The Mobility Forum The Mobility Forum

MEMORANDUM FOR 18 AF/CC USAF EC/CC AMC/SE AMC WING COMMANDERS FROM: AMC/CC 510 POW/MIA Drive Scott AFB IL 62225-5310

As we approach the holiday season, I find myself reflecting upon a year that was nothing short of extraordinary. The passion and commitment exhibited by our team of Total Force Mobility Airmen remains unparalleled, and my gratitude is unending. Airmen are the magic that powers the heart and soul f the Mobility Enterprise, and I am truly inspired by our team every day.

If Maslow had created a hierarchy of needs for the U.S. Air Force, the 618th Air Operations Center (618 AOC) would arguably be positioned at the top.

There is a never-ending supply of misinformation available on nearly every imaginable subject, including stabilized approaches. Even rational and logical individuals, as aviators are known to be, can be misled if they are not receiving information from a credible source. Let us take a few minutes to set the record straight and clear up some common misconceptions about stabilized approaches and the associated Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) analysis.

Weapons Safety Managers (WSM) do not physically lift wrenches any longer or build up munitions, or load them on airframes; however, they still need the right tools for the job. We need to expand our capabilities from time to time to meet the needs of future wars and missions.

Throughout the Air Force, in Air Mobility Command (AMC), and within the aviation industry, head injury is the number one reported injury to the body. I wonder if mechanics who struck their heads had submitted an Airman Safety Action Program (ASAP) report describing “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” their incident occurred, how many injuries could have been prevented. You can help prevent future mishaps by simply telling your story and describing how it happened.

The Air Force undoubtably boasts an unwavering commitment to readiness. To ensure the readiness needed to support the future fight, the Air Force is introducing a new deployment model.

Air Mobility Command (AMC) recently conducted a large, full-spectrum readiness exercise: Mobility Guardian 2023 (MG23), in the Indo-Pacific region with seven participating countries: Australia, France, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. MG23 had two main themes this year, according to Lt Col Jacob Parker, MG23 exercise director.

In his best-selling book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell presents a theory of the underlying reason Korean Air had more plane crashes than nearly any other airline in the world during the end of the 1990s—hierarchical culture. The author explains that because Korean culture has “high power distance,” meaning that authority is typically granted more respect and power than in other cultures, the copilots did not assert themselves in precarious flying situations. Had equal levels of authority been felt, more effective communication may have helped prevent some of the crashes.

As part of humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit central-southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, 2023, the 728th Air Mobility Squadron (AMS) offloaded an abundance of crucial equipment and supplies from aircraft.

Mosquitoes are universally disliked, but from 1967 to 1971, they were even more of a nuisance. During this time, mosquitoes were the main spreader of the dangerous Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis (VEE), a nerve disease that causes swelling of the brain. The disease mainly affects horses but can also spread to humans and is known to be fatal.

Few phrases capture the essence of the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing (AMOW) better than its motto, “DEPEND ON US.” The statement rings true as Air Mobility Command (AMC) has officially been able to count on the 521 AMOW for 15 years as of 2023. Since its activation in 2008, the AMOW has been at the forefront of AMC’s global mobility mission and has hit the ground running as the enroute support system for Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.