CMSAF: Our airlift is what makes us a global power

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Carrie Bernard
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) --  Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald R. Murray highlighted the Air Force’s airlift mission during a three-day visit here Jan. 12.

“We could not do what we do in the United States military and as a nation without our great airlifters,” Chief Murray said. “Our airlift is what makes us a global power.”

From moving people, equipment and supplies in and out of Iraq, to providing humanitarian relief for tsunami victims, it is absolutely apparent how important airlift is, he said.

“I think sometimes in our Air Force we make it look too easy,” he said. “It’s not easy at all. But there is no doubt how great our Airmen are performing in the mission we have here.”

Although the Air Force continues to excel, the chief said Air Force leaders understand the amount of stress that comes with that success.

“As we look at the ops tempo we’re under in today’s Air Force -- our deployment pace, the war going on, Airmen who deploy away from their subordinates, supervisors and first sergeants -- it all adds up to a lot of stress,” he said.

Those stressors make one-on-one leadership even more important, Chief Murray said.

“Face-to-face leadership is so critical,” he said. “Especially in the world today, when it’s so easy to get things done using items like e-mail and not get out among (the) people.

“It’s not about programs,” the chief said. “It’s about small group leadership and supporting one another -- supervisor to subordinate, peers to peers -- to keep stress under control.”

Beyond focusing on Airmen taking care of Airmen, leaders are also constantly looking at what can be done to provide a balance in the expeditionary global force, he said. One example of this is distributing stressors, like deployments, equally, so not just one Air Force specialty or functional area is overextended.

“We are continuing to focus on the expeditionary process that deploys people at 120 days at a time and returns them home in a 20-month cycle so they have more time at home, as well as a predictability of when they will deploy and when they will return,” Chief Murray said. “We are also looking at distributing those deployments in a way that’s more equitable to all Airmen and getting more Airmen into the deployment pool.”

With one eye on Airman and the other on the future of the force, the chief said he believes the Air Force’s operations tempo will remain the same throughout 2005.

“I don’t think we’re going to slow down any, that’s for sure,” he said. “We will continue to project air and space power globally, from the global war on terrorism to supporting natural disasters and anything else that may come our way.”

Besides continuing operations around the globe, this year will also bring issues closer to home, the chief said.

“We will prepare also for the announcement of base realignments and closures,” Chief Murray said. “That’s something our Airmen need to stay attuned to -- not be worried about, but just educated on. It’s a process that’s ongoing now and is something that will shape the future of the military.” (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service)