Twitter
Facebook
Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Martin (center), U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center commander, and EC Command Chief Master Sgt. Pete Stone (right) discuss the aerial port operations with Master Sgt. Justin Hemken, 721st Aerial Port Squadron NCO in charge of ramp services. The 721st APS provides passenger services for the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing to expedite warfighting and humanitarian missions throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing hosted leaders from the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, based out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., from Oct. 18 to 24.
The EC provides oversight for installation support, enroute operations, contingency response and building partnership mission sets within the global mobility enterprise.
Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Martin, USAFEC commander, and USAFEC Command Chief Master Sgt. Pete B. Stone engaged with members of the 521st AMOW to get a first-hand view of how the wing expedites warfighting and humanitarian effects for America through air mobility in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Martin and Stone spent a week with the AMOW, visiting its members in various locations in Germany, Spain and Turkey.
“It’s important to get out and see the mission and the Airmen who are taking care of the mission,” Martin said. “Having eyes on the mission allows me to better understand the challenges here and ensure we are as efficient and effective with our resources as we can be.”
Martin said that although there are ways to hear about the status of things without being here, seeing things first-hand gives him a better sense of the mission’s dynamics.
“By being here, the EC can ensure the units are organized, trained and equipped to complete the mission,” he said. “We can also ensure units are working together, since we have multiple units around the world who fall under the EC.”
Units ranging from contingency response wings to air mobility wings work together to ensure Airmen can respond to various contingencies that could occur around the world.
“We’re always going to be an expeditionary Air Force; the mission relies on mobility to support the warfighter,” Martin said. “What the AMOW does here touches mobility in so many ways, from acceleration of forces to proving access by providing the personnel and resources required to complete a task.”
The Airmen here who provide mobility do so by following the wing’s theme.
“What impressed me most was the manner and success in which the 521st completes the mission,” Martin said. “There’s a theme here called ‘depend on us,’ and you can really see it’s taken very seriously when you spend time with the Airmen. The saying goes, ‘depend on us to complete the mission, to overcome challenges, to work together, and depend on us to be effective and efficient.’ They really do believe in this theme.”
