Travis welcomes honorary commanders

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Travis Air Force Base welcomed 23 honorary commanders and waved goodbye to 25 more, during a ceremony here Jan. 22.

The Honorary Commanders Program allows professionals from a variety of areas to partner with individual commanders to strengthen and foster the relationship between Travis AFB and the local community.

The program serves to enhance civic appreciation of the need and value of the Air Force, to maximize opportunities to share the Air Force story and communicate that the Air Force and sister service partner leaders share mutual interests, concerns and challenges with civilian stakeholders.

Col. Leonard Kosinski, 60th Air Mobility Wing vice commander and host for the evening's festivities, welcomed all in attendance and provided a glimpse of what the nearly two dozen honorary commanders will experience.

"We do incredible things here at Travis Air Force Base," Kosinski said.

There are very few jobs in the world where someone can get up and see some major events happening somewhere in the world on the news, then go to work and realize that they are impacting that event in some way, Kosinski added. "Here at Travis you can."

"We have more than 600 people from Travis deployed around the world right now, we have a platform for global power projection, we're the largest base in Air Mobility Command, we have every mobility mission here and we are the best," he said.

The colonel also stressed that Travis Airmen are the best at what they do largely because of the outstanding support they receive from the local community.

Support that Mario Giulani, an economic development manager for the city of Benicia, said he's thrilled to provide.

"I think it's great as a civilian for me to help our men and women in uniform, not only for what they do every day to defend America, but also for what Travis Air Force Base does for Solano County," Giulani said. "If I can be here and learn more about Travis (AFB) so I can be an advocate outside the base, I think that's a good thing."

Giulani said he jumped at the opportunity to serve as an honorary commander after two of his colleagues told him about the program.

"They raved about the program, so when I was approached to do it, I jumped at the opportunity. It's a great honor and I'm very excited to see what's here at Travis," he said.

The evening featured numerous guest speakers, including Col. Patrick Williams, 349th AMW vice commander, who shared the purpose of the honorary commanders program.

"With the honorary commanders program we can continue to strengthen the partnerships and enhance understanding between our military and civilian communities," he said. "It's our opportunity to demonstrate to you how the men and women of Travis AFB deliver America's hope and might around the globe at a moment's notice." 

Williams also stressed that enhancing relations between the Air Force and local communities is vital.

"Through the honorary commanders program you'll see up close how active duty and reservists work side-by-side and we hope you'll share this understanding of what we do with your counterparts and help strengthen ties with Travis Airmen and the local community. You'll have the opportunity to see individuals who live and work in the community and see how they serve our country. As the nation grows, the military shrinks, right now there's less than one half percent of people wearing the military uniform and we'd like to change that," he said.

The evening's final speaker, Col. Thomas Cooper, 621st Contingency Response Wing vice commander, encouraged all in attendance to do all they can to support Travis Airmen.

"It's critical at this time in our history as a nation to remind America what its Air Force does," he said. "Supporting the Air Force and Travis Air Force Base is critical because we can't do it all and we appreciate you for your support," Cooper said. "In the next few weeks I encourage you to do all you can, get with your commander and interact with the Airmen you're connected to, because it's our Airmen that make us so proud to bring you in to be part of this family.

"To the outgoing (honorary) commanders, stay in touch with those commanders and Airmen that you've built relations with, stay part of this family and work hard to take care of those Airmen as they'll be here for years and years to come," he added.

The evening featured performances by the Air Force Band of the Golden West, speeches, presentations, a barbecue style dinner and concluded with the singing of the Air Force song.