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By Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathaniel Moger
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – Air Force Lt. Gen. Norm Seip, commander, 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern, visited Joint Task Force Guantanamo, April 8-10, to meet with Airmen and survey JTF operations,.
"From a personal and professional standpoint, this was an opportunity to come back and better understand the mission set that not only our Air Force folks are supporting, but also what Rear Adm. Mark Buzby (commander, JTF Guantanamo) is trying to accomplish," said Seip.
During an all-hands call for Air Force personnel, and later during personal interactions with Airmen, Seip brought news about where the Air Force is headed, as well as the contemporary challenges it faces. He also stressed the importance of the type of joint service work occurring in Guantanamo.
"Each service has to be strong in their core competencies and be able fill their roles and accomplish their missions," said Seip. "But, at the same time, our strength comes from taking those core competencies and making it part of our interoperability with joint partners out there. The success of our military lies in our jointness and capitalizing on our strengths while minimizing our weaknesses."
Airmen are currently operating in a number of ways to support the JTF, including administrative support and facilities construction and maintenance
.
"While they're not directly involved with the detention operations, Airmen perform an important function on the headquarters staff in their support-side role," said Seip.
Seip also acknowledged the work of the Air Force's 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron. It supports the JTF by constructing and maintaining the expeditionary legal complex and other support structures for the ongoing military commissions at Guantanamo.
Seip also addressed contemporary budget issues and the ways the Air Force is responding to them.
"We're no different than any other service," said Seip. "We're struggling with inflation, the economic downturn, rising fuel costs and rising healthcare costs on somewhat of a flat budget."
Seip laid out Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley's concerns and priorities, emphasizing that a great deal of thought goes into deciding where money will end up.
"Our Chief's priorities are: One, win the long war on terror. Two, take care of our airmen and their families. Three, recapitalizing and modernizing our Air Force so that we are relevant in the future," said Seip. "We'll have to make hard calls on where to spend that next dollar in which of those three categories."
In terms of relevancy, Seip sees within the Air Force a new breed of warrior contributing to the War on Terror.
"Particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan we've seen a 'new hero,' so to speak," said Seip. "We've got engineers outside the wire doing IED (improvised explosive device) operations. We've got TACPs (tactical air control parties) working with Soldiers, coordinating air support during combat missions. They're standing out as the new heroes of the Air Force."
Seip also sees the Air Force as leaders in warfare innovation, preparing not only for today's wars, but tomorrow's, and using tomorrow's technology in today's war, from cyberspace threats to unmanned aerial systems.
"We're seeing the values of UASs, whether it's a small tactical UAS pulled out of a backpack or the operational-level, tactical-level, medium-altitude UASs that provide the 'unblinking eye' for combatant commanders," said Seip. "We look to the future and see what the threat is going to be. Whether it's another counterinsurgency situation or an asymmetric type of warfare like cyberspace, it all makes sense to us."
Seip oversees Air Force assets, forward operating locations and civil and military engagements in Central and South America as a component to combatant commander, U.S. Southern Command.
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2008 13:51 |
| Story ID: | 18350 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 242 |
| Downloads: | 206 |
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