-year tenure working to ensure the airmen and families of the 319th RW felt supported, resilient and connected to their wingmen through the expansion and allocation of resources to programs within helping agencies including the Military and Family Readiness Center and Integrated Resilience Office.

Resilience initiatives championed during Monroe’s tenure included the IRO’s launch of a peer support program for military members, civilian employees and dependents of the community. The successes at Grand Forks AFB led to the implementation of the program at two of the wing’s geographically separated units in Italy and Japan.

The Monroes also communicated that one of their leading goals for the wing was to create opportunities for fellowship and encourage the community to gather following the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. They acknowledged strong social ties help foster a culture of trust that benefits both families and service members alike.

“In this job I’ve learned a great deal about trust, and I don’t think I fully understood what trust meant until I became a Wing Commander,” said Monroe. “When you can let go and lean into others and trust that they’re going to do the right thing and get you to the target, it is the most liberating experience you could have at a command position.”

The culture of trust offered a foundation to support the wing’s third priority, ‘champion innovation.’ Under Monroe’s leadership the 319th RW became the first installation in Air Combat Command to stand-up a small-UAS program with drone operators in multiple squadrons. The wing also provides support to mission partners for initiatives including the efforts to integrate UAS technology into logistics operations, secure rapid transport and beyond visual line of sight through Project ULTRA.

Two months following Monroe’s assumption of command, the installation stood up one of two operations centers for the Space Development Agency, charged with overseeing the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, composed of hundreds of space vehicles in low-earth orbit that will provide global communications relay, missile tracking and early warning capabilities to the joint force, allies and partners.

Innovative airmen and trust up and down the chain of command proved essential when the 28th Bomb Wing, stationed at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, needed a temporary location for their B-1B Lancer fleet to facilitate construction projects in preparation for the B-21 Raider program. The temporary B-1B beddown is assessed to be the largest non-contingency, state-side relocation of aircraft in Air Force history.

“The second [main highlight was] watching the teamwork that took place to help get an entire other wing’s flying mission onto this installation,” said Monroe. “It will go down in the history books as one of the greatest feats and partnership and teamwork that this wing has had – or will have for many, many years. Everybody at Grand Forks AFB and the community that stands behind us had a hand in making all of that happen. It’s incomparable to be a part of a team that’s done those things.”

Monroe attributed a significant component of the 319th RW’s warfighting capability to the support of the surrounding Grand Forks community. This sentiment was reflected in the wing’s fourth priority, ‘build lasting partnerships.’

“In my opinion there needs to be a reciprocal relationship where the military extends itself to the community,” said Monroe. “We do that through that help to close the distance between a community and the installation’s missions. If you do those things the right way, you’ll develop bonds and connections that help military members move faster and more efficiently in the direction of their mission.”

Jenny shared the same sentiment when reminiscing of her two years at Grand Forks AFB, and the relationships she cultivated with both the on- and off-base communities.

“It is so incredibly bittersweet and every time we’ve left a command it’s been difficult for me, but it just keeps getting harder,” said Jenny. “Grand Forks has been so welcoming and so kind, so appreciative and taken time to invest in us as a family. We are leaving here with great friendships from the base but also from the community.”

During Monroe’s first address to the 319th RW in June of 2023, he delivered his vision, “...one thing is abundantly clear to me, we must be ready to manage change and meet difficult challenges with the poise, professionalism and perseverance expected of the United States Air Force.”

Both the Monroes described the two years following that initial address to be filled with difficult challenges and expressed thanks to the base and local communities who support the service members dubbed, “Defenders of Liberty” that worked tirelessly to overcome every obstacle, remain flexible in times of great change and actualize their goals of cultivating a community based on trust and support.

“In 24 years in the military I’ve learned freedom is a very perishable thing,” said Monroe. “It requires constant vigilance, it requires service and sacrifice and when you have a community that acknowledges that and a nation that acknowledges that it makes what we do that much more gratifying. It makes all the hard work and the effort, and the trying times worth it – because America is worth it and freedom is worth it.”