USAF Expeditionary Center commander bids farewell to Team McGuire Published May 22, 2007 By Maj. Gen. Scott Gray U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center MCGUIRE AFB, N.J. -- It's been a great privilege to be part of an outstanding team of military Total Force professionals -- Air Force, Army and Navy -- whose focus is to provide combat-ready forces and military assets to expeditionary locations around the globe. Since my arrival in May 2005, I've seen tremendous teamwork between Team McGuire, Fort Dix and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst. Although we have different missions, we all made significant contributions to the Global War on Terrorism -- from Team McGuire providing combat-ready mobility and expeditionary capability for America to Fort Dix training and mobilizing soldiers to deploy to the area of operations to NAES Lakehurst assuring aircraft operate safely from aircraft carriers, air-capable ships and expeditionary airfields worldwide. The bottom line is that this location gets it when it comes to making the expeditionary mission happen! What a phenomenal two years! I'm proud to have served as the commander for the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center. It truly is the Air Force's premier educational, training and innovation institution for expeditionary forces. I'm even prouder to serve with the exceptional men and women who carry out the center's mission 365 days a year. These outstanding professionals provide exceptional education to students from the U.S. Air Force, our sister services and coalition partners. The students receive state-of-the-art training in operations, tactics and command and control from both a global and theater perspective. This center has made a huge difference in how the Air Force does its expeditionary business. The Air Mobility Battlelab explores high-payoff concepts, technologies, and tactics to advance the U.S. Air Force distinctive capabilities of Rapid Global Mobility and Agile Combat Support. Our battlelab experts develop and promote new technologies to shape the future of Air Mobility operations and logistics concepts. The U.S. Air Force Mobility Operations School team provides scores of resident and web-based courses to prepare the most junior to the most senior Airman in the full range of mobility operations. The MOS team provides courses ranging from aerial port and air transportation techniques to the Director of Mobility Forces course to the Advanced Study of Air Mobility intermediate developmental education and graduate program, to name a few. The U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School specializes in training and exercising expeditionary combat support personnel in courses such as Air Force Exercise Eagle Flag and the Advanced Contingency Skills Training course, in addition to the numerous expeditionary combat support and logistics training courses offered to more than 4,500 Airmen every year. In the last two years, we've been able to integrate the Phoenix Warrior security forces course with Eagle Flag to enhance the realism of opening an air base. We've also added Linear Infighting Neural-Override Engagement self-defense training and other combat training to the ACST course to make Airmen more ready to deploy to higher threat locations. The U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center has come a long way to advance our country's Airman as they support the Global War on Terrorism. It's been exciting to see the center receive numerous awards and medals for outstanding achievements. Although the formal awards are important, it's the people who are key to our success. I'm extremely proud to say I've served with professional Airmen and civilians who carry out the center's mission. You are the fabulous collection of outstanding men and women who are preparing our Airmen to expertly operate in today's expeditionary Air Force. Next week, I will pass the commander's torch to Brig. Gen. Kip Self. Please welcome him and show him the great things I've seen in my two years here as your commander. Farewell, and thank you for a job well done and for the privilege to serve with you!