An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

AMC warfighting commander visits Travis

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lindsey Hahn
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AMCNS) --  While touring the bases under his command, the 18th Air Force commander on Jan. 17 made his first trip to Travis since 1997.

During their one-day tour of the base, Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins and his wife, Linda, met with Travis Airmen and community leaders and visited several base events, including the junior and senior summit.

“I have only been to Travis about four times in my career,” said General Hawkins. “The base looks beautiful and the morale of the Airmen is great. [During my tour], I noticed the many construction projects and everything looks improved since my last visit in 1997.”

As the commander of AMC’s warfighting numbered air force, the general said that while the Global War on Terrorism mission is not changing, they will continue to look at better ways to accomplish it.

“As we continue [the GWOT] we will be looking at how to accomplish the mission smarter and better,” said General Hawkins. “For example, with the C-5s we are looking at how to perform the velocity initiatives recently approved by General McNabb [AMC commander] to minimize the time they are on the ground. We do this by running [tasks] concurrently, such as servicing the plane while loading the cargo and passengers.”

With the base's first C-17 arriving here in August, Travis' role in GWOT will become even more essential, added General Hawkins.

“We use the C-17s today in so many ways. Not only do they fly channels like the C-5s do, but they are also used in a theater-direct delivery role in the AOR,” said General Hawkins. “With the recent problems with center wing box cracks in the C-130 fleet and their high deployment rate, the C-17s have picked up some of the workload the C-130s used to do within the [area of responsibility].”

The general also touched on the improved joint mission in the AOR, as well as how the recent Base Realignment and Closure changes will affect the joint mission at home.

“With the recent BRAC round, [many] military installations will become more joint to gain efficiencies and to save money on the base operations support,” said General Hawkins.

“This is positive in two ways. It enhances our joint relationship with the other services and units and also, from an Air Force perspective, it reemphasizes, reiterates and re-solidifies the total team effort that we have in the Air Force and have always been so proud of. If I see someone in the AOR with a uniform that says ‘U.S. Air Force,’ unless I talk to them, I have no idea whether they are Guard, Reserve or active duty, so it really is one total force team,” he said.

While at Travis, the general took a windshield tour of base facilities, including the Aeromedical Staging Facility and Alternate Tanker Airlift Control Center, and then had lunch with a number of base award winners.

The 60th Air Mobility Wing acting commander said it was a pleasure to host General Hawkins and his wife, noting that it provided him another opportunity to highlight Travis people.

“It is exciting to have the opportunity to highlight the hard work the great men and women of Travis do both here and in the AOR, and the general was very supportive of the many activities and improvements recently made at Travis,” said Col. Timothy Zadalis.

Travis personnel also spoke highly of the general's visit.

“I was very impressed with the general,” said Master Sgt. Edward Valledor, manager of the Sierra Dining Facility. “He is very supportive of everyone, and he appreciates everything we do. He is very personable and took the time to stop and talk to every Airmen and NCO, regardless of his time schedule. We all noticed that.”

The 18th Air Force is responsible for tasking and executing all air mobility missions. The numbered air force consists of 12 wings (including the 60th AMW here), three groups, two expeditionary mobility task forces (including the 15th EMTF here), and the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott AFB, Ill.