The Mobility Forum Stories

In the early days of the internet, back in the late nineteen nineties, online personality quizzes were frequently sent as chain letters via email between friends and coworkers. These emails were welcome distractions as multiple days might elapse without receiving an email in your AOL Mail, Netscape, or Hotmail inbox. In those days, there were very few official Air Force email accounts—happier days indeed! One such quiz promised to calculate your “deviant” percentage—the higher your score, the more your personality deviates from the quintessentially normal, average, “Mark 1” person. While I am not about to trust an internet quiz to define my personality again, such a quiz makes one reflect on how much deviation is innovative and creative, and how much is risky or even dangerous.

Mobility Guardian 2025 (MG25) is more than the Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) flagship exercise—it showcases the global reach and scale required to project power in today’s contested environments. As part of the U.S. Air Force’s 2025 Department-Level Exercise (DLE) series, and as the fifth iteration of AMC’s biennial exercise, MG25 unfolded for the second time in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s vast theater, demonstrating the Air Force’s ability to project power at speed and scale. With more than four hundred joint and coalition aircraft and more than twelve thousand personnel spread across fifty locations and three thousand miles, the exercise’s success rested on two pillars: the meticulous planning backbone provided by organizations like the 618th Air Operations Center (AOC) and the dedication of the Airmen executing missions on the ground, in the air, and across the command-and-control enterprise.

During the August 2025 Operations Risk Assessment and Management System (Ops RAMS) Working Group, the chart shown on this page was presented, which visually depicted a significant decline in the number of Mobility Air Force Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) submissions. In fiscal year 2025, there have been only 483 ASAP reports submitted thus far. With ASAP submissions historically averaging approximately sixty per month and only one month remaining until the FY25 closeout on September 30, we are tracking toward 543 total ASAP reports for the year. This number is well below the fiscal year 2024 total of 688 ASAP reports. Unless there is a miraculous change in the next month, the outlook appears disappointing.

Aviation safety . . . I am sure you think that it is obvious what this safety is all about. Yes, it is obvious—on the surface. We do not want our people getting hurt or our equipment getting damaged, but there is so much more to a whole safety program. For example, the recent UPS crash in Louisville, KY, not only killed the crew and destroyed the airplane, but also fatally injured numerous civilians on the ground. Such events serve as a reminder of the devastating potential of aviation accidents and the moral imperative to prevent them. We do not want this to ever happen, so we do our best to prevent it. But how?

Like so many years before, 2025 proved eventful in numerous ways for the men and women of Air Mobility Command (AMC). Coming off the 2024 election season and its critical BANNER EXPRESS missions, AMC entered the past year by preparing for a ramped-up exercise summer, highlighted by Mobility Guardian 2025 as part of a broader set of U.S. Air Force (USAF) and joint force exercises. Gen John Lamontagne, who was named AMC Commander in September 2024, continued to move the organization forward in line with his priorities of “Airmen – Mission – Commitment.”

THE 6TH AIR REFUELING WING SAFETY OFFICE (6 ARW) at MacDill Air Force Base, FL, has been honored as the Air Mobility Command (AMC) 2025 Safety Office of the Year. Under the leadership of Col Edward V. Szczepanik, 6 ARW set the standard for enterprise-level risk management and operational excellence through decisive leadership across high-risk, joint, and global operations.

THE 19TH AIR WING SAFETY OFFICE, led by Maj Christian D. Torres, delivered exceptional results across every level of operation. The team built a base-wide training framework, qualifying ninety-nine facilitators and fifty deploying personnel. Their approach was adopted by four Major Commands and benchmarked by Air Mobility Command.

THE AIRCREW OF CROME56, 317th Airlift Wing, Dyess Air Force Base, TX, showed exceptional team coordination during an in-flight emergency on March 26, 2025, aboard a C-130J aircraft. While on a mission to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, the aircraft experienced a master alert for “Utility Suction Pump Pressure Low.”

THE 60TH AIR MOBILITY WING SAFETY OFFICE at Travis Air Force Base (AFB), CA, led by Lt Col Andrew J. Baer, safeguarded the largest Air Mobility Command (AMC) wing by completing forty-one annual inspections of 414 facilities, protecting sixteen thousand personnel and fifty-five aircraft.

THE 437TH AIRLIFT WING, Joint Base Charleston, SC, led by Col Patrick K. McClintock, enabled more than twenty-one thousand C 17 flight hours with zero Class A and B mishaps and cut overall mishaps by one-half, supporting a $9 billion fleet of forty aircraft.

THE 43D AIR MOBILITY OPERATIONS GROUP SAFETY OFFICE, Pope Army Airfield, NC, led by Col Allen C. Morris, Jr., executed an extensive inspection program—thirty-three total inspections covering 616 items across fourteen safety programs and fifty-one buildings.