‘Guardians Wanted’: Space Force Launches New Recruiting Video in Push for Young, Diverse Talent

‘Guardians Wanted’: Space Force Launches New Recruiting Video in Push for Young, Diverse Talent

Aug. 24, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The Space Force debuted a new fast-paced recruiting commercial, featuring clips of space operators responding to cosmic challenges posed by adversaries to inspire the next generation of Guardians.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond introduced the latest recruiting video before a packed auditorium of masked attendees at the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In the video, Raymond slowly walks a stage, talking to young Guardians in solemn words about adversaries, repeating the oft-mouthed line: “Space is hard.”

“It used to be all we had to worry about was astrophysics, Kepler’s Laws [of planetary motion], gamma rays, solar flares, rocket science, black holes, and the Theory of Relativity,” Raymond said. “But now, we also track about 30,000 objects, orbiting at over 17,500 miles an hour, and our entire way of life depends on us to protect our satellites from attack, day and night.”

The video, which ends with two words: “Guardians Wanted,” emphasizes the highly specialized, yet critical role Space Force members will play in the national security enterprise.

U.S. Space Force/YouTube

The service in May released a white paper highlighting its vision for a fully digital service, in which it reiterated what Space Force leaders have been saying all along: “We have the opportunity to be highly selective in our recruitment, retention, and training, thereby ensuring we shape an elite, technologically adept, ‘digitally fluent’ workforce.”

During his speech at the Space Symposium, Raymond said, “We recruit top talent and they get the best training.” The new smaller and more agile service has worked hard to eliminate bureaucratic slowdowns enabling Space Force Guardians to move up the ranks faster than their sister services.

Raymond also touched on progress made in the standup of the Space Force and its commands nationwide, emphasizing the role young and diverse Guardians played in critical missions, such as detecting Iranian rocket attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.

Raymond stressed the need for international cooperation and applauded recent Air Force Academy graduate 2nd Lt. Aryemis Brown, a Rhodes scholar who will be the first Academy grad to study international relations in the United Kingdom.

Raymond stressed the “lean” and elite nature of the new force, saying more than 4,000 troops from other services applied for just 650 transfer slots, and 9,100 applicants applied for some 70 civilian positions at Space Force headquarters.

“For the last 18 months, our personnel processes for recruitment and training [have identified] the best of the best,” Raymond said.

He also noted the Aug. 23 standup of Space Training and Readiness Command, the last of three field commands, the equivalent of USAF’s major commands, to be established, and the year-over-year rise in professional military education slots from just three to 24.

Raymond: New STARCOM Will ‘Shape the Next Century’ of Space Operations

Raymond: New STARCOM Will ‘Shape the Next Century’ of Space Operations

Aug. 23, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

The Space Force activated the last of three planned field commands in a ceremony Aug. 23 at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., during which Brig. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton also took command.

Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond referred to the activation of Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, as a “major milestone in the establishment of an independent Space Force, and the realization of one of the main reasons our nation established a satellite service: to unify national security space efforts and to develop one core cadre of space warfighting professionals.”

Field commands are the USSF’s equivalent of Air Force major commands. After Space Force’s creation in December 2019, counterparts of the new field command followed, including Space Operations Command, with headquarters at Peterson, in October 2020; and Space Systems Command, with headquarters at Los Angeles Air Force Base, which stood up earlier this month. STARCOM’s headquarters at Peterson is still provisional while a strategic basing process is pending to find the command a permanent home.

Raymond alluded to his past service at the base in his speech.

“I can’t remember the countless numbers of ceremonies that I’ve done in Hangar 140, and I can’t think of a more important one than the ceremony we’re about to do,” Raymond said. “STARCOM has the purpose and the absolute responsibility of developing our most precious asset—our people—by establishing and continuously evolving the tools, doctrine, training, and testing programs for our Guardians starting their first day of service.”

Families of the command’s top leaders took part in the ceremony along with members of the STARCOM’s five numbered deltas—the Space Force’s organizational equivalent of USAF wings—plus international military partners from Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Nigeria, and Poland and the Air Force Academy’s Stellar Brass band.

