McDew talks people, vision

Published Oct. 24, 2014
By Senior Airman Charles Rivezzo
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- General Darren McDew, Air Mobility Command commander, addressed a gamut of questions during a Q-and-A session Oct. 16 at Travis Air Force Base as part of his first official visit since assuming command of AMC in early May.

With wide-spread changes and undertakings occurring across the enterprise, the open forum offered Travis Airmen the unique opportunity to voice their comments and concerns to AMC's highest ranking Airman.

While McDew addressed questions ranging from force management concerns to the future of the enlisted performance report to contingency operations on the horizon, his overarching message to the audience of service members and their civilian counterparts was simple - "Thank you for what you do."

"Generals like Cassidy, Fogleman and Ryan would be just as proud of the Airmen today as they were the Airmen they commanded," McDew said. "That's what makes me proud to be the AMC commander ... it's what makes me get up in the morning, put my uniform on and stand a little straighter.

"My Airmen get an inordinate amount of praise from combatant commanders for what they do every single day," he continued. "We get the chance to contribute in ways that other people can only dream of and I am extremely humbled when I get to stand up and say, yes, that is an AMC Airman."

What appeared to resonate with the audience were the commander's vision of the mobility Air Force and its Airmen.

"Without mobility, we would just be a pretty incredible CONUS military force," he joked. "Mobility is airpower, and I love the fact that it is used in the same sentence."
"Mobility is airpower," he reemphasized.

Delving more in-depth into the grass-root efforts of mobility airpower, more specifically Travis' role to the mission of Global Reach, McDew didn't hold back his thoughts on what the capabilities of the men and women here present to the strategic AMC and Air Force vision.

"Travis is unique in all of AMC as well as throughout the Air Force primarily because of its size and scope of its mission," he said. "The unique combination of C-5 Galaxies, C-17 Globemaster IIIs and KC-10 Extenders masterfully complete the aerial refueling and airlift mission sets.

"When Travis was founded back in 1942, it was right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and it was based because of its strategic location and access to the Pacific," he added. "That very access remains even more powerful today and I see that positioning as being a great thing for Travis and our ability to use the base as a launching point to the Pacific. As we get that strategy more sound ... Travis is going to play a big part."

To conclude the Q-and-A session McDew reiterated his capstone message.

"I've got to thank the members of Team Travis," McDew said. "We picked Travis to host our civic leaders. These are great influencers around this country that speak about and for our Air Force and I wanted them to come to Travis to see AMC in action and you absolutely wowed them."