Chief of staff visits Air Force's combat airpower hub

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Gregoire
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNEWS) --  "We've been a nation at war since 9-11, but people declared war on us a long time before then," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley while speaking to deployed Airmen of Balad's 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Feb. 4.

The general cited terrorist attacks over the past three decades and how the wing's mission in Balad is critical to defending the United States.

"This is not a social experiment -- these people want us dead. They hate everything America stands for. I have a new granddaughter and I realized there's more risk now than when I raised my own children 30 years ago," he said.

General Moseley said his job was making sure the Air Force was trained and equipped the best way possible to fight the war on terrorism and answer the nation's call.

Vitally important for a lethal Air Force is the right Air Expeditionary Force cycle, which is currently set at 120 days for most Airmen. Air Force-wide, about 38 percent of Airmen are deployed longer than 179 days. At the 332nd AEW, 53 percent of deployments are the standard 120 days and 6 percent are less.

"Do we go back to 90-day rotations? When we deploy an aviation package for 120 days we need a lot more equipment and people because of the increased maintenance the aircraft needs in those environments. That means we need more services, security forces and other support, but now we've just made our footprint bigger," said General Moseley.

There are about 10,000 Airmen who are not able to medically deploy because which taxes those who are deployable more than their fair share, said the chief of staff.

"That's a big number. I'm not worried about the 5,000 who are pregnant or just broke their leg," General Moseley said. "It's the others who develop unknown ailment or back pain right before their deployment that concerns me."

General Moseley also said not all Airmen are assigned to an AEF bucket, and for some high demand specialties not having every Airman deployable also burdens those career fields. He said the goal is for the Air Force to have 100 percent of their Airmen assigned to an AEF bucket.

The mixed crowd of Airmen represented active duty, Reserve and Guard members, and the general pointed out that he couldn't tell the difference from one to another.

"I'm aggressive with people who don't know how sincere we are about Total Force. We hold all of our people to the same standards."

The chief of staff said all Air Force units can deploy within hours because the Reserve Component operates the same equipment as active duty. Flexibility is key for reservists; dropping rotations to 90 days may increase the number of volunteers.

Balad's 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron which flies F-16 Fighting Falcons is manned by Guard units who deploy in 45-day rotations.

Before leaving, the general shared with the Airmen that their legacy will continue when the Air Force Reserve Command's F-22 Raptor unit stands up at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, under the flag of a squadron from the original 332nd Fighter Group.

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