Surgeon general visits 86th MDG Airmen, talks about mission focus

Lt. Gen. Charles B. Green, Air Force Surgeon General, and Chief Master Sgt. Charles Cole, Chief of Medical Enlisted Force, visited the 86th Medical Group at Ramstein Monday.

During their visit, Green and Cole spoke with Airmen and toured various offices within the 86th MDG and saw first- hand their mission capabilities.

Green and Cole visited the logistics warehouse, Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, as well as the pediatric, family health and dental clinics. The tour allowed them to see the 86th MDG facilities and to visit Airmen working within the group.

 ”I enjoy the energy of the young Airmen and hearing how I can make things better for them,” said Green. “I am impressed at the innovative ways that they manage all of the patient medical inventory for Europe. Team work played a big factor for such a seamless integration.”

They took the opportunity to sit down and speak with Airmen during breakfast to give words of encouragement and insight for not only the medical field, but for the Air Force in general.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to speak with them and to get some insight, and to get some understaning on our leaderships thinking process. It was interesting to hear about what they had to offer and to hear how they feel about the Air Force today,” said Senior Airman Christopher Simpson, optometry technician.

Cole spoke about the great contributions that the Air Force is seeing from our current enlisted force, adding a thank you to the Airmen of the 86th MDG.
“We are as strong as we are because of the devotion that we put into our Airmen,” said Cole.

Green and Cole also attended the 86th MDG annual awards ceremony. Cole showed enthusiasm towards recognizing Airmen award winners by leading each squadron in a motivational chant.

In turn, each squadron responded with pride. Green and Cole made it a point to speak of future plans for the Air Force medical field, current issues and shared thoughts on the medical field’s mission.

“What we really do is provide trusted care anywhere,” said Green.

Green and Cole have been working together for the past 10 years and have a combined 68 years of service.