PACAF Commander visits Airmen at 'top of the world'

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rachelle Coleman
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Gen. Gary North, Pacific Air Forces commander, and his wife Shelley stopped here recently to visit Airmen, their families and community leaders who support the Iceman Team.

General North assumed command of Pacific Air Forces in August, which includes bases in Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Guam and South Korea.

During his visit, the general stressed the importance of Eielson AFB, its strategic location, and its mission to prepare, deploy, enable and train U.S. and allied forces through RED FLAG-Alaska.

"Eielson Airmen play a critical role here at the top of the world in Alaska. Eielson has always been a very strategically located installation for the United States and our United States Air Force," said General North.

The general stressed that the men and women of the 354th Fighter Wing and the 168th Air Refueling Wing are very important to PACAF as enablers for Pacific Air Forces to meet global requirements not only for U.S. Pacific Command but also for Air Combat Command. He added that the air combat training provided here with RED FLAG-Alaska is absolutely essential to ensure combat preparedness for Airmen on the ground and in the air so they are ready to go to war if and when tasked, the general said.

The base has grown since General North was last at Eielson 14 years ago, and he told Airmen how impressed he was with the caliber of Airmen here and the enhancements to the base.

"It's been an exceptional visit here at Eielson," he said. "It's wonderful to see the improvements that have occurred over that period of time. It's also incredibly rewarding to see the spirit of the Airmen who are stationed here--active and guard--who come together as a total force team to execute the mission set here at the 354th and the base."

The PACAF commander encouraged Eielson Airmen to stay focused on the mission and to keep maintaining their combat edge every day.

"Understand that there are rules and regulations for a reason, that there is training for a reason and that each one of us is a combat resource," he said. "We prepare our Airmen appropriately when they are in their bucket or band. When and if they do deploy, we hope they understand that we have sent them to a deployment with the very best training and equipment we can provide and we expect them to perform in an exceptional fashion."

The general sees the daily missions as only one part of the path to the Air Force achieving total mission success.

"When they come back home, we expect them to relax, reunite and enjoy their families and then come back to their home station job refreshed," he said. 

During General North's tour he thanked the Iceman Team for their part in supporting PACAF's missions, goals and objectives in the region saying, "we are proud of the wing--both active and guard. We are also very proud of the community relationships with both Fairbanks and North Pole community leaders who support our Airmen and their families. That's something which is often not as appreciated throughout the world--what our community leaders contribute toward ensuring our Airmen understand that this is their home too. So my thanks goes out not only to our Airmen and their families, but the community leaders as well."