Secretary of the Air Force visits Manas Airmen

AFGHANISTAN

10.16.2008

Story by Maj. Rickardo Bodden 

376th Air Expeditionary Wing

✔ ✗ Subscribe

4

By Damien Pickart
376th Air Expeditionary Wing

MANAS AIR BASE, Afghanistan - Manas Airmen proudly showed off their base and mission as they hosted Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley for his first visit here, Oct. 15, 2008.

Manas AB was the final stop in a week long, seven base tour of the U.S. Air Forces Central area of responsibility; the secretary's first to the AOR since being confirmed as the 22nd Secretary of the Air Force, Oct. 2, 2008.

Despite heavy rains, Airmen here enthusiastically greeted Mr. Donley as he visited numerous facilities including the passenger terminal, expeditionary theater distribution center, petroleum oil and lubricants compound and the fitness center.

As at every stop throughout his AOR trip, the secretary held an Airman's Call to share his thoughts on Air Force issues and take time to answer questions. More than 200 "Liberando" Airmen packed Pete's Place for the call here and greeted the secretary with a thunderous round of applause.

"It is such an honor to serve you all," said secretary Donley. "You are the glue that holds the force together and makes our military the effective combat power it is. America is so proud of what you are doing here to defend our country and do the nation's national security business."

At the call, the secretary discussed several topics, including Air Force manning levels, refocusing the nuclear enterprise, improving the acquisition process and the deployment operations tempo.

"We must restore the Air Force focus on the nuclear mission because it's one that demands perfection," secretary Donley said, noting that a command will soon be stood up to integrate assets and personnel that support the nuclear mission, including long-range bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The secretary also pointed out how the Air Force needs to do better with its acquisition process in order to bring some critical assets into the inventory, including an asset high on Airmen's minds at Manas - a new tanker.

"The Air Force has a problem with its aging inventory," he said, specifically mentioning the need for a replacement tanker. "The Air Force needs to bring the new tanker online; it's absolutely critical to the mission around the globe and in the AOR."

As well as issues, Mr. Donley also made a point to articulate how critical the people are to accomplishing the mission, especially the senior non-commissioned officer corps.

"What most of the militaries of the world envy most is our senior NCO corps," said the secretary to a round of applause that thundered through Pete's Place. "We have a motivated, dedicated and well led Air Force thanks to our senior NCO corps."

During his visit, secretary Donley learned about Manas' role as the premier air mobility and refueling hub supporting operations in Afghanistan. He also had the opportunity to see firsthand how the base supports coalition personnel transiting in and out of Afghanistan as the sidewalks and morale facilities were packed with well over 1,000 U.S. Marines and other coalition servicemembers from the militaries of Afghanistan, Poland and South Korea. After his Airman's call, the secretary took time to thank several Marines he ran into for their service in Afghanistan before continuing on with his tour.

Before departing Manas AB for a long flight back to Washington D.C., the secretary toured a KC-135 and learned from aircrew and maintainers about how well the venerable tanker is performing its mission here. It was transparent that the briefers on the line and throughout his visit were a mix of Airmen from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Active Duty; a total force package the secretary stressed is working to help ease the operations tempo for stressed career fields.

"The integration of Guard, Reserve and Active Duty to accomplish the mission is extremely critical in helping make deployment rotations work," said secretary Donley. "I met many Airmen during my trip who have concerns about the operations tempo. From what I've seen, using a total force package and having good commanders and senior NCOs fine tune deployment lengths are working well to improve the situation."