CENTAF commander visits deployed Airmen, Sailors on last trip to Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Marcus McDonald
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  As part of his final trip to Afghanistan, the commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces visited deployed Airmen and Sailors here Jan. 10 to 11.

During a troop call, Lt. Gen. Walter E. Buchanan III addressed Airmen and Sailors who are deployed to Bagram as part of Air and Space Expeditionary Force 7/8.

“Bagram has continued to evolve and has become more and more effective as an airlift center and producer of close-air support – both lifesaving missions for Airmen, Soldiers and Marines out (in the field),” General Buchanan said. “You should feel good about your part in the mission and what you’ve done to make this base better than when you arrived.”

General Buchanan said Airmen and Sailors can be proud of their accomplishments as part of this Air and Space Expeditionary Force rotation.

“When talking about your deployed experience with family and friends back home, you should swell with pride,” General Buchanan said. “You can be proud that you joined other U.S. and coalition forces in this fight against terrorism.”

General Buchanan asked the troops to stay vigilant as the future of Afghanistan unfolds.

“You’ve been here, and you have a personal stake in this country’s success,” he
said. “Let’s watch and see as Afghanistan and (President) Karzai, with the new government in place, begin to march out and put their arms around what is to be the future of Afghanistan. It’ll be interesting.”

General Buchanan then spoke directly to the Airmen and Sailors deployed as part of Air and Space Expeditionary Force 9/10.

“During your deployment to Bagram, remember that what you do day in and day out affects somebody’s livelihood outside the wire,” General Buchanan said. “There’s a Marine, there’s a Soldier and there’s an Airman outside in harm’s way that will be relying on you and I to do our jobs day in and day out.

“Each night, there is a Soldier someplace in the vastness of Afghanistan who is leaning back in some safe house someplace scribbling a note home,” he said. “He’s able to do that because of what you and I have done either today, yesterday or the day before -- making the mission happen.”

General Buchanan discussed how the role of women in Afghanistan has greatly increased over the past two years.

“Think about what it was like here under the Taliban’s (rule) for women,” General Buchanan said. “When women went outside of their homes, they had to be fully covered from head to toe. They didn’t go to school and nobody bothered to ask for a woman’s opinion.

“Yet when given the opportunity to vote for the first time, 40 percent of those who voted in October 2004 were women,” he said. “When the people of Afghanistan voted for parliament this past September, women accounted for 43 percent of those voting. They voted even though it meant risking their lives.”

General Buchanan ended the troop call saying that although it is a challenging task, progress in Afghanistan will continue.

“We’re beginning to see the people of Afghanistan get on with the business of life, which is not an easy road,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go … but we’ll be victorious.”

The trip to Afghanistan by General Buchanan was his last scheduled visit as commander.

General Buchanan is scheduled to retire this spring.