Colonel Michael Stefanovic leaned forward in his chair.
“It’s all about readiness. We are here to be ready to go to war,” he said calmly but directly. “That is what gives us focus. If we are not ready to go to war, what are we doing here?”
The “we” Stefanovic refers to are the men and women living and working at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) in central Jersey.
Stefanovic became the new commander of the Joint Base in July.
You would never know by his comfortable manner that he is now responsible for a military base the size of Washington, DC, with an on-base population equal to that of a medium size city; or that his new command requires Stefanovic, among many other things, to work with 89 mission partners from the various military and civilian services, navigate a dizzying array of state, county and local officials and organizations, as well as keep aligned with dozens of civic and non-profit groups all looking support the base.
Joint Base MDL is the only tri-service military base in the nation – meaning three service branches co-exist on the base – the Air Force, Army and Navy. There are also Marine, Coast Guard and Space Force contingents on the base as well as representation from reserve units and the National Guard.
The Air Force is considered the “host” service branch at JBMDL, so Stefanovic, as commander of the 87th Air Base Wing, is also the installation commander.
However, he works very closely with his counterparts in the Army (Colonel Bryan Dunker) and the Navy (Captain James Howell), both of whom are designated as deputy commanders of the base. Stefanovic also works with dozens of other commanders across the installation.
Stefanovic sat down with Military Matters for a wide-ranging discussion about his new command.
Part one of that discussion appears today.
In part two of the discussion (which will appear in the next issue of Military Matters on Oct. 8), Stefanovic will talk about the base’s relationship with the business community and what businesses can do to help the men and women working there.
Military Matters (MM): Unlike many of your predecessors, you don’t come into this command cold. You have spent the last two years commanding the 87th Air Base Wing’s Civil Engineering Group. Has this helped you get a head start on getting your arms around the scope of JBMDL?
Colonel Michael Stefanovic (Col. MS): Even having been here the past two years, I will tell you I did not appreciate the breadth of it. Just the number of relationships alone is incredible. I’m not even talking about the organizations, which makes it bigger, and the communities which make it bigger still.”
MM: So, how do you get your arms around all of this?
Col. MS: The staff. The staff is great. We have a great team here. I did not have an opportunity to work with them before in the same depth as I do now. I am amazed at the expertise we have on staff and the high quality of personnel.
It is one of those things – we have a problem to solve and somebody on the staff has the answer and knocks it out of the park. It is a pleasure working with them.
MM: When you took command, you cited readiness as the priority for JBMDL.
Col. MS: Yes. It’s all about readiness. Being ready to go to war is our function. That is why the American people give us $700 to $800 billion every year.
We need to convince our enemies or any potential adversary that they do not want to go to war against us because we are ready.
We have to prepare our airmen for whatever a future conflict holds. Teach them now, so if there is a future conflict, they are not learning then.
We call it de-risking.
Put them in the challenging circumstances now so they are not learning in combat the things they could have learned in training.
It is important to remember that readiness is not just an Air Force thing.
We have 89 mission partners across the installation – Marines, Army, Navy, Coast Guard National Guard and reserves – we have everybody here. Part of our role is making sure our mission partners have everything they need to be successful because they will be going to war, too.
MM: Your military background includes a focus on innovation in the military. Talk about that.
Col. MS: Innovation is the lifeblood of the military. You see the extreme innovations in combat. When someone is trying to kill you, that is when you have to do things differently.
If you are relying on the same thing over and over, the enemy will adapt, and you suffer the consequences.
When I was the Director of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Strategies Study Group, we focused on innovation — what does innovation mean to the military? What does it mean for industry? These are two different things.
What I will say about innovation in general is the Air Force needs very high-tech equipment and that is what the large companies work on for us. But it is also helpful to look at the smaller things.
A drone was not something in development in the military for 20 years. It was a commercial product that somebody realized had a military utility, so they brought it to us and now it is changing the face of warfare as we know it.
The question I ask airmen is this: What is out there that you can pull in, and how can it change the way we work? Is it AI? Quantum computing?
It is at the tactical level on down that we can start to incorporate innovation into our readiness posture.
MM: You joined the Air Force in 2001. You have moved frequently during your service, haven’t you?
Col. MS: I am an Army brat. I have been all over the world and I have moved around quite a bit.
I am in my 29th house right now (he and his wife and three boys live on the Joint Base). This is the first time in the last fifteen to twenty years that we have lived in the same place for more than two years.
MM: Does it get tiresome or become stressful to move that frequently?
Col. MS: We enjoy it. We get to go to new places and see new cultures. It is a lot of fun.
MM: I know you have not lived in New Jersey until about three years ago, but you have family connections here?
Col. MS: I have been coming to New Jersey since the 1970s and ‘80s. I have family here in Oakland. It’s a beautiful area, and even though it is close to New York City, they have bears there.
MM: Now that you have been living here for a while, what’s your verdict on New Jersey?
Col. MS: What I like about New Jersey is it is so green and luscious. You don’t see that in a lot of other places.
My wife loves the garden – it’s the Garden State after all – so what better place to have tomatoes and watermelons and peppers. I would say we supplement every meal with vegetables my wife grows in her garden.
Good school system too. The boys have lots of great friends.
MM: What do you do to relax?
Col. MS: I do a lot of hiking, and I run and work out.
My family and I have visited the cranberry bogs. We like going there because there are open areas and paths and a lot of places to go.
We also like going to the shore in the summer — that is a lot of fun.
I like watching the NFL and since I come from the south, I feel obligated to watch college football. I don’t have a favorite team, per se, but I like watching good football.
MM: I understand you got in the middle of a long-time New Jersey feud not long after you got her.
Col. MS: The pork roll or Taylor Ham thing. I have a friend in Rahway, and he calls it pork roll.
Within a week of getting here I had to try it. We went to a diner, and I said I would like some pork roll – on the menu it said Taylor Ham. You could say it became a bit of a discussion point.
MM: You have said you want JBMDL to be more transparent where it can with the community.
Col. MS: Yes. Our intent is to engage with community leaders and have face-to-face connections. Our message is ‘we may be behind a fence but that does not mean we are closed to you.”
We want to have conversations now so if there is an issue later, we know who to talk to and we already know each other.
It is about creating a collaborative space. That is the only intent. Remember, if we go to war, it is not just the installation that goes. It is everybody.
MM: How do you create that connection with the community?
Col. MS: Take, for instance, our firefighters (the Joint Base has six firefighting units).
Our firefighters are embedded in the community. A lot of fire departments in these communities around the base are voluntary, so sometimes we are the first team on the scene. We go in there and save lives and protect property.
Another group is our EOD – Explosive Ordnance Disposal – which is contacted to help remove ordnance (explosive and weaponry). Sometimes it is a bazooka that grandpa brought home from World War II, sometimes a hand grenade. It could be anything.
We have one of the largest EOD regions – up to New York City and down to Maryland, out to Pennsylvania and Delaware; and many other places. This helps develop a great relationship with our community partners.
None of these activities is about preempting community services in any way. We are there to support the community.
For me, I am excited about this work because it helps us get out into the communities and create closer ties. It allows people to see we are out there, and we are a force for good.
