18th AF commander visits McConnell Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Thornbury
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  Lt. Gen. Samuel Cox, 18th Air Force commander, met the men and women carrying the mission of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing during a visit to McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., Feb. 16-18.

This is Cox's first visit to McConnell since taking the reins of 18th AF in October.

"This is my first base visit [as 18th AF commander] and what I have seen is fired-up Airmen that are excited about the job that they perform and being a part of something bigger than themselves," said Cox. "The energy and enthusiasm is fantastic. It has been wonderful to be here."

Cox was accompanied by his wife, Tammy, and Chief Master Sgt. Todd S. Petzel, 18th AF command chief.

As AMC's sole warfighting numbered Air Force, 18th AF is responsible for the command's worldwide operational mission, 11 wings, and two groups with 39,000 active duty Airmen and approximately 1,200 Total Force airlift and air refueling aircraft including McConnell AFB.

Cox visited Airmen in their units where he had a first-hand look at McConnell's mission.

The purpose of the visit was to speak to and hear from Airmen and their families on McConnell's mission and quality of life.

Cox held a commander's all call at the base theater where he spoke of innovation and the future of McConnell. He also listened to Airmen and answered their questions. 

"Innovation is critical to be able to move forward," said Cox. "We need to make sure we are taking a fresh look at all the different processes and procedures that we have in place here at McConnell. We are somewhat fixed in the manpower requirements, so we have always got to be looking for new and more efficient ways to do things."

He also talked about the future of the refueling mission and how McConnell will provide the foundation for how the KC-46A is operated throughout the rest of the Air Force.

"When the KC-46 arrives, we will need to continue operating the KC-135 [Stratotanker] and need to transfer mission sets to the KC-46," said Cox. "McConnell is going to be the first operational base for it so they will set the standard of how we operate that mission."

After the end of the all-call he thanked the Airmen and their families for an outstanding job.

"If you look at last year, the Air Force's aerial refueling mission passed about 1.5 billion pounds of fuel," said Cox. "Overall, McConnell produces just under half of the total sorties in the tanker community. There has been a huge contribution to support the U.S. Transportation Command mission as well as the U.S. Strategic Command mission. We can count on the fact that we have trained, qualified Airmen who will get the mission done."