Gen. Minetti visits, speaks to members

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Raymond Hoy
  • 60th AMC Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The director of coalition coordination at United States Central Command, Macdill Air Force Base, Fla., visited Travis Tuesday to inform members of the broad scope of the CENTCOM mission and give an outlook on some things to come. 

Maj. Gen. Gerald P. Minetti addressed members at the base theater in a briefing titled “CENTCOM and The Long War.” 

General Minetti thanked Travis for its support in the Global War on Terrorism. 

“I understand about 2,500 of you deployed in 2005 in support of either Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom,” General Minetti said. 

General Minetti went on to say that Travis has moved more than 175,000 short tons of cargo and 90,000 passengers in support of those operations. 

“We couldn’t do it without you,” he added. 

General Minetti clarified for the group, the grand scope of the CENTCOM mission. The command not only controls the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. CENTCOM’s area of responsibility covers more than 27 countries and more than 651 million people. Within those countries are seven spoken languages, more than 12 major religions and 18 ethnic groups. 

General Minetti talked about a few of the future CENTCOM concerns. One of which is the possibility of civil war within Iraq. 

“We don’t think we’re near civil war,” he said. “It certainly could go that way with all the ethnic tension. The unifying government that needs to get into place is going to assist with that.” 

Coalition forces within the operations were also a topic of concern that was brought up during the briefing as well. When asked about the withdrawal of coalition forces, General Minetti was able to clarify the intentions of some of those countries. 

“Today we have a different requirement than we did a year and a half ago,” he said. 

“Some of these countries don’t have the depth in their military for a long war commitment. 

“We’ve had many countries stop deployments temporarily and return at a later date,” he added. “Those are things you don’t always hear about.” 

General Minetti went on to talk about the possibility of a lengthy war. 

The Cold War was about borders and a show of power, he said. That was a long drawn out battle. 

“The big difference between communism and the enemy that we’re fighting today is that our current enemy defends no borders, it flies no flags, and it occupies no territory. It works in small groups and cells with a huge network.” 

“Neutralizing this ideology requires patience and a lot of time to conquer,” he explained. 

At the end of the briefing, General Minetti presented coins to nine Travis Airmen for their recent contributions to the Global War on Terrorism in the CENTCOM AOR.