18th AF commander visits Fairchild, shares vision

Published Dec. 8, 2009
By Senior Airman Emerald Ralston
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Lt. Gen. Robert Allardice, 18th Air Force commander, visited Fairchild Nov. 20 to 22 to meet with Airmen, speak about his goals and give guidance on Total Force Integration initiatives to leadership.

"One of my top priorities as 18th AF commander is ensuring everyone understands the mission," General Allardice said. "I want to make sure the 51,000 Airmen in our command are focused perfectly on accomplishing our mission."

From General Allardice's perspective, 18th AF operates as three distinct forces to accomplish the overall mission: The maneuver force, which includes our air operation center, the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center, and the aircraft and crews they command and control flying all over the world at any given moment moving fuel, passengers or cargo; the acceleration force, which consists of the Airmen positioned around the world in the Expeditionary Mobility Task Forces and enroute units who are making sure things move smoothly and rapidly for our global mobility mission; and the generation force, or the home base that organizes, trains and equips the Airmen to accomplish the mission.

"In order to accomplish all the things we do, we need to keep these three forces balanced," General Allardice said. "Our goals are to accomplish the mission and to have every single Airman adequately prepared for the task at hand. If I do just these two things right as commander, I'll be okay."

The TFI concept fits into this mission by increasing the force and accentuating the capabilities already in place. Fairchild has had varying missions throughout the years, from the bomber mission to tanker mission and currently we have a mission that includes a Guard component. TFI focuses on enhancing the qualities of both Guard and active duty capabilities.

"What is enduring about Fairchild is it's a great Air Force base supported by the local community and is most recently an installation with two distinct units, the 141st Air Refueling Wing and the 92nd Air Refueling Wing," General Allardice said. "Our vision for TFI here is to combine these two units and focus on a single mission. This will help increase effectiveness by integrating the mission with an interdependent role, while at the same time the 141st as a Washington Guard unit is able to retain its individuality."

The general also spoke about the importance and impact of Fairchild at home and abroad.

"Fairchild accomplishes a critical strategic air refueling mission by generating crews, support and airplanes," General Allardice said. "If you have a fighter going from the United States to the area of responsibility it can get there eventually but it has to stop multiple times on the way over. Once it is flying in the AOR, without the tanker, it can take off and attack maybe one target, then land again. With the tanker, the capacity to refuel allows the fighter to become a strategic asset. The strategic capability in our Air Force comes from the capacity of our air refueling airplanes to give these great global legs to our assets - Fairchild generates a significant portion of that capacity."

Not only is Fairchild critical to the war effort through the tanker, but the Airmen in support roles and families also contribute to the success of the mission.

"Crews and airplanes from Fairchild are constantly deployed supporting a variety of missions through the Middle East," General Allardice noted. "From convoys to support staffs to structures - Fairchild is critical there and at the home installation. The men and women at Fairchild all make up the support structure that makes all the other stuff take place."

The contribution from the home station is not only achieved by the servicemembers, but also their families. During the Year of the Air Force Family, the importance of the family must not be overlooked.

"Every day we have families [supporting] the Airmen that generate the airplanes," General Allardice said. "Programs through the Airman and Family Readiness Center and Key Spouse programs support the families. If we lose the family, we lose the Airman; if we lose the Airman, we lose the fight."

Aside from TFI and the war fighting capacity of the tanker, General Allardice commented on the importance of physical fitness - not just for the new test, but for the quality of life of the servicemember.

"My advice for Airmen on the new fitness test is 'work out.' It's almost that simple," he said. "I think the new fitness program is right. Be in shape for yourself - if you're in good shape you'll feel better, probably live longer and your performance will improve. People who demonstrate the self discipline to be in shape, not coincidentally, demonstrate the self discipline it requires to be successful in almost all areas of their lives."

Along with being in shape for your own personal well-being, the general highlighted the importance of fitness in the combat zone.

"When I was in Iraq, the moment I hit the ground I had to be able to react rapidly to a varying degree of threats," General Allardice said. "I had to be able to react rapidly for myself, get off the helicopter, get on the helicopter, get in the HUMVEE, get out of the HUMVEE with a rifle, pistol, 25 to 40 pounds of body armor - I frankly didn't have time to learn how to get in shape, I didn't have time to help my fellow Airmen pull their weight. We had to do it ourselves. So be in shape for yourself and be in shape because when you have to deploy your chances of survival are much higher if you're healthy."

General Allardice also spoke about the importance of saying 'thank you' to the Airmen and families for their sacrifices through the job and what they do defending our country and accomplishing our mission.

"I think what we do is honorable and I feel honored to be able to serve with the finest people in the world on such a noble mission," he said. "Thank you to the people here generating the strategic maneuver mission every day; thank you to the Airmen who have deployed; and thank you to the families that have generated those Airmen that go to work every day supporting this mission"

General Allardice extended additional thanks to deployed Airmen over the holiday season.

"During the holidays, it is especially hard to be away from family," he said. "Being deployed to a combat zone is tough, being deployed to a combat zone over the holidays is really, really tough. An extra thanks to the families and Airmen particularly who are deployed this time of year - keep the faith and keep the fight."