Fairchild honorary commanders visit Travis

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Nicole Leidholm
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  More than 20 Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, civic leaders visited and toured Travis Air Force Base, California's facilities July 21 and 22 to learn about the mission during a fly-away civic leader visit.

60th Air Mobility Wing leadership welcomed the group before it headed to the Delta Breeze Club for a briefing on the unique mission as well as what the civic leaders would see on the tour.

After the mission briefing, the group headed to a static display of the wings' C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, where they received a close-up look at two of the airframes that make Travis' mission special, air mobility, before ending the tour for day one.

"This was a very valuable trip," said Kevin Twohig, 336th Training Group honorary commander, Spokane Public Facilities District CEO and chair of Forward Fairchild. "I learned a lot of mission similarities between Travis and Fairchild. It was great to exchange ideas and learn Travis' perspective to issues at Fairchild."

The first stop for day two was the 621st Contingency Response Wing, where they learned about the unit's highly specialized mission. The CRW's personnel can quickly open airfields and establish, expand, sustain and coordinate air mobility operations on a moment's notice.

A line-of-fire demonstration showed the guests the vast amount of resources the CRW has at its disposal.

After the CRW, the group headed to the 60th Aerial Port Squadron before heading to David Grant USAF Medical Center, a Joint Commission-accredited teaching hospital and the Air Force medical service's flagship medical treatment facility in the United States.

The group ended its visit at Travis by seeing the air traffic control tower and radar approach control facilities before boarding their KC-135 Stratotanker for Washington.

"This was an amazing trip, very informative," said Sandy Kates, LCD Exposition Services and Employee Support for the Guard and Reserve. "I didn't know anything about Travis before coming here, but I learned we have a lot in common such as the encroachment issues at Fairchild."

The purpose of fly-away civic leader tours is to give community leaders an opportunity to better understand the home unit and other Air Force installation's missions.

"This is really good program for civic leaders to participate in," Twohig said. "It provided very valuable information about what we can apply to Fairchild."