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Reserve wing CC visits deployed unit

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class David Dobrydney
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  A group of reservists de-ployed here recently received a visit from a special guest from back at their home station.

Brig. Gen. James L. Muscatell Jr., 403rd Wing commander at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., arrived here, Oct. 10, to visit with his Airmen during his final stop of a tour of the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. His tour was arranged as part of the Joint Monthly Access to Reserve Components program, which is a U.S. CENTCOM-sponsored program which allows Army and Air Reserve Component general officers and their senior enlisted members the opportunity to visit Reserve and National Guard Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines serving in the AOR.

Most often, it is Army reserve leaders who use the program. "We were told we were the first Air Force Reservists who have used the program in the past year," said General Muscatell, who was joined on his tour by 403rd Wing Command Chief Master Sergeant Anthony Woitalla.

General Muscatell had deployed to the AOR once before as a unit commander and was eager for another opportunity to see Airmen in the field. When his superior was unable to go on this tour, General Muscatell was asked to go in his stead.

"Because our Airmen are working for other commanders, we don't want to be seen as usurping their authority," General Muscatell said, "but we're here to reinforce their authority; I've been doing that at every base I've been to."

General Muscatell oversees more than 1,400 reservists in the 403rd Wing and has been able to visit with almost 300 deployed to various areas in the AOR, including more than 150 members deployed here to the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. For the 403rd members stationed here and elsewhere, General Muscatell wanted to pass on a message from their local communities back in Mississippi.

"The people back home are following every pound of cargo and every passenger you're moving," he said. "Civic leaders call and tell me 'we've been reading about your unit.' They're keeping up and are so proud of what you're doing."

The Keesler Airmen in the 746 EAS arrived in September and are already maintaining a 103 percent mission completion rate. "Back at Keesler, they don't get an opportunity to really exercise their skills like they do in the AOR," Chief Woitalla said, likening the Airmen's experience to 'trial by fire.' "In the short time they've been here, they've learned and grown so much," he said. "They've met the challenge admirably."

Lt. Col. Donald Buckley, 746 EAS commander, said it was an honor and a pleasure to have General Muscatell and Chief Woitalla visit with the unit. "Our members get a good feeling from knowing their wing commander is behind them backing them up," he said.

Besides succeeding in their primary mission, Chief Woitalla cited the contribution reservists make in the form of volunteering, using the knowledge from their civilian jobs. He mentioned a group of Airmen stationed as firefighters in Iraq who, in their spare time, are using their carpentry skills to renovate the fire station. "They bring a great mix of skills and abilities," Chief Woitalla said, "because they have a whole other skill set [from their civilian jobs] to tap into."

But General Muscatell and Chief Woitalla have been impressed the most by the ease with which the different components of the Air Force and sister services work together.

"How integrated the forces are is testament to the professional force we have," Chief Woitalla said. "Whether they're active-duty, guard or reserve, you can't really tell the difference between the personnel."

General Muscatell came to the same conclusion.

"The active-duty can't do it by themselves, the Guard can't do it by themselves, the Reserve can't do it by themselves. It takes all of us working together," he said.

As their tour of the AOR came to an end, Chief Woitalla said that in his 27-year Air Force career, he considered this tour the highlight. General Muscatell agreed.

"We've come here to increase their morale, and it has increased ours. It's been awesome," he said.