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EC commander visits AOR, hears from Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Brig. Gen. Richard Devereaux, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center commander, recently visited a number of locations within the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility.

The purpose of the trip was twofold: to escort a group of NCAA football coaches on a USO-sponsored tour and to gain valuable feedback from deployed Expeditionary Center customers . Stops included Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Naval Station Rota, Spain; Bahrain; the USS Eisenhower; as well as bases in Kuwait and Iraq.

"The troops responded very enthusiastically to the coaches," said General Devereaux. "They liked what they represented -- college football, Americana  ... just a taste of home."

During the trip, General Devereaux solicited feedback on the quality of deployed Airman working in joint positions.

"The comment I kept getting was, 'We love your Airmen ... they're bright  ... they're innovative,'" said General Devereaux regarding the thoughts of sister service commanders on Airmen serving under them.  He also received several positive comments about Air Mobility Command's support of joint operations.  "While on the Eisenhower, much of the flying ops debrief centered around USAF tanker (air refueling) support," said the general.  "Our naval aviation partners are very reliant on AMC's tankers to do their mission."

While in Iraq, the general was able to witness the progress being made there as Coalition forces continue to draw down responsibly.

"Everyone's aware we are in a draw-down mode in Iraq and are committed to ensuring the transition is successful," he said. "This is a big task -- nobody was downplaying its complexity. The logistics and transportation associated with this redeployment is a huge component of the overall drawdown and I know our air mobility Airmen are up to it."

Most Airmen deployed in the U.S. Air Forces Central AOR required some form of pre-deployment training prior to arriving in-theater. General Devereaux said the Airmen he spoke with about training felt prepared to do their jobs and could handle most any scenario they could imagine.

"Often, when folks heard I was from the Expeditionary Center, they would comment about their pre-deployment training. Most said the training was 'spot on' and helped them spin up more quickly to do their job or simply helped relieve the stress associated with the uncertainty of their deployment."

Another aspect of the general's visit involved the discussion of one of the Expeditionary Center's newest missions --- a repository of lessons learned and tactics, techniques and procedures for expeditionary operations -- whose responsibility was the Center's newly-formed 422nd Joint Tactics Squadron.

"I asked for [the support of combatant commanders] in capturing the lessons they're learning and reporting them within the appropriate databases," he said.  "From there, our 422nd Joint Tactics Squadron will take over to facilitate the translation of lessons into tactics, techniques, and procedures that will be codified for all deploying Airmen and be reflected in training plans at the EC and other pre-deployment schoolhouses."

Overall, the general said he felt he was able to gain valuable insight into both the status of the mission in the AOR, as well as how the "Eagles" of the Expeditionary Center are preparing Airmen to do that mission.

"My biggest take-away is we owe it to our Airmen to give them the best possible training in a short a time as possible before they deploy," said General Devereaux.  "We have to be respectful of their time, and minimize their time away from their units and families, but we have to ensure they have the skills and the confidence to perform their jobs. This is so, so important -- we have to get this right."