During the ceremony Bratton said he is taking over the command with “undoubtedly the coolest name of all the field commands,” noting later in a press briefing that the command currently comprises about 800 people, including about 50 in the headquarters, which he expects to grow to about 250. He expects the command to grow to “just shy of 1,500 over the next five years.” About 12,000 military and civilian personnel currently make up the Space Force.

Bratton said some training under STARCOM, such as Basic Military Training, “will look familiar,” but he foresees better training than he got when he advanced through the ranks.

“My training was very much on the ground on simulators,” said Bratton, who began his career as an enlisted member of the Arizona Air National Guard. He eventually deployed to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom, including as U.S. Northern Command’s director of space forces.

“I think if we can grow to on-orbit training where we’re live-flying satellites in a training environment, where we can test and train things that we haven’t done before, I think that would be a huge step forward for us,” Bratton said.

A provisional delta that had temporarily operated in the command’s place, Star Delta, was inactivated during the ceremony.

Raymond, during his speech, delivered a message directly to members of the new command:

“You are setting an incredibly important precedent,” Raymond said. “You are developing the doctrine that will shape the next century of space as an operational and independent domain. You are where the rubber meets the road in establishing a cohesive, unified cadre of space warfare professionals.

“As we train the way we fight, that training starts with you.”

TRANSCOM: ‘All Mobility Resources’ Focused on Kabul Airlift Mission

TRANSCOM: ‘All Mobility Resources’ Focused on Kabul Airlift Mission

Aug. 23, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The airlift of U.S. citizens and Afghan evacuees out of Kabul has become a “monumental logistics effort,” and “all mobility resources are focused” on the mission, with well more than 200 air mobility aircraft taking part, the head of U.S. Transportation Command said Aug. 23.

Those aircrews are pushing the limits and flying to the point of exhaustion, though they are still focused on getting as many people as possible out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. Stephen R. Lyons told reporters.

“When I say we’re all in, I mean to meet the President’s and Secretary’s directive to ensure that every evacuee that is cleared to move can move, and our crews are absolutely incredible,” Lyons said. “I won’t lie to you, they’re tired. They’re probably exhausted in some cases. I know that the leaders from time to time are pulling crews to make sure we don’t have any safety issues, but they are motivated, they are fired up, and they are committed to complete this mission.”

Within a 24-hour span ending early Aug. 23, 25 C-17s, three C-130s, and 61 chartered and commercial aircraft had flown out of Kabul, carrying about 16,000 passengers, 11,000 of whom were on U.S. military aircraft. This is the largest single-day airlift total since the operation began on Aug. 14. Overall, about 37,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since then. Civil Reserve Air Fleet aircraft also are carrying evacuees from staging bases outside of Kabul to the United States.

More bases across the globe have begun to take in the evacuees on a temporary basis, where they are screened and processed before heading to the United States. Four bases in the U.S. now are accepting the evacuees: Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort McCoy, Wisc.; Fort Lee, Va.; and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

Lyons said, “initial elements were airborne in less than three hours.” Since then, the number of aircraft and aircrews have increased exponentially and are operating as fast as possible.

“We’ve got a number of planes in the system, but we have twice as many crews,” Lyons said. “And the idea is to keep those planes moving all the time, either by extending the crew day or, preferably, by swapping crews and keeping the iron in motion. So, there’s a very tight detail management system to do that. Critical to that, of course, … is ground time. The faster we can turn, either load or discharge, the faster we can turn that aircraft, and then we’re razor focused on bringing that down.”

This means keeping aircraft on the ground in Kabul for less than one hour to load passengers and then quickly leaving for other bases in the Persian Gulf. The aircraft have enough fuel that they can refuel in-flight after leaving if necessary, rather than on the ground.

Lyons said he is confident that USAF airlifters will be able to carry more than 10,000 passengers per day. The Pentagon, in the early days, said it expected to increase output to between 5,000 and 9,000 passengers per day.

The limiting factor continues to be getting people to the airport safely and processing them through the gate. On Aug. 23, an unidentified gunman opened fire at one of the gates, killing one Afghan soldier and injuring several others before German and U.S. troops returned fire. U.S. Central Command, in a statement, did not say what the fate of the “unknown hostile actor” was.

