A Q-and-A session with the 412th Test Wing Commander, Brig. Gen. E. John Teichert, and his family offered a glimpse into his professional life as well his personal life at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Sept. 4, 2019.

The first-ever “Talk with Team Teichert” featured the commander and his wife, Dr. Melanie Teichert, as well as their three children; Summer, Tiffany and Noah. The Q-and-A was live-streamed through the Wing’s Facebook account and was conducted in front of an audience at the Airmen and & Family Readiness Center on base.

“We haven’t rehearsed, we haven’t planned anything. This is really all about us being genuine and transparent about what it’s like to be the Teichert family,” Teichert said. “Hopefully, our answers to your questions will equip you, or encourage you, or challenge you, or inspire you. And really this venue is all about being an extension of our number one priority, which is genuine concern for our Airmen and their families.”

The Talk received over 3,500 views, while the family fielded questions from the Edwards community, those in the audience, and fans of the base alike.

One of the major topics that received multiple questions was about the unique challenges of raising a family in the Air Force. Teichert explained that with three children living at home, they felt that they could relate to some of the challenges that younger Airmen and their families may have.

“One of the things that we think is fairly unique about our experience is that we believe that we’re a little bit on the cutting edge of a new generation of wing commander families and general officers, just based on the demographic shift that he have seen,” Teichert said. “We are a dual career family, we’re a family that lives in the Wing Commander’s home as a general officer, with three kids at home and in a lot of ways we identify a lot with those that are younger than us … so we hope some of the things that we say are important or meaningful to you.”

Another popular topic that was asked was about the quality of life on the base. The Teichert children said that Edwards was one of the best in terms of providing opportunities for children to partake in activities.