Education key to fight current, future air ops

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Gregg Bottemiller
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  The U.S. Central Command air component commander said the Air Force has better-trained Airmen today fighting the war on terrorism, but also said all Airmen must continue to prepare for today's fight and tomorrow's wars.

Lt. Gen. Gary North was here June 20-21 to address current senior leaders in the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education's Combined Forces Air Component Commander Course for their role as future CFACCs or joint forces air component commanders. 

He also addressed a class at Squadron Officer School and CADRE's Contingency Wartime Planning Course. General North is the current CFACC in the USCENTCOM area of responsibility. He also serves as the commander of 9th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.

"Our Airmen coming out of basic training are better trained than they were a year ago ... two years ago ... three years ago," General North said. "We are better training our Airmen in Air Education and Training Command to be prepared with the required skills they need. Much of that training is now from direct lessons learned we've taken from the combat zone," he said.

General North said the lessons learned from Air Expeditionary Force rotations are fed directly back into each of the commands, so that anyone who has a training role to bring Airmen forward is real-time incorporating these lessons to create better Airmen as they go into their AEF buckets.

General North said that is very important to him in his hat as a force provider at 9th Air Force.

"Our major commands need to train our Airmen properly to prepare them for the fight in the Middle East. It's a very tough fight ... a strenuous fight, both physically and mentally. So, our commanders must train our Airmen, and our Airmen must prepare themselves for the fight of their lives. Our Airmen are outside the wire, some 4,500 of them. We must morph as the enemy morphs to make sure our Airmen are prepared when we send them into the Middle East to perform combat operations.

General North noted that along with home units and the major commands, Air University serves a critical role in developing and educating Airmen and future leaders.

"This war in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Horn of Africa is a very deliberate one; the enemy is very engaged. We must study the fight and the history from where it came. To be prepared for future fights is what Air University is all about. Go back to the tactical school of the '30s and follow that heritage into the Air Force's future horizons; the war we are fighting now and the wars we will fight in the future. 

"Through all the courses taught here -- the basic courses through all our professional senior leadership courses -- AU brings the current fight and prepares Airmen in a strategy and doctrine environment, for future fights, because a future fight may not be like this one," he said. "Air University is the intellectual and leadership center of the Air Force."

General North highlighted AU's academic freedom, it's open architecture and it's role as the intellectual center of gravity in doctrine and strategy development to prepare Air Force leaders for the next fight.

"Our Aimen need to be experts in what we do. In all our courses, we prepare our Airmen at the tactical, operational and strategic level to be air experts, in operational employment, in doctrine and in strategy to be to able to affect a Combined Air Operations Center at the operational level and at the tactical level, that execution is a part of the greater picture. 

"Ours is a profession of arms. In a profession of arms, you arm yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, to be prepared ... on-call... to commit warfare in the name of the United States Government. It's critical that at every level, from our youngest Airmen to our senior generals, that you study the art of warfare -- strategy, doctrine. There's a tremendous amount of knowledge that we as Airmen can take advantage of and we should take advantage of. We are making history today. That history cannot be lost on our Airmen of the future," said General North. 

He also noted that Airmen are provided a full-spectrum of air and space operations in the USCENTCOM theater, both in the air and on the ground. 

"Airmen are overhead doing the air and space mission, every day, 24/7, in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa as an enabler ... as an integrator ... as a synchronizing force and as the deliberate execution arm, either kinetically or non-kinetically," the general said. 

"We are overhead with (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) that provides the total picture to all the users of the battlespace. We have persistent stare with our (unmanned aerial vehicles).  We are the mobility force in the AOR, we provide close air support, and our Airmen are operating on the ground, as battlefield Airmen, forward of the wire. 

"One of the most important pieces is when our soldiers, sailors, Airmen or Marines are wounded in the battlefield, where the ability to pick them up with combat search and rescue, move them rapidly to a theater regional hospital, be operated on, and then move them very quickly through our aeromedical evacuation system. 

"This is our bond of trust with all forces in the coalition that commit warfare in the theater. Our Airmen are fabulous in how they perform these missions, and we couldn't be prouder of them."

General North stated his key themes to the senior one- and two-star officers attending this week's CFACC course were jointness and inoperability. 

"It is a joint, combined and coalition fight," he said.  "We must understand all branches, all services, all weapon system capabilities and all leadership skills, and then be able to work in a dynamic environment so that our senior leaders can effectively fly in formation together or march together and provide a cohesive warfighting environment and solution set to the joint force commander. 

"The JFACC course is all about educating those leaders who will be the future JFACCs and CFACCs based on what we are learning today to prepare them for when they are in the chair as the JFACC or CFACC of the future."

General North concluded that Airmen need to step up and prepare themselves for today's fight and tomorrow's wars.

"My message to all Airmen is very simple. Be the very best that you can be at what you do and prepare yourself well to come into the combat zone. The enemy is very determined; the enemy is fighting for his life and he doesn't mind dying for his cause, and so we must be prepared. 

"That preparation starts in your basic training, starts in your spin up training, starts at your unit. It's incorporating in the lessons learned from those who have gone before us, and we must continue to learn and work in a joint environment to bring a better prepared Airman to the battlespace to win as we wage America's wars.

"Dedicate specific personal study time to understand the battlespace as we fight it today. Challenge your peers, challenge your superiors and understand what our Air Force is doing to win this war and prepare ourselves for future wars. The future of our Air Force is how well we prepare for the next generation," he said.

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