Posted on 04/27/2010 6:16:34 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
The Air Force took over Fort Sam Houston on Monday, and it didn't have to drop a bomb or fire a shot. But then, it wasn't that kind of a takeover, and in fact was celebrated as a new era of cooperation among rival services, right down to the joint Army-Air Force band that played before a crowd of 300 on MacArthur Parade Field.
Five 75 mm howitzers rocked the air as the Army garrison at Fort Sam became the 502nd Mission Support Group/Garrison — an entity headed by an Army colonel who reports to an Air Force general.
The Air Force will run Fort Sam's logistical services. The support group's parent organization, the 502nd Air Base Wing, already oversees logistics at Randolph and Lackland AFBs.
“Think about the power, the power in what we can do for our nation from right here,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Len Patrick, commander of the wing, also called Joint Base San Antonio, told the crowd.
“We are training combat medics and deploying forward, and saving lives on the battlefield,” he said. “We're teaching pilots how to be instructor pilots. Every young man and woman who comes into the United States Air Force marches across the parade field at Lackland AFB.”
As ordered by the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission law, Joint Base San Antonio will handle logistics at Fort Sam, Lackland and Randolph. Patrick will oversee all three, with colonels on each base in charge of daily operations.
Joint Base San Antonio will funnel $850 million a year in goods, services and salaries into the three installations. It will provide services including laundry, lawn care, legal aid, fire and emergency services, housing, and utilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
A combined Army-Air Force band plays during a ceremony
in which the Army garrison at Fort Sam becomes the 502nd
Mission Support Group/Garrison. Its parent,
the 502nd Air Base Wing, also oversees logistics at
Randolph and Lackland AFBs.
Bob Owen/Express-News
This is run by the USAF?
I don’t see the mariachi band and the wiccan chaplain...
Kelly was combined with Lackland in 2001. Looks like more of the same.
I’ll never forget standing on the drill field in BMT with a C-5 slowly flying over blotting out the sun.
Aim High!
TSgt
Ft. Sam Houston, the place of my birth, and now taken over so to speak by the USAF where I served for 22 years.
Looks like it’s moving the other way in this case, maybe the USAF Army Corps.
Why don’t we just let the Marines take over the Navy and run it like a professional organization instead of a boating club.
The big change on Fort Sam Houston is that under the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) all Army, Navy and Air Force medics/corpsman will co-locate and consolidate training at the new Medical Education and Training Campus (METC)starting in June. www.metc.mil
This type of arrangement is pretty common in our overseas bases, isn't it, with one branch heading up the admin, and other branches having tenant units at the base?
iirc, the Navy and AF had already started to moved all their medical training facilities to Ft Sam a few years ago, Ft Sam to become THE US military medical training hub.
You beat me to it, and said it better, Thanks, pke.
WICCHAPCOM is remaining in Colorado Springs, I believe.
Agreed especially the administrative, logistical and medical components.
There is no reason for them to be separate and it could promote better service to our military.
Contingency bases overseas are multi-branch so why not stateside? It might even improve inter-branch interoperability.
Does the Air Force get taken out of DOT and put in DOD during wartime? As one who has spent time at Lackland and Shepherd, I need to know?</sarc>
Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At ‘em boys, Give ‘er the gun! (Give ‘er the gun now!)
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one heckuva roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame.
Hey! Nothing’ll stop the Army Air Corps!
The four services were told, “Secure that building”.
The Navy turned out the lights, locked the doors, and went home.
The Army set up a fortified perimeter.
The Marines launched an air-mobile assault.
And the Air Force took out a 5 year lease with option to buy.
“
Without an ego or emotional dog in this fight, this seems like good
business practice to me. Reduction of administrative overhead, etc.
“
It’s been over a decade, but IIRC, Forbes magazine had a cover story
that called the US Military one of the most innovative and flexible
“organizations” in the USA.
Now and then some military plan does align with the old punchline of
“military intelligence” as an oxymoron.
But when I pay my taxes, the sting is reduced because I know some of
the dollars go to the US Military. Where it will actually get something done
and support volunteers that make my relatively sedate existence possible.
I either missed the joke or recognized your ignorance. Which is it?
The larger meaning is the loss of an O-8 (Major General) billet that formerly commanded Ft. Sam. It is also likely the O-6 now administering the base will be a last, just-before-retirement job, rather than a stepping stone to stars.
February 20, 1956 was a day I’ll remember forever. Lackland AFB forever changed my life.
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