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CSAF signs official charter for Expeditionary Center

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
FORT DIX, N.J. --  The official charter for the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center was signed by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz on March 3 giving the center its "mandate to operate."

The charter outlines how the Air Force must provide expeditionary combat support, or ECS, capabilities to combatant commanders in support of their strategic objectives.

"Our ECS Airmen must be prepared to operate across the full spectrum of contingency operations," General Schwartz wrote in the charter. "Their training must be standardized and relevant as we need to eliminate duplication in our process. To focus this critical effort, I am tasking the United States Air Force Expeditionary Center to execute all assigned advanced ECS pre-deployment training courses."

The charter also defines the Expeditionary Center's span of responsibilities.

"The USAF EC reports to (Air Mobility Command) but works for and is responsible to all (major commands) for executing assigned advanced expeditionary skills training, incorporating lessons learned, tactics development and air mobility capability," the charter states.

Expeditionary Center Commander Maj. Gen. Kip Self said the charter process took more than a year of coordination, but it now provides solid framework and a mandate to operate in supporting ECS Airmen.

"Many people led this effort and poured their all into this charter because in the end it is about preparing and protecting our Airmen," General Self said. "For those of us in the Expeditionary Center, we can all take pride in this tasking by the CSAF. It demonstrates our value and his confidence in our ability to deliver 'Airpower...From the Ground Up!'"

There are four specific tasks General Schwartz wrote into the charter. They are:

- Develop and oversee assigned advanced pre-deployment and readiness training.

- Train future USAF mobility and expeditionary combat support leaders through advanced developmental, operational and tactical courses.

- Provide venues for directed, joint, integrated exercises and agile combat support-focused composite training (such as open-the-airbase and joint task force-port opening) for operational and tactical units from the USAF, sister services and coalition partners.

- Gather, refine, disseminate, and be the repository for expeditionary skills lessons learned and tactics, techniques and procedures.

Other senior leaders praised the signing of the charter, calling it an important next step. Maj. Gen. Marke Gibson, Expeditionary Skills Senior Review Group Chair at the Pentagon, commented on the charter signing.

"The USAF EC will now assume a role in providing expeditionary combat support pre-deployment training that closely mirrors that of the Air Warfare Center for the flying communities," General Gibson said. "This document represents a ... critical step in our journey toward a vastly improved mechanism for meeting combatant commander training requirements."

Even within the Expeditionary Center, Airmen are responding to having the charter to guide them.

"It adds impact and validity from the very top to what we already knew...we're providing expeditionary Airmen with superior just-in-time training," said Master Sgt. Jeff Norway from the Mobility Operations School.

In summing up the requirement for the charter, General Schwartz noted how this charter provides a guideline to the future of expeditionary training.

"In order to achieve strategic, operational and tactical objectives unhindered by time, distance or geography, we must ensure our expeditionary Airmen are prepared to deploy and ready to fight," General Schwartz wrote. "We are sustaining warrior ethos, refining the world's most advanced training system and adapting to the characteristics of 21st century warfare. It is for this reason that I am tasking the United States Air Force Expeditionary Center to take the lead in developing our mobility and combat support capabilities." 

(Note: For more on the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, visit http://www.expeditionarycenter.af.mil.)