An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

CMSAF thanks Airmen at Bagram

  • Published
  • By Capt. Brian Wagner
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody visited with Airmen at several locations throughout the Air Forces Central Command's area of responsibility April 12-18, 2014, to encourage, inform and thank Airmen for their hard work supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in the region.

The first stop was at Bagram Airfield where he toured the Craig Joint Theater Hospital to meet with patients and the Airmen who run the largest U.S. hospital in Afghanistan. He then met with multiple operations, maintenance and mission support Airmen prior to an all-call with about 150 Airmen.

"You can absolutely see how hard these Airmen are working and what a difference they're making every day. It's really, really impressive," said Cody. "They're in good spirits, they're motivated, they know what's ahead of them and they know what they're trying to accomplish."

At each stop during the tour of Bagram Airfield, Cody took the time to answer personal questions and address many of the concerns on Airmen's mind including force management, compensation, promotion changes and updates to the enlisted evaluation system.

"There is a lot going on in our Air Force," said Cody. "Our Airmen are in tune with what's happening even in the deployed environment and they have lots of questions--which are all legitimate questions and concerns."

Cody said he wanted to be open and honest and to give them updates to "put them at ease as much as you possibly can in a time when there is so much turbulence."

Cody stressed that his main priority during the visit was to look Airmen in the eye, thank them for their hard work, and let them know they are making a difference every day.

"When I look at the enlisted Airmen and the impact they are having...this is history," said Cody. "When you talk about building an air force from the ground up, we have Airmen over here enabling that every day."

"For decades to come we will look back at this and see the significant impact that we had on the country of Afghanistan and how they were able to progress," said Cody.

After the visit to Bagram, Cody departed for Jalalabad and then onto other locations within the region. Locations visited included Bagram, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat, Kabul, Shindand, and Mazar-E-Sharif, and Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.