AMC commander relates importance of global reach to AFA attendees

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  The commander of Air Mobility Command emphasized the national, joint and coalition importance of the support AMC provides to combat and humanitarian operations during the Air Force Association Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition at Oxon Hill, Md., Sept. 14.

Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr. said the 135,000 active duty, guard and Reserve Airmen and civilians who comprise the command are part of the "grand ballet of global vigilance, global power and global reach."

The general noted global reach is a critical component of the Air Force's ability to operate across the spectrum of contingency operations to humanitarian efforts.

"Global reach is what we do ... (it's the) ability for our nation to reach out anywhere in the world within hours to deliver a striking blow or deliver help to those in need," General Johns said. "And what we do is important, but why we do it is inspirational."

The general shared examples of the Air Force's response to Haiti's devastating earthquake in January and cited an aerial delivery almost overnight of hundreds of pallets of food and water in addition to delivering a brigade combat team of the 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, N.C.

"That night 13,000 Airmen didn't say goodnight to their families, they said goodbye," the general said. "It was a global response ... from people all over the globe who wanted to help the Haitian people, and we were proud to be part of it."

Teams from Pacific Air Forces, Altus Air Education and Training Command crews and even a newly formed total force unit at Niagara Falls, N.Y., stepped up despite looming difficult topography to help.

"We were dropping over farmer's fields and soccer fields," the general said. "One C-17 (Globemaster III) pass can feed 4,000 people for 24 hours."

Relief efforts in Haiti did not impact missions in Southwest Asia. As operations draw down in Iraq and continue to plus up in Afghanistan, the general said airlift need will remain robust.

"This year, we will drop 52 million pounds of supplies to our Army and Marine brethren," General Johns said. "From 2006 to 2010, the amount of air drop support in Afghanistan doubled."

The general also recognized the criticality of aeromedical evacuation.

With improvements to aeromedical evacuation as a mobility asset and the addition of trauma care to aeromedical evacuation teams, General Johns said troops who in Vietnam may have had only had a 75 percent chance of survival now have about a 98 percent chance under current airlift operations.

"I like those odds," the general said.

When it comes to getting supplies into a region expeditiously, swiftly airlifting wounded warriors, and improving accuracy of air drop to better support ground forces patients, AMC officials remain committed to innovating for the future, General Johns said.

"We deliver hope, we fuel the fight and we save lives," the general said. "We can respond and put a force in place anywhere in the world and sustain them."