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380AEW Article

Commander visits 380 AEW geographically separated units

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jacob Morgan
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  On July 30, the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, command chief and a select team from the wing staff agencies spent three days visiting the 380th AEW geographically separated units across four countries in Southwest Asia and Africa.

The purpose of the visit was for Brig. Gen. Kevin Schneider, Chief Master Sgt. Garth Meade, the sexual assault response coordinator, equal opportunity director and chaplain to make a face-to-face connection and see the environments and challenges members of the GSUs are facing.

"It's important to make the hand-shake and have the face-to-face interaction with the commanders, senior enlisted leaders and all of the Airmen," said Schneider. "We have a lot of tools that make communication faster, but not necessarily more effective. It is invaluable to make an in-person connection with someone and actually see what Airmen are doing in person."

A prevailing theme of the visit to the 405th and 407th Air Expeditionary Groups and the 82nd Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron, was the high morale each unit has and the focus on the mission sets, said Schneider.

At one location, space is at a premium, members are working in confined areas but the mission is being accomplished. At another location members are taking on extra duties to provide key support functions keeping the mission going.

"As a commander, it is important to see and hear what they are dealing with day-to-day," said Schneider. "One of the reasons I brought EO, SARC and the chaplain was so they could make connections. Our GSUs are often reliant on host units for support. We want to make sure they know who they can call back here if they have any of those problems."

The 380th AEW has Airmen and aircraft from almost every mission set deployed throughout two areas of responsibility supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Joint Task Force Horn of Africa. However, while leading one of the most diverse wings in Air Force Central Command, Schneider's approach to the visit was to connect these missions together and show commanders and senior enlisted leaders they have support from the 380th AEW.

"All of our groups in the different countries are doing an outstanding job, just like the groups are here," said Schneider. "A big part of my responsibility is to support the group commanders and squadron commanders to ensure they have the resources and guidance they need to execute their missions."

According to Schneider, who took command in June, the missions can be difficult, but he is impressed with how the young members of the AF are handling the mission tempo and deployment cycles.

"We see a lot of Airmen who are stepping outside of their traditional roles, going above their pay grade and beyond their formal training and really excelling," said Schneider. "You can tell from talking to these individuals that they understand the connection between their specific jobs and the execution of the overall mission."

The trip that began with an idea of seeing units with a different set of challenges, a different environment, different command and control, paid huge dividends, said Schneider.

"I have been in command for seven weeks and am more impressed every day," said Schneider. "The more I learn about the diverse mission [of the 380th AEW] the more I learn about the Airmen making it happen in some tough environments. We can all take a lot of pride in being part of that."