Lyons said the “threat is significant” to aircrews, and they are working to stay safe.

“Our crews are the best in the world. That machine, the C-17, is the best in the world,” Lyons said. “And I’m confident that we’re taking the right measures to mitigate the threat, and we’re connected to the right sources and taking the right kind of measures. I’ll probably leave it at that, for good reasons.”

Muslim Airmen Reflect on Challenges, Rewards of Serving in Air Force

Muslim Airmen Reflect on Challenges, Rewards of Serving in Air Force

Aug. 23, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

In the latest edition of Air Education and Training Command’s “Real Talk” series, three Muslim Airmen gathered Aug. 19 to share their personal experiences of how their faith informs their service.

The discussion, moderated by AETC Commander Lt. Gen. Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, also touched on the Airmen’s positive and negative interactions with other Airmen about their religion, and how they hope the Air Force will progress on the issue in the future.

Chief Master Sgt. Gloria L. Weatherspoon, senior enlisted advisor at the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, enlisted in the Air Force in 1996. Since then, she said, she has seen a full range of reactions to her faith. 

When she first started, Weatherspoon briefly considered seeking a waiver from Headquarters Air Force to wear her hijab but dropped the idea—”I’m an A1C, and the first person in my chain of command is a staff sergeant who knows nothing about this, and it was like, ‘Well, it’s not worth it,’” she explained.

Years later, however, she decided she did want to seek a waiver and reached out to Capt. Maysaa Ouza after a quick internet search showed Ouza wearing her head scarf in uniform.

“I was like, ‘Hey, you don’t know me, but I need help.’ I sent her my phone number, she called me right away. … And she told me how to do it, but I sat on it for a little while because I didn’t know how people were going to react to me,” Weatherspoon said.

Eventually, Weatherspoon did seek the waiver and was approved in a matter of days, she said. When she showed up for work the first time in her hijab, she posted a picture of herself to social media, and the photo was subsequently shared onto the unofficial “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page without her knowledge.

“No leader wants to be on there. I was just like, what is happening. I was so upset,” Weatherspoon said of her initial reaction. But to her surprise, the vast majority of comments from fellow Airmen of all ranks were positive.

Wearing the hijab is meaningful to Weatherspoon, she said, because it allows her to feel like an “open book.”

I wanted to serve as my whole self,” Weatherspoon said. “I wanted … people, when Ramadan came, to assume that I was going to fast instead of me having to give a whole entire briefing about why I’m not going to lunch.”

Alternatively, Maj. Sadia A. Heil, individual mobilization augmentee to the chief of Force and Unit Level Capabilities, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Directorate, does not wear a hijab while in uniform. 

“When I see Chief Wetherspoon wearing hijab, I know that that was a personal decision she made and that she feels empowered wearing hijab. And I also know that I have the ability as a Muslim woman to make personal decisions that are good for me,” Heil said, emphasizing that either mandating or banning the hijab are both extremes that restrict an individual’s ability to practice their own faith and spirituality.

Heil added that she has had times in the Air Force when she “felt very disappointed” in how fellow Airmen have disrespected her or her religion. Those incidents, she said, included everything from Airmen mispronouncing the name of the holy month of Ramadan or asking her if she spoke “Islamic,” to a commander that used an Islamic title as his callsign and gave briefings in which he told Airmen that a “moderate Muslim” is a hypocrite.

“So I’m now in a position where I’m working for somebody … who … has the audacity to think that he can think that I’m a hypocrite, but is also taking that and is spreading it throughout my command,” Heil said.

The importance of commanders establishing a positive, respectful culture is key, the panelists agreed. Capt. Abdulaziz H. Ali, theater engagement division chief at the Air Force Special Operations Schoolhouse, recounted a time when his commander came up to him unsolicited during Ramadan and asked how he could help Ali during that time, which typically includes a month of fasting.

“When it comes to a culture of inclusion, that does fall squarely on commanders,” Ali said. “So it’s good that you see me, but what are you doing to make sure that everybody in the unit feels like they can be themselves at the unit?”

All three panelists also agreed on the importance of education—while they all consider themselves to be ambassadors for their religion and are willing to discuss it in good faith, they stressed that many conversations are more accusatory or lacking in context.

