18th AF commander visits Travis

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lindsey Hahn
  • 60th AMW Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CA. --  The 18th Air Force commander visited Travis, his first stop on a tour of all the bases in his command, Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins and his wife, Mrs. Linda Hawkins met with Travis Airmen and community leaders while visiting several base events, including the Junior and Senior summit, during their one-day tour.

“I have only been to Travis about four times in my career,” said General Hawkins. “The base looks beautiful and the morale of the Airmen is great. [During my tour], I noticed the many construction projects and everything looks improved since my last visit in 1997.”

As the commander of AMC’s warfighting numbered air force, the general said that while the Global War on Terrorism mission is not changing, they will continue to look at better ways to accomplish it.

“As we continue [with the GWOT] we will be looking at how to accomplish the mission smarter and better,” said General Hawkins. “For example, with the C-5s we are looking at how to perform the velocity initiatives recently approved by Gen. Duncan J. McNabb [AMC commander] to minimize the time they are on the ground. We do this by running [tasks] concurrently such as, servicing the plane while loading the cargo and passengers.”

However, with the first C-17 arriving to Travis in August, the Travis Team’s role in GWOT will become even more essential, said General Hawkins.

“We use the C-17s today in so many ways. Not only do they fly channels like the C-5s do, but they are also used in a theater direct delivery role in the [area of responsibility],” said General Hawkins. “With the recent problems with center wing box cracks in the C-130 fleet and their high deployment rate, the C-17s have picked up some of the workload the C-130s used to do within the AOR.”

The general also touched on not only the improved joint mission in the AOR, but also how the recent Base Realignment and Closure changes will affect the joint mission at home.

“With the recent BRAC round, all of the military installations will become more joint to gain efficiencies and to save money on the base operations support,” said General Hawkins.

“This is positive in two ways. It enhances our joint relationship with the other services and units and also, from an Air Force perspective, it reemphasizes, reiterates and re-solidifies the total team effort that we have in the Air Force and have always been so proud of,” said General Hawkins.

“If I see someone in the AOR with a uniform that says ‘U.S. Air Force,’ unless I talk to them I have no idea whether they are guard, Reserve or active duty, so it really is one total force team,” said the general.

While at Travis, the general took a windshield tour of the base facilities including the Aeromedical Staging Facility and Alternate TACC and then had lunch with multiple award winners throughout the base.

“It was a pleasure hosting General Hawkins and his wife on his visit to Travis,” said Col. Timothy Zadalis, 60th Air Mobility Wing acting commander. “It is exciting to have the opportunity to highlight the hard work the great men and women of Travis do both here and in the AOR and the general was very supportive of the many activities and improvements recently made at Travis.”

“I was very impressed with the general,” said Master Sgt. Edward Valledor, manager of the Sierra Inn Dining Facility. “He is very supportive of everyone and he appreciates everything we do. He is very personable and took the time to stop and talk to every Airmen and NCO, regardless of his time schedule. We all noticed that!”

As Air Mobility Command’s warfighting numbered air force, 18th Air Force is responsible for tasking and executing all air mobility missions. It consists of 12 AMC wings, including the 60th Air Mobility Wing, three AMC groups, two expeditionary mobility task forces, including the 15th EMTF, and the Tanker Airlift Control Center.