USAFE officials visit command's newest wing

  • Published
  • By Capt. John Ross
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) --  Gen. Roger Brady, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and Chief Master Sgt. Pamela Derrow, USAFE command chief master sergeant, visited the Airmen of the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing March 16 to see the unique blend of capabilities the unit brings to USAFE.

The visit allowed General Brady and Chief Derrow to hear about the work they're doing in the field to support contingency operations and build partnership capacity in Europe.

The trip marked their first visit to USAFE's newest wing since it stood up in July 2009 and included visits to facilities here and at nearby Wiesbaden Army Air Field.

"This is very exciting for me personally, to see the development of (the 435th AGOW's) capability," General Brady said during a special wing commander's call. "I was here a little over 10 years ago when we built the first contingency response group. It's great to see the way this capability has come together and expanded in some very important ways."

After a morning mission brief from Col. Thomas Gould, 435th AGOW commander, General Brady and Chief Derrow visited all three of the groups within the wing, starting with the 4th Air Support Operations Group at Wiesbaden AAF. Members of the 4th ASOG are embedded with Army units in 11 locations across Germany and Italy and provide tactical air support, command and control communications, and weather information to support operations. General Brady and the chief met the group's battlefield Airmen and inspected the equipment they carry downrange.

"The AGOW concept is new and there are some unique synergies we bring to the fight," said Colonel Gould. "It's an outstanding opportunity for him to come down and let the Airmen know that we're going in the right direction."

The visit continued at Ramstein where they met with Airmen in the 435th Contingency Response Group. Designed to secure, assess and "open" a base in an austere environment, CRG personnel use a wide variety of equipment, including tactical communications, airfield assessment tools, 10K forklifts, water purification equipment and airfield traffic control capabilities.

"It means a lot to the people who serve in this wing to know that we have General Brady out here actually seeing what we do," said Staff Sgt. Ronald Booth, a member of the 435th Air Mobility Squadron. "Having the commander take time out of his day to come out and meet with some of us face to face is important. It allows us to showcase what we do and what we bring to the fight."

From there, General Brady and Chief Derrow toured the 435th Air and Space Communications Group, where they viewed deployable communications demos and prepackaged equipment, ready for transport at a moment's notice to support the wing's "wire the base" mission. The ACOMG team brings fully scalable communications capability to the joint force commander during contingency operations.

The day ended with the commander's call, where General Brady addressed the wing.

"It's good to see the great synergy that you have among your three groups in this mission, particularly for this time in history, when we're in a fight where the air-ground connection is so important," he said. "Whether you're talking about global reach or global power, you provide the teeth to a lot of that ... so it's very exciting to see what you are doing."