“I think if you are coming from a place of genuineness, you will do the work first,” Weathersppon said. “You will say, ‘Hey, … I Googled how to learn about Islam, and I saw these 10 books. Have you ever read them? Do you know about them? What do you think because I genuinely want to learn so I can connect better with you, so I can be there for you’ … versus picking apart things based off of whatever your biases already are.”

The panelists were also all able to recall times in which their Muslim faith had been helpful in their Air Force careers. 

For Ali, his faith furthered his interest in learning Arabic, which has allowed him to help relations with Arabic-speaking partners and become a Foreign Area Officer.

For Heil, there was a time when she was able to connect with distinguished Muslim visitors at her base and ensure their Ramadan fast was respected.

And for Weatherspoon, there was an instance when her presence helped assure a delegation from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense to partner with the force on education opportunities for women.

In all of these examples, Ali said, there’s ample evidence of what Muslim Airmen can contribute to a diverse Air Force.

“I think if you recognize that you have a pool of resources to draw from within the United States populace, and you create an environment that attracts people from different backgrounds—I mean, you know, the fact that this forum exists is a testament to the importance of that as a priority for leadership within the Air Force, but also what we bring to the fight,” Ali said. “ … Time and time again, people look at us and we are the envy of the world, because we make a deliberate effort to pull talent from everywhere.”

Multiple Babies Born During Kabul Airlift

Multiple Babies Born During Kabul Airlift

Aug. 23, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

At least three babies have been born during the airlift mission out of Kabul, as U.S. and international aircraft race to fly out at-risk Afghans and American citizens from the now Taliban-controlled country.

Air Mobility Command on Aug. 21 said that during a C-17 flight from a staging base to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, an Afghan woman went into labor and began to experience complications. The aircraft commander of the flight, call sign REACH 828, descended to increase air pressure in the plane, “which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life.”

When the C-17 landed, Airmen from Ramstein’s 86th Medical Group boarded the plane and delivered the child in the cargo bay.

“The baby girl and mother were transported to a nearby medical facility and are in good condition,” AMC wrote.

Army Capt. Erin Brymer, a labor and delivery nurse at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, said the plane had about 300 passengers on board when she arrived, with four other Afghan women holding up shawls to give her privacy. Through a language barrier, American nurses coached the woman through labor. And the baby turned out to be “picture perfect,” Brymer said.

“I really appreciate the news reporting on the baby being born as that flight came into Ramstein back there,” said U.S. Transportation Command boss Gen. Stephen R. Lyons during an Aug. 23 briefing. “There’s actually been more than that, so it’s just an incredible operation ongoing. Just impressive work by our Airmen.”

When asked what “more than that” meant, Lyons said his last “data point” was that three children have been born, though there is not a “formal tracker.”

Additional information about the other two babies was not available the afternoon of Aug. 23.

U.S. State Department policy says the children are not eligible for American citizenship because they were born on a military plane. “A U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory. A child born on such an aircraft outside U.S. airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth,” according to the State Department.

With Full FDA Approval in Hand, Pentagon Moves to Make COVID Vaccine Mandatory

With Full FDA Approval in Hand, Pentagon Moves to Make COVID Vaccine Mandatory

Aug. 23, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Pentagon’s plan to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for the U.S. military is set to take effect in the coming days, as the Food and Drug Administration issued full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot Aug. 23. 

The Defense Department “is prepared to issue updated guidance, requiring all service members to be vaccinated,” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby confirmed in a press briefing. “A timeline for vaccination completion will be provided in the coming days.”

On Aug. 9, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced that he would either make the vaccine mandatory when it received FDA approval or seek a waiver from President Joe Biden on Sept. 15 to require service members to get the shot if it was still under Emergency Use Authorization, whichever came first.

Kirby declined to say how quickly troops will have to get the vaccine, adding that DOD is preparing “actionable guidance” that will include details on timelines and requirements.

The most recent Defense Department data from Aug. 18 show that more than 1.07 million active service members are already fully vaccinated, with nearly 250,000 more at least partially vaccinated. Those figures include all Active duty, Reserve and National Guard components, putting the total percentage of the force that has been at least partially vaccinated in the range of 62 percent.

