Training for the Future: Brig Gen Snelson’s Plans for the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center

As Brig Gen Stephen P. Snelson takes command of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center (EC) at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, his vision is clear: to maintain the center’s legacy while adapting to the challenges of great power competition.

“We must ensure we can hold any adversary at risk, anywhere in the world,” he emphasized.

His approach is rooted in a commitment to continuous improvement. As the Commander walks through the hallways of the center, he sees the excellent work of his predecessors and of the hardworking Airmen within the organization. He plans to keep the momentum going and continue adapting the center to be ready for the future fight.

He challenges himself and every Airman always to question the status quo.

“When you are new to an organization, everything stands out, even the smallest details. Imagine walking through the hallways for the first time and noticing a picture frame that is slightly crooked. You think to yourself, ‘Why is that picture frame crooked?’ However, if you do not do anything about it, if you simply walk past it day after day, what happens? After about two weeks, you stop noticing that it is crooked. It simply becomes another part of the background.”

Snelson plans to keep improvement at the forefront, specifically with regard to preparing for great power competition.

“What I am trying to do as a new commander in here is to take a look at some of the processes that we have and to say, ‘How do we change things so that it makes sense for how we are going to operate today and into the future?’” he explained. “I encourage our Airmen to be bold, be innovative, and if they find things that should change, then follow the process to do that.”

As Snelson acclimates further to the EC, he will update the EC’s strategic plan. So far, the Commander says his objectives can be broken down into three main categories.

Sharpening Skills

One of Snelson’s primary objectives is to hone the skills of Airmen through expeditionary training. To accomplish this goal, the Commander plans to refine the EC’s Expeditionary Operations School (EOS) curriculum, which offers more than one hundred courses focused on expeditionary skills. By increasing the focus on great power competition, the EOS will help equip Airmen with the readiness needed for the future fight.

In addition, Snelson says that exercises play a critical role in skills development. He hopes to increase the EC’s involvement in exercises to refine EC’s teachings and, overall, the Air Force’s contingency response abilities.

“The EC is pivotal to the success of exercises,” he affirmed.

The Commander hopes to shed light on the role of the EC amongst the warfighting community to increase collaboration not only during the exercises but throughout the development of the exercises.

“We must prepare for war if called upon,” he explained. “As the environment changes, as our enemy adapts their technology, tactics, techniques, and procedures, we [the Expeditionary Center] must be there to learn as well as to educate.”

Advancing Technology

Another focus of the Commander is technology. As mentioned previously, staying ahead of the curve is crucial in an era of rapidly changing technology and evolving threats. Last fiscal year, the EC received approximately $17 million, primarily for communications and connectivity upgrades that enable Airmen to communicate with the joint force from remote and far-reaching areas of the world that, in the event of a massive conflict, will be essential to Airmen’s ability to operate effectively.

“We have made the best of that money and have upgraded a lot of our technology, but that is just the start. The challenge for us and for our Airmen is to push forward to the next great technology,” said Snelson.

He sets his sights on further extending communications and connectivity to the joint force and coalition partners, as well as pinpointing technologies that increase flexibility, interoperability, and lethality.

“We know in a great power war that we are going to ask our Airmen to do a lot more than just their day-to-day job,” he explained. “What technologies are out there that can improve the training and the readiness for our Airmen, no matter what their background is?”

Forging Resilient Airmen

Above all, Snelson is focused on the well-being and resilience of Airmen and their families. The EC “Forging Warrior Hearts” initiative is dedicated to ensuring that Airmen and their families are strong, resilient, and ready for the demands of war and the day-to-day challenges they face. “We, as an Air Force, focus a lot on what happens after an incident,” he notes. “What we are trying to do is create a culture where we prepare Airmen before a crisis occurs.” This proactive approach to resilience is something Snelson is committed to continuing, building on the foundation laid by his predecessor, Maj Gen John Klein. “No matter how great our technology is, if our Airmen are not ready and able to bounce back, then the technology will only take us so far,” Snelson asserts.

Snelson certainly has his eye set on future goals and is outlining ways to make them happen; however, he does not shy away from looking back at the past. One of the key aspects of Snelson’s leadership approach is the importance of lessons learned. He stresses the need to revisit the lessons from past crises, ensuring the organization does not repeat the same mistakes. He trusts his Airmen to balance being bold and innovative to improve with risk assessment and avoidance of recklessness.

“In this business, it is life or death,” he says. “We must constantly improve.”

As Snelson leads the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center into the future, his focus remains on building a resilient, innovative, and well-prepared force that is ready to face the challenges of a great power competition.

“My message to leaders and to Airmen out there is send us your best. We won’t keep them forever, but we will make them better. This isn’t just a classroom; it’s a real-world, expeditionary, day-in-day-out mission that our EC Airmen are executing. If you want your experts to go beyond theory and academics and you want them out in the field practicing what we’re going to have to do in massive peer-to-peer war, then you need to send them to the EC. I promise we’ll make them better.”

Biography of Brig Gen Stephen P. Snelson

Brig Gen Stephen P. Snelson is the Commander of the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ. The Expeditionary Center is the Air Force’s preeminent authority for expeditionary operations, supporting Air Mobility Command’s worldwide mission of providing Rapid Global Mobility to America’s armed forces. With more than 14,000 Airmen, the Expeditionary Center comprises the Air Force Expeditionary Operations School, five AMC wings, and two stand-alone groups. These units span the globe in forty-two locations across twenty-four countries, providing global air mobility support, installation support, and contingency response and building partnership capacity. Snelson was commissioned in 1997 as a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. He has held command positions at the squadron and wing levels. In his role as the Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Andrews, MD, he was responsible for providing airlift for the President, the Vice President, and other senior officials. He has held multiple major command and combatant command staff assignments. He is a command pilot with more than 3,300 flying hours, including combat missions in support of Operations Allied Force, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. Before his current assignment, Snelson served as the Vice Director of Strategy, Plans, and Policy at U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, FL, where he managed the internal processes of the directorate and the planning and execution of Tier 1 Joint and Multinational Exercises, developing military relationships with foreign partners in coordination with U.S. interagency departments.