Youngstown team highlights capabilities to AF commission

by Master Sgt. Bob Barko Jr.
910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

8/14/2013 - YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- Members of the 910th Airlift Wing here provided statements to the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force at a hearing at the Ohio statehouse in Columbus, July 30. A group from the 910th also met with members of NCASF as the commission toured Mansfield-Lahm Air National Guard Base, Ohio, July 31.

The Citizen Airmen highlighted the capabilities of the wing and Youngstown Air Reserve Station during the meetings with the commission.

The NCASF was formed to conduct a comprehensive study of the structure of the Air Force to determine whether, and how, the structure should be modified to best fulfill current and anticipated mission requirements for the Air Force consistent with available resources.

To date, the NCASF has visited Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Springfield, Rickenbacker and Mansfield ANG bases, Ohio; Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and Barksdale AFB, La.

The NCASF is scheduled to visit Tinker AFB, Okla., Pease ANGB, N.H., Westover AFB, Mass., Burlington ANGB, Vt., Camp Smith/Hickam Field, Hawaii, and Beale AFB, Calif.

During their visits at each location, the commission will tour facilities, hear mission briefings and meet Airmen at wing, group and squadron levels. Also, the commission will hold off-base hearings with state and local community leaders as well as members of the public.

The commission is led by the Honorable Dennis M. McCarthy, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and the previous assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs at the Pentagon. The vice chair is the Honorable Erin Conaton, a former undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and previous undersecretary of the Air Force.

Other members of the commission include: F. Whitten Peters, former secretary of the Air Force; Les Brownlee, former acting secretary of the Army; retired Air Force Gen. Raymond Johns Jr., previous commander of Air Mobility Command; retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry M. "Bud" Wyatt III, previous director of Air National Guard; Dr. Janine Davidson was a deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Plans, and Dr. Margaret C. Harrell is the director of the Army Health Program at the RAND Corporation.