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Gen. Harris visits Grissom, meets 434th Airmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Dakota Bergl
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  Maj. Gen. Stayce Harris, commander of the 22nd Air Force, spoke with Grissom Airmen and leadership during a tour of the base April 12.

During the visit, Harris learned about the wing’s capabilities, overall mission, and some of Grissom’s current initiatives.

Harris’s visit began with an overview of Grissom’s mission objectives over breakfast. Following the briefing she had an opportunity to experience the 434th Air Refueling Wing’s state of the art KC-135 flight simulator and boom operator weapon system trainer.

The general also had the opportunity to visit the Contingency Equipment Management Facility and see how Grissom utilizes the Bar Code Inventory Tracking System to track AFRC equipment with 100% accuracy. Harris met with Karen Lank, 622 Civil Engineering Group CEMF supervisor, to see the improvements that have been made to the central storage building as well as the changes that are currently underway.

“General Harris seemed very impressed with what we have accomplished,” said Lank. “The CEMF/AFRC team has worked hard and overcame challenges due to a mission realignment last year and great credit goes to the hard-working and dedicated employees that strive to support the AFRC CE units and maintain this cost-savings program.”

Lank said that it was nice to have her employees recognized for all of their hard work. The general took time after the base tour had concluded to return to Lank’s office and officially coin her. Lank commented that taking the extra time to recognize a single employee spoke volumes about the general’s attitude toward her subordinates.

“She was very personable, I could tell that she genuinely cares about the people who work for her,” said Lank.

The tour ended at Dock 1 with a static display of one of Grissom’s KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft. Harris was impressed with the quality of care that the 434th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron puts into their aircraft. After showing her some of the aesthetic improvements Grissom has made to the aircraft, Master Sgt. Eric Saddlemire, 434th AMXS crew chief, told her how 434th ARW pilots rarely got to fly their planes during his last deployment.

“Pilots from all over love flying in Grissom aircraft,” said Saddlemire. “People will get excited when they hear that they will be on a plane from Grissom. Our pilots almost never fly our jets because everyone else is trying to take them up.”

After seeing the hard work that Grissom’s maintainers put into keeping their aircraft in top condition Harris commented she viewed the 434th’s planes as the gold standard for the Air Force.

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker in the Air Force Reserve Command. Airmen and aircraft from the 434th ARW routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission and U.S. strategic objectives.

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