ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The men and women of the Force Generation Center joined local dignitaries and community leaders to celebrate the FGC’s 10th anniversary at a “Decade of Excellence” ceremony at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, in October.
The FGC is Air Force Reserve Command’s single organization responsible for generating all combat-ready forces. The FGC was also awarded the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award during the event.
“We’ve responded to hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires, all to protect American lives and to take care of Airmen,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Burger, AFRC deputy commander.
The vision for the FGC was born out of need. In 2010, one of the worst earthquakes in 200 years hit Haiti, causing an estimated $14 billion in damages and killing more than 316,000 Haitians. In response, multiple Air Force Reserve Airmen and resources where activated to lead humanitarian efforts. This effort, called Operation Unified Response, pointed to the need for greater operational oversight of AFRC personnel in support of contingency and crisis operations.
On Oct. 1, 2011, AFRC activated the FGC with the mission to seamlessly accession Citizen Airmen to volunteer, mobilize and deploy while meeting combatant commander requirements.
The current FGC commander, Brig. Gen. Stacey Scarisbrick, showcased the achievements of the team during her remarks.
“A decade of excellence. While this might seem like a relatively short period of time, I assure you, when you consider it against the work accomplished by the center in the past 10 years, this milestone is definitely worthy of recognition,” Scarisbrick said.
The FGC performs all aspects of force generation to include oversight, visibility and accountability of more than 70,000 Air Force Reserve forces. The FGC mission also includes an enhanced command-and-control function for AFRC.
In the past 10 years, the FGC supported more than 166,000 off-station training missions, flying more than one million hours, transporting more than 765,000 passengers and moving almost 900,000 tons of cargo. The FGC has assisted in the mobilization of more than 72,000 Reserve Citizen Airmen in support of mobilization requirements.
Most recently, the FGC activated Reservists to help with COVID-19 medical and recovery support and to assist with the evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghans out of Afghanistan.
“What better example than the pandemic where we moved 250 medical professionals with specific medical capabilities in 48 hours to New York to protect and save American lives,” Burger said. “Or what about Afghanistan? As the country literally crumbled, our forces rallied at speed to the point of need and generated air mobility power to redeploy our mission partners – partners we promised to bring back to America.”
In just the past year, the FGC executed 19,000 missions, including 32,000 flights. The center oversaw 167 Hurricane Hunter weather flights and supported more than 180 aerial spray missions.
“After 10 years, we have a cohesive strategy and a process to allocate resources, and quickly mobilize our Airmen to support our geographic combatant commanders. You bet we are a ready force. It’s because of the men and women of the FGC,” Burger said. #ReserveReady #ReserveReform
(Quinlan is assigned to the Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command public affairs office.)