Gen. McDew challenges mobility Airmen to dominate the mission

by Marvin Krause
43rd Airlift Group Public Affairs

6/12/2014 - POPE ARMY AIRFIELD, FORT BRAGG, N.C.  -- Gen. Darren W. McDew, Air Mobility Command commander, challenged mobility Airmen to dominate the mission during a recent visit here, after taking command of AMC in May.

"You are Air Force leaders with unrivaled mobility expertise, but Air Force leaders first. You should be inspired by a rich heritage," McDew said. "We should always make sure that we're dominating our mission today. I didn't say 'winning;' I said, 'dominating' our mission today. That's how we go forward. We should boldly forge our future."

McDew reassured Airmen the air mobility enterprise is strong, and he thanked all of the Airmen in attendance for their service to the Nation.

"Air Mobility Command is in great shape. There won't be any drastic changes and the priorities that are in place are good priorities that I believe in," McDew said. "I am very proud of what we do well. We do our core missions of airlift, aeromedical evacuation, air refueling and global air mobility support so well--we're the envy of the rest of the Air Force."

McDew compared AMC's mission reliability to flipping on a light switch.

"When you walk into a dark room and you flip that switch, what happens? The lights come on. Do you actually worry about how the lights come on? The rest of the world knows: you call AMC--the lights come on. That's what we do well," he said.

McDew also explained how all Airmen must lead in order to sustain AMC's mission reliability in the future.

"We're going to have some turbulence for the next few years. Each of us has to lead boldly -- not just me. So what I want you to do is do what you can do, and you can do far more than you think you can," he said.

McDew also commented on the importance of Total Force Associations throughout the command, which rely on Guard and Reserve Airmen partnering with active-duty Airmen.

"Our Total Force Association in this command goes back to 1968 at Norton and the C-141," McDew said. "We have a lot of history of doing this. We cannot walk away from the Guard and Reserve. If you look at the C-130 fleet by itself, 358 airplanes today, 27 percent of them are in the active duty and 73 percent in the Guard and Reserve. All KC-46A units will be associated, most C-17 units will be associated, a lot of KC-135 units are associated one way or another--we won't walk away," he said.

As AMC commander, McDew leads all Mobility Air Forces comprised of nearly 132,000 civilian, active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve personnel.

Averaging an aircraft takeoff every two-and-a-half minutes, AMC sustains America's military operations worldwide, including combat operations in Afghanistan, through its airlift, aerial refueling and aeromedical evacuation capabilities. The command also responds to humanitarian crises at home and around the globe.