The percentage of Active duty troops who are vaccinated is higher. On July 16, Austin said 70 percent of Active duty service members were at least partially vaccinated, with 62 percent fully vaccinated.

Still, that leaves tens of thousands of troops unvaccinated, and officials have at times expressed concern about the level of vaccine hesitancy among the ranks, though Kirby said in early August that DOD had not seen evidence that it was a widespread problem.

Public health officials hope that the FDA’s full approval of a vaccine will help curb concerns about its safety and efficacy.

Two other vaccines remain under Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, produced by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Moderna applied for full approval in June, one month after Pfizer, according to Newsweek, and may receive that approval in the next month or so.

But for now, Kirby said, the Defense Department is focused on the one vaccine that has full approval.

“The focus right now today with this FDA approval is on the Pfizer vaccine and moving forward to implement a mandatory vaccination regimen for Pfizer,” said Kirby. “I don’t want to get ahead of decisions that haven’t been made yet.”

Kirby did not clarify whether that means the department will stop using the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines altogether until they receive full FDA approval.

On July 23, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that the U.S. had upped its purchase of vaccine doses to 500 million, with the delivery of 110 million of those shots taking place between October 2021 and the end of the year and the remaining 90 million by April 2022.

Demand for the Pfizer vaccine is likely to rise in the coming months—in addition to unvaccinated members of the general public seeking out their first doses following full approval, Pfizer and BioNTech’s shot remains the only vaccine to receive an EUA for children between the ages of 12 and 17.

On top of that, the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said they will seek approval for booster shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this fall. The CDC is still collecting data on the J&J shot, but expects to release more information in the near future.

US Has Not Recognized Taliban Government, No Decision on Aircraft and Airmen that Fled

US Has Not Recognized Taliban Government, No Decision on Aircraft and Airmen that Fled

Aug. 20, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The State Department has not recognized the Taliban government, and despite the presence of dozens of U.S.-provided aircraft and hundreds of Afghan service members in neighboring countries, the U.S. is focusing its attention on evacuating the thousands of Afghans and Americans still in Afghanistan.

In the days before the fall of Kabul, 585 Afghan airmen and soldiers fled in 46 aircraft to neighboring Uzbekistan. Another 158 Afghans crossed on foot, an Uzbek government official confirmed. At least 100 Afghan soldiers also reportedly fled in an unknown number of aircraft to Tajikistan, according to Reuters.

The State Department said the aircraft were secure and the service members were safely in the care of the respective governments, but it’s not clear what efforts are being made to prevent repatriation and possible retaliation by the Taliban.

“The Afghan personnel and aircraft are secure and being housed by the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Due to the critical situation in Afghanistan, we are focused on the humanitarian effort, which is currently affecting Afghanistan and its neighbors.”

The spokesperson said the department is “confident” the governments are also committed to the welfare of those who fled Afghanistan and referred further questions to the governments of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Embassy of Tajikistan in Washington, D.C., could not be reached.

An Uzbek government official told Air Force Magazine on Aug. 20 that no decision had been made regarding the platforms and Afghan personnel in Uzbekistan, but the government of Uzbekistan had offered the United States use of its airports for flights carrying Afghans wanting to leave the country.

The official also said that 115 of the Afghans who had fled to Uzbekistan returned to Afghanistan of their own accord, though he did not say why or how they returned or whether they were military or civilians.

The State Department and Pentagon revealed that negotiations were underway with a variety of countries to host Afghan special immigrant visa applicants while they are in processing.

The Uzbek official, citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his country was among those in the negotiation, along with Germany, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan.

The Afghan Taliban has been considered a specially designated global terrorist entity since 2002, according to the State Department. The classification is used to impose sanctions, prevent Americans from transacting with them, and blocking all Afghan Taliban property and interests.

The State Department has not yet recognized the new Taliban government.

“We are assessing what has transpired given the leadership vacuum created by President [Ashraf] Ghani’s departure,” the spokesperson said. Ghani fled Afghanistan as the Taliban approached Kabul and is seeking refuge in the United Arab Emirates.

“It is premature to address the issue of recognition,” the spokesperson said, noting the focus is on the Defense Department’s evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

“We support the ongoing dialogue among Afghan leaders to reach a political solution and continue to press for the principles of inclusivity and protection of rights in any future government formation,” the spokesperson added, noting coordination with Afghanistan’s neighbors and other countries in the region and the international community.

Peace talks between the Taliban and the former government of Afghanistan had been stalled for months as the Taliban made battlefield gains. While frequently attacking Afghan forces amid rising violence across the country, the Taliban were careful not to attack U.S. and coalition forces in accordance with a peace agreement signed with the U.S. on Feb. 29, 2020, in Doha.

“Any future relationship between the Taliban and the international community will depend on the Taliban’s actions.  The world is watching closely,” the spokesperson said. “A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn’t harbor terrorists is a government we can work with.”

The State Department official said that means upholding the basic rights of women and girls and not harboring terrorist groups “that have designs on the United States or allies and partners.”

As of Aug. 20, the status of Afghan diplomats in Washington, D.C., remained unchanged.

Former Afghan government officials confirmed to Air Force Magazine that they are not in contact with the new Taliban government and said they are attempting to seek safe passage of family members out of Afghanistan.

Civil Reserve Air Fleet Activated to Help with Kabul Evacuations

Civil Reserve Air Fleet Activated to Help with Kabul Evacuations

Aug. 20, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Aug. 22 activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to assist with the ongoing airlift out of Afghanistan. Tens of thousands have fled the country.

The Stage 1 CRAF activation includes 18 aircraft—three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines, which will fly from staging bases in the region but not from Kabul. It is the third activation in the history of the program, after Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As of early Aug. 22, 25,100 personnel had flown out of Kabul on military and coalition flights since the evacuation began on Aug. 14. The evacuation airlift out of Kabul halted for several hours Aug. 20 as the staging facility at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, hit its capacity limit with several thousand still staged to leave Kabul. Flights had since resumed.

U.S. Air Force crews adjusted their operations to fly even more passengers and are now regularly carrying 400 people as opposed to a previous limit of just over 300 for humanitarian operations, said Brig. Gen. Daniel A. DeVoe, commander of Air Mobility Command’s 618th Air Operations Center, also known as the Tanker Airlift Control Center.

More locations are beginning to accept evacuees, as Al Udeid is at capacity, including Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where Airmen have been setting up cots in hangars and doing other preparations to get ready for the influx of evacuees. The first flights landed there late Aug. 20. Other nations in the Persian Gulf region are in discussions to host evacuees, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where there are major USAF bases.

Qatar was the “first way station” for the evacuation, and as such it hit capacity quickly, Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said in an Aug. 20 briefing.

“We are grateful other countries … have already agreed to accept additional numbers, and we’re working out the details of that with them right now,” Kirby said. “From a military perspective, we are in need of additional capacity, and we’re grateful that other countries are going to be helping us out with that capacity.”

DeVoe said the TACC needs to “meter the flow between locations,” noting, “there are times where certain places could get what we call locked out, or reach capacity limits, to those particular locations, and as we do, we adjust the flow accordingly,” he said.

As of Aug. 20, about 5,800 U.S. troops are at the Kabul airport trying to deal with throngs of people outside the gates hoping to evacuate. Commanders on the ground are in regular contact with Taliban leaders to allow for safe passage, though there are extensive reports of people being beaten and threatened if they attempt to flee.

‘Energize Our System’

DeVoe said the TACC received the order around Aug. 11 that mobility would be in heavy demand and needed to quickly help evacuate U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan. He was told, “We need you to energize our system to make that happen.”

The control center surged aircraft to the region, and an element of USAF contingency response Airmen also quickly deployed to help run air operations at the airport, said Col. Kyle Benwitz, vice commander of the 621st Contingency Response Wing. These same Airmen had recently returned home from Afghanistan after closing down bases across the country.

In addition to surging airlift, the TACC increased refueling capacity both in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world to help keep aircraft flowing.

“We have, as this effort kicked off, increased the number of refueling aircraft in the theater, and in other places around the world, to support that global flow and movement of aircraft. They might not be in the Gulf, they might not even be in [U.S. Central Command’s] area of responsibility, but they’re still doing work as part of a global effort to support this evacuation.”

This also includes refuelers carrying some passengers, presumably from the staging locations such as Al Udeid, back to the U.S., or to other locations.

“It’s still putting passengers in seats and accelerating the velocity of moving those evacuees onto follow-on locations,” DeVoe said. “So we’re looking at doing that right now, with some of the tanker support we have.”

USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. took to Twitter on Aug. 19 to thank Airmen for their role in evacuating those from Afghanistan.

The TACC’s plan for airlift operations is keenly focused on fuel for the aircraft that land in Kabul, so the aircraft aren’t depending on the airport’s refueling system to operate. USAF tankers are operating nearby if they need to fill up, if plans change, or if flights take longer than expected, DeVoe said. Other planes, such as from other militaries or private carriers, do rely on HKIA’s fuel at times, and the contingency response Airmen are able to help with that.

“Usually, we’re able to make plans so they don’t even have to hit the tanker,” DeVoe said. “If there’s things that cause delays, that weren’t expected, didn’t go as planned, longer flight times, then we’ll utilize an aerial refueling.”

Turkish troops were running much of the logistics at the airport, but U.S. forces took over when contingency response Airmen arrived, adding some more “rigor and structure” into the operations, Benwitz said. For example, some commercial or contracted aircraft would show up unannounced without the proper “prior permission required” authorization.

Contingency response Airmen at Kabul are handling the bulk of the on- and off-loading operations, along with controlling the aircraft. Benwitz said they are able to handle up to eight aircraft at a time to support a high operations tempo. In addition, some of these Airmen are working with Marines to help manifest passengers to increase throughput, and they are repairing generators, buildings, and lighting to keep the airport operating.

“That is an opportunity, again, to ensure the safe launch and recovery of all these missions that are going through the airfield,” Benwitz said. “We find a problem, we seek solutions, and we get the mission done quietly, as professionals, to ensure that we’re not the cause of any delay.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8:37 p.m. Aug. 22 to add information about the Civil Reserve Air Fleet activation.

Biden Promises to Evacuate All Americans and Afghans Who Helped Coalition Forces

Biden Promises to Evacuate All Americans and Afghans Who Helped Coalition Forces

Aug. 20, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

President Joe Biden extended his commitment Aug. 20 to evacuate all Americans in Afghanistan as well as Afghans who helped coalition forces, even if it could not be done by a self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline.

Military commanders in recent days had promised only “as many as possible” Afghans would be evacuated by the deadline and said the U.S. would not push out its perimeter or retrieve evacuees in distress.

Biden on Aug. 20 said he would order operations beyond the airport as necessary to rescue Americans.

“Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home,” Biden said. “I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or that it will be without risk of loss.”

The President also said military commanders were in “constant contact” with the Taliban and that he had no indication Americans were being prevented from safe passage to Hamid Karzai International Airport, even while reports on the ground indicate that Afghan translators were suffering brutal treatment and there were massive crowds at Taliban checkpoints.

Biden said some 6,000 American troops are on the ground protecting the airport for military and commercial flights and some 13,000 Afghans and their families, diplomats, and other Americans had been evacuated since Aug. 14. The President said more than 18,000 had been evacuated since July 29.

Biden called the evacuation mission “the largest and most dangerous in history” and said it was inevitable that a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan would lead to “what you’re seeing now.”

Prompted by a reporter during a question-and-answer period, Biden committed to evacuate Afghans who helped U.S. and coalition forces who qualify for special immigrant visas.

“Yes. We’re making the same commitment,” he said, while expressing confidence the tall order could be achieved by the Aug. 31 deadline.

Biden also said the U.S. military would leave after the mission was completed.

“When this is finished, we will complete our military withdrawal and finally bring an end to 20 years of American military action in Afghanistan,” Biden said.

As to whether American forces may stay beyond the end of the month, the President said: “We’re going to make that judgment as we go.”

Delays and Rescues

Biden said C-17 evacuation flights paused Aug. 20 for a reported six to seven hours when a refugee center in Qