This one member of the Flamingo Wing is grateful to all of you!
I thank the 7,574 Fight’n Flamingos – the “Swift and Sure Wing” – for a wonderful year as your commander.
You are our nation’s very best citizens and I’ve been tremendously honored to serve with, and for, each one of you. I always had the utmost confidence that with the dedication, smarts and character of each Flamingo in our wing, we would overcome every challenge and crush every task thrown our way; this team never failed and continually achieved mission excellence.
The 435th Air Base Wing has much to be proud of as we look back on the past year. We formed an iron-clad team with our 86th Airlift Wing brothers and sisters and vastly improved our performance in readiness, mission support to all of Team Ramstein’s units, customer service, dormitories and force protection. We helped stand-up the new 17th Air Force and the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, completed more than two-thirds of the 888 housing units projected for construction and opened the new aquatics center and dual-bay hangar. And, after incredibly hard work, the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center will open its doors for business in just a few weeks.
Partnering with the 86th AW, we earned an “Excellent” rating during the unit compliance inspection and conducted operational readiness exercises each quarter as we started to prepare for an operational readiness inspection in 2010. Furthermore, we continued to provide first-rate care to more than 12,200 wounded warriors with more than 7,800 of these patriots coming from Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.
Our Joint Mobility Processing Center remained vital to our overseas contingency operations, deploying more than 25,000 warriors to defeat terrorists and support our national objectives. And, we emphasized our physical readiness and raised our average fitness test score by two points across the wing. I was tickled to see our fitness program was named an Air Force “Best Practice” this past week.
While I realize these accomplishments just scratch the surface, I also know they’ve helped make our nation stronger and made liberty and human dignity a larger reality throughout the world.
If I took just my share of the credit for all we’ve accomplished, that would still be too much. We were also enabled by the great partnership and hospitality we receive from our host nation, as well as the support we received from the 86th AW, 521st AMOW and other Team Ramstein partners.
Angie and I are grateful that we get to remain at Ramstein, supporting the U.S. Air Forces in Europe mission and living in this wonderful country. You can bet the Bacons will always be proud Flamingos and will always remember the wonderful wingmen at Ramstein and the 435 ABW and the superb hospitality all our Airmen receive from the local community. I’m very proud of each and every one of you. Thank you, for your “Swift and Sure” service to our nation.
Editors note: Colonel Bacon will relinquish command of the 435 ABW to Col. Tom “Elliot” Gould Thursday. Colonel Bacon will remain at Ramstein as the deputy to the Third Air Force commander.
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This one member of the Flamingo Wing is grateful to all of you!
I thank the 7,574 Fight’n Flamingos – the “Swift and Sure Wing” – for a wonderful year as your commander.
You are our nation’s very best citizens and I’ve been tremendously honored to serve with, and for, each one of you. I always had the utmost confidence that with the dedication, smarts and character of each Flamingo in our wing, we would overcome every challenge and crush every task thrown our way; this team never failed and continually achieved mission excellence.
The 435th Air Base Wing has much to be proud of as we look back on the past year. We formed an iron-clad team with our 86th Airlift Wing brothers and sisters and vastly improved our performance in readiness, mission support to all of Team Ramstein’s units, customer service, dormitories and force protection. We helped stand-up the new 17th Air Force and the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, completed more than two-thirds of the 888 housing units projected for construction and opened the new aquatics center and dual-bay hangar. And, after incredibly hard work, the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center will open its doors for business in just a few weeks.
Partnering with the 86th AW, we earned an “Excellent” rating during the unit compliance inspection and conducted operational readiness exercises each quarter as we started to prepare for an operational readiness inspection in 2010. Furthermore, we continued to provide first-rate care to more than 12,200 wounded warriors with more than 7,800 of these patriots coming from Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.
Our Joint Mobility Processing Center remained vital to our overseas contingency operations, deploying more than 25,000 warriors to defeat terrorists and support our national objectives. And, we emphasized our physical readiness and raised our average fitness test score by two points across the wing. I was tickled to see our fitness program was named an Air Force “Best Practice” this past week.
While I realize these accomplishments just scratch the surface, I also know they’ve helped make our nation stronger and made liberty and human dignity a larger reality throughout the world.
If I took just my share of the credit for all we’ve accomplished, that would still be too much. We were also enabled by the great partnership and hospitality we receive from our host nation, as well as the support we received from the 86th AW, 521st AMOW and other Team Ramstein partners.
Angie and I are grateful that we get to remain at Ramstein, supporting the U.S. Air Forces in Europe mission and living in this wonderful country. You can bet the Bacons will always be proud Flamingos and will always remember the wonderful wingmen at Ramstein and the 435 ABW and the superb hospitality all our Airmen receive from the local community. I’m very proud of each and every one of you. Thank you, for your “Swift and Sure” service to our nation.
Editors note: Colonel Bacon will relinquish command of the 435 ABW to Col. Tom “Elliot” Gould Thursday. Colonel Bacon will remain at Ramstein as the deputy to the Third Air Force commander.