BANGOR, Maine — The mission and geographic location of the Maine Air National Guard base in Bangor — home to the 101st Air Refueling Wing — are reasons why the facility is crucial to national security, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday.
Collins spoke on the occasion of touring the base along with U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, who got a firsthand look at the unit that has a primary duty of delivering fuel to aircraft while in flight.
It’s “a very critical time for air power, if you look across the globe at the many conflicts that we’re involved with right now and the president’s reliance on airpower in the Middle East,” Collins said. “The mission being done right now, particularly the refueling mission, is critical. You cannot have an air campaign against ISIS if you don’t have the capability to refuel that aircraft and that is what this base absolutely excels at.”
Welsh and Collins were given a mission briefing by Col. Doug Farnham, the 101st wing commander, and then Welsh was whisked into a room full of department heads for additional briefing. He did not take questions from the media.
Welsh is conducting base visits in the region and around the country in order to get a comprehensive assessment of the Air Force. He is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and along with other service chiefs, he advises the secretary of defense, the National Security Council and the president.
“He’s really having a look at the Air Force’s needs, requirements and investments with a sustained focus on successes and challenges facing the country’s airmen,” said Capt. Norman Stickney, spokesman for the Maine National Guard. “He’s going to be spending the day with the Maine Air National Guard. He’s having round-table discussions with senior officials and lower level airmen” to get input from everyone.
Unlike the Army Guard, which is facing federal budget cuts and other changes in personnel, the Air Guard is holding steady Stickney said.
“Where the Air Force active duty is shrinking in size, their Air Guard is filling in the gaps and it’s really strong and healthy,” he said.
For Staff Sgt. Amanda Gray, who put on her uniform seven years ago, the stability of the Air Guard is something that attracted her to the job, so the visit by Welsh “is a huge deal.”
“They’re trying to figure out where they’re going to be placing us folks in the future,” she said. “It’s very important.”
Over the years, Gray said, there have been times when she has worried about her job in base administration, but she also knows that “we have a mission, and it’s a very important mission.”