BRAC rep: 9th Air Force to stay

Ret. USAF Maj. Gen. George B. Patrick III, the state representative for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission and executive director of the Military Base Task Force for South Carolina, said Wednesday the decision to move a key commander's headquarters to the Persian Gulf won't affect other personnel stationed at the base with the 9th Air Force and AFCENT.

Shaw announcement (video)

By ANNABELLE ROBERTSON
Item Staff Writer
arobertson@theitem.com

A key Air Force commander will soon be moving his headquarters from Sumter to the Persian Gulf, but the decision will not affect the rest of the personnel stationed at Shaw Air Force Base with the 9th Air Force and AFCENT, the Air Force Central headquarters.

Nor will it affect the arrival of ARCENT, the Army Central Headquarters (formerly known as the Third Army), which is scheduled to arrive at Shaw in 2011.

In an exclusive interview with The Item, the state representative for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission and executive director of the Military Base Task Force for South Carolina, Retired USAF Maj. Gen. George B. Patrick III confirmed Wednesday that the Department of Defense has imminent plans to move the top Air Force general in charge of the air wars over Iraq and Afghanistan — currently 9th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Gary North — from Shaw to the Persian Gulf.

The decision, which has caused rumors to swirl throughout the Sumter business community, will not affect 9th Air Force personnel located at Shaw, however.

It will also not affect the arrival of ARCENT, which is anticipated to bring as many as 1,700 active duty Army members and their dependents to Sumter no later than September of 2011.

"As we understand it, the Air Force leadership was compelled to look at how they had the command structure - the piece of the warfighting command in Southwest Asia - and they have come up with the conclusion that it would be more effective if the three-star AFCENT commander, who is also the commander of the 9th Air Force at Shaw, was moved forward and was permanently stationed in Southwest Asia," Patrick said. "In conjunction with this, the initial intelligence that we got was that there was going to be a significant movement of hundreds of people out of the building of the 9th Air Force."

This, Patrick stated, is not true. In fact, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told lawmakers Tuesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2010 Air Force budget that the three-star head of AFCENT — North — will take less than 50 people with him when he establishes his forward headquarters in the Persian Gulf.

According to published reports, Schwartz indicated that the reason for the move was so that the Air Force could separate the forward warfighting element from the rear day-to-day oversight element of the 9th Air Force/Air Force Central. In response to a question from Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), Schwartz said the split would be temporary, but is necessary to put "100 percent focus on the operations currently under way." The focus, he said, would be "exclusively on the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, predominantly Afghanistan."

Instead of a three-star general, a two-star general and a one-star vice commander will head the 9th Air Force at Shaw.

Spratt reportedly pressed for reassurance, asking, "Can you assure us that when the time comes, that the 9th Air Force will be reunited with AFCENT?"

Schwartz replied, "That is absolutely our intent."

"What we have been assured," said Patrick, "and I think it's because the Sumter community, (along with) both of our U.S. senators, have aggressively taken their concerns to our congressional staff, is that this is a temporary wartime execution decision and that, in fact, not only is 9th Air Force going to stay at Shaw, but also that the Department of Defense is supporting the $20 million addition to 9th Air Force headquarters so that it can house their operations in one secure facility."

The 9th Air Force will continue to oversee the training and equipping of most Air Combat Command units in the eastern United States from Shaw. It will not have oversight of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Contact Staff Writer Annabelle Robertson at arobertson@theitem.com or (803) 774-1250.