Photo By Master Sgt. Jacob Lewis | Greater San Antonio area civic leaders board onto a 433rd Airlift Wing C-5M Super...... read more read more
Col. Douglas C. Jeffrey, IV, 433rd Airlift Wing commander, and 16 civic leaders from the Greater San Antonio area, conducted a civic leader tour to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and March Air Reserve Base, Calif., on Oct. 23-24. The tour included a host mission brief at the 433rd AW here, where Jeffrey explained the complexity of the airlift mission the reserve wing executes. He emphasized the importance of celebrating Airmen and community partnerships.
“I’d like to talk about purpose, about people and partnerships,” said Jeffrey. “We need partnerships that are invaluable. Not just international partners, but internal partners, I’m asking that we walk and talk and cross barriers. We have to think differently in pursuit of our purpose, our people, and our partnerships.”
He explained how Reserve Citizen Airmen maintain combat proficiency and are transforming for the future. The commander also explained Airmen must be ready now to complete a wide breadth of mission sets including total force airlift, complex military exercises, humanitarian missions, virtual reality training, community outreach events, and discussed many other capabilities of the wing.
“We have the best training in the world,” declared Jeffrey. “We must ensure that we don’t just train for currency, but to train for proficiency, because that’s what our nation deserves.”
Following the brief, the civic leaders boarded a 433rd AW C-5M Super Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the DoD’s inventory. The leaders alongside a 68th Airlift Squadron aircrew flew to Nellis AFB. There they were greeted and briefed by fellow reservists with the 926th Wing, Lt. Col. Alyson Clyde, 926th WG director of staff, and Chief Master Sgt. Paul Miller, 926th WG command chief. The civic leaders learned about the 1,400 Reserve Citizen Airmen wing’s diverse mission sets including MQ-9 Reaper flights, fighter pilot training for weapon systems officers, cyber, high end aggressor training support, and other military focus areas.
The civic leaders toured the facilities and visited the active-duty 6th Combat Training Squadron, which mission focuses on tactical air control party (TACP) specialist training. They learned about their mission, toured their facilities, and saw how their training regime has transformed over the years. Civic leaders then visited the physical training facility and virtual augmented reality simulation training room where the TACP specialists train in the digital domain.
The civic leaders also toured the F-16 Fighting Falcons on the flightline, learning about the aggressors’ mission of emulating adversarial tactics and simulating realistic combat scenarios.
The following day the leaders flew on the C-5 to March ARB, the headquarters of Air Force Reserve Command’s 4th Air Force. There the leaders were greeted by Col. Robert Wieman, 452nd Mission Support Group commander, and Jamil Dada, an AFRC and Air Mobility Command civic leader.
Dada shared his experiences as a civic leader for more than 30 years and gave advice to the Greater San Antonio area civic leaders.
“Military commanders come and go, they lead for two to four years and move on,” said Dada. “This is where the civic leaders come in to create generational continuity. Civic leaders can have decades of impact and connection with the community after commanders move on.”
Dada encouraged the civic leaders to continue their networking with the military to become advocates for outreach with the community.
The civic leaders also learned about the military mission at March ARB with a presentation by Wieman. The group commander explained how the base was the headquarters for 4th Air Force, but also housed a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling mission, as well as facilitating a C-17 Globemaster III air mobility mission. The base is AFRC’s largest host base with more than 5,000 personnel to include members of the Air National Guard, the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The civic leaders concluded their tour by stepping inside and learning about the KC-135 and the C-17. The leaders expressed a great deal of appreciation for the experience and were grateful to learn about where their taxpayer money was going.
“I’m excited for the future and the quality of people that we have,” said Dave Bonney, First Command district advisor. “It’s exciting witnessing the evolution of our forces and how they’re interacting with technology.”
Bonney emphasized the importance of the community seeing the military technology first-hand and building relationships for public sentiment.
“Our enemies use propaganda against us to subvert the will of the people,” said Bonney. “The relationships between the community and the military is the primary defense we have. Without an established relationship, the people will just believe whatever they’re going to hear. Without the military, we can’t protect our way of life.”
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.01.2024 19:01 |
| Story ID: | 484508 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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