9th AF/AFCENT command chief visits Moody

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Frances Locquiao
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The 9th Air Force and U.S. Air Forces Central command chief master sergeant visited here May 12-14 to meet with Airmen and see the Moody mission first hand.

During his visit, Chief Master Sgt. Scott Dearduff toured the Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham Airman Leadership School and met with Airmen from around the 23rd Wing and 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing.

"It was an absolute pleasure to be able to host a friend and true warrior Airman," said Chief Master Sgt. Paul Burgess, 23rd Wing command chief master sergeant. "The professionalism exhibited by everyone he met and addressed was phenomenal."

After meeting with Colonel Todorov and group superintendents, the 9th AF command chief began his first-ever visit to Moody by speaking to the ALS students.

"ALS is a great thing," said the command chief. "You will learn leadership skills essential to becoming a supervisor. Your challenge is to teach and enforce the standards to Airmen so that we won't have to worry about them."

As a token of his appreciation and in honor of Airman Cunningham, Chief Dearduff presented the book, Robert's Ridge, to Master Sgt. Tiffany Berard, ALS flight chief, which was donated to the school's library.

"The book showed Cunningham's heroic actions during the Battle of Takur Ghar," said Chief Dearduff. "He changed the opinions of Army Rangers and Navy SEALs toward Airmen."

In addition to ALS, the command chief also visited the maintenance crew for the HH-60G Pave Hawk and showed portions of the Airman Battle System-Ground.  This ensemble is being developed to provide fire retardant capabilities for Airmen performing "outside-the-wire" operations in combat.

At the 820th SFG air shop, Chief Dearduff toured the parachute simulator and watched a video demonstrating the unit preparing to jump out of a Moody HC-130P King.

The command chief also toured many of the 820th SFG's other assets including the military working dog compound, the military operations in urban terrain training village and the Airman 1st Class LeeBernard Chavis Memorial.

Much of the command chief's visit was spent speaking to Airmen about why their role in the Air Force matters.

"You are all equally important to our mission," said Chief Dearduff. "Without your hard work, we don't win."

"The command chief's message on ensuring high standards was well received across the wing," said Chief Burgess. "I'm positive he will pass on to Lt. Gen. (Gary) North (9th Air Force and USAFCENT commander) that the Airmen on Moody are prepared and ready to support the USAFCENT Area of Operations."