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CENTAF deputy commander: 'Airmen performing wonderfully'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  America's Airmen across the globe are performing very well, according to the deputy commander of United States Central Command Air Forces.

Maj. Gen. William "Dutch" Holland, also the vice commander of 9th Air Force, visited Airmen of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 as part his tour of CENTAF's area of responsibility. 

His mission was to meet and greet with the Airmen under his command and assess their readiness in this environment. 

"Our Airmen are performing wonderfully everywhere, not just this AOR," said General Holland. "It really is a pleasure to visit and have our Airmen tell me what they do, and tell me with such a passion." 

Airmen performance starts with training, said the general, and that's key to Airmen readiness. Expeditionary combat skills training is now taught throughout the Air Force, normally for Airmen getting ready to deploy in the next air expeditionary force cycle. 

General Holland said training such as CST has readied Airmen for contingencies such as Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. 

"It's all about understanding our expeditionary mindset and I think the Airmen have done that very well," said General Holland. "In this AOR, I believe the Air Force has done well teaching our Airmen and Airmen have internalized what we call fit to fight. Dealing with the heat, dust and altitude of the desert, Airmen are finding out just how important being fit to fight really is." 

The general also discussed the Air Force's involvement in the AOR has changed over the last 17 years, especially in regards to in-lieu-of taskings. 

"In the beginning, we played a doctrinal role and as times have changed and the situation here has evolved we find ourselves in more nontraditional roles," he said. 

General Holland also addressed concerns Airmen were having about the AEF structure changing and how we are faced with more nontraditional deployment cycles. 

"The Air Force is committed to stay with its original template of four-month AEF cycles," he said "It's only in special circumstances when Airmen are helping their sister services that longer deployments of up to six months happen."
T
he general understands the workload today's Airmen must endure and he has noticed how the Air Force has transformed since he has been on active duty. 

"The amount of responsibility that we have placed upon you is phenomenal," General Holland said. "But our Air Force is so much better today then when I came in because of the quality of the people."