JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
It's been a tremendous honor to serve the Airmen of Team Charleston over the last 19 months! What you have accomplished during that time has been nothing short of amazing. You superbly and selflessly executed the missions which aided in accomplishing our nation's objectives during Operation Unified Response in Haiti; the Presidentially-directed force surge to Afghanistan in record time; Operation Tomodachi in response to the Tsunami and earthquake in Japan and Operations in Libya to name the big events. Certainly, for the home team, we did all this while transitioning to the Joint Base partnership and maintaining our robust total force relationship with our most valued Reserve partners. Every element and individual of the 437th Airlift Wing, 628th Air Base Wing, 315th Airlift Wing and many other base partner units performed their roles expertly and safely. I'm most humbled to have had the experience again to serve with all of Team Charleston.
Above all your attitude, aptitude and motivation are remarkable in the face of some of the most challenging times our military and nation has faced. That approach will be essential to successfully navigating the courses ahead over the next several years - I implore you to keep up the Charleston reputation of being the best and carry on that legacy! Our team is fortunate to have great depth in talent, capability, leadership, dedication, service and innovation: a fact which is widely recognized throughout Air Mobility Command. I've learned a great deal seeing many of you in action and been amazed by the things you can do while humbly making it look so easy ... we know it's not. I wish you every success with the Operational Readiness Inspection and am confident the team will be adequately prepared for the task at hand. Maureen and I wish all of Team Charleston strong tail winds and a very bright future ahead. We look forward to the time our paths will cross again.