18th AF commander visits JBLM

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Leah Young
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  During his recent visit here, Lt. Gen. Mark Ramsay, 18th Air Force commander, discussed several topics of interest to Wing Airmen: including the joint base construct, the importance of family, and his plans for the future.

1. What is your impression of the 62nd Airlift Wing?

It's extremely impressive. Joint basing is relatively new and each joint base situation is unique. The leadership here is doing a phenomenal job executing the mission in support of our Nation and the war fighters. Both the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings, in addition to the rest of McChord, are doing a fantastic job not only getting our normal day-to-day airlift mission done, but ensuring excellence and precision in our airdrop mission today as well as in the future.

I'm also very proud of the 62nd AW for reinvigorating the nuclear enterprise with the Prime Nuclear Airlift Force mission. That program has been a phenomenal success and Airmen here are the reason for that success. They've made the entire nuclear enterprise better, not just in the Air Force, but across our government.

2. What are the takeaways from your visit? Did you learn anything new?

I'm learned a lot about the complexity of operating at a joint base this large. As always, great people and great leaders are getting the mission done, and they're doing it very well.

An important facet of joint basing here is that Airmen are able to take advantage of our partnership with Army. We've learned a tremendous amount from them ... and them from us. You can look around and see the power of that partnership. There are many projects we would've never been able to complete without that partnership.

3. During your all call, you mentioned the importance of family. How does family impact our Airmen and our mission?

Family is the foundation of our people. That's what holds us together and gives us strength to get the mission done. I could not have accomplished a 30-year Air Force career without my wonderful wife of 26 years and our three daughters. Family is our bedrock, and I think most every Airman would agree.

4. What was the goal of your visit?

My main purpose is to say thank you to the Airmen and families for getting the mission done. It's also to look at aspects of mission execution. In my opinion, not only are we getting the job done now but we're doing very well at examining the challenges we will face in the future to ensure we're prepared.

5. Do you have any closing thoughts to share?

I'd like to say thank you to every Airman and their family for the hard work they do every day. We've got more work to do, especially in places like Afghanistan. But most important, be ready to answer the call. We answer the call so others can prevail. When something happens, we're the first to get called. In most cases, we're there before anyone even knows we're there. Nothing happens until something moves and we're the people who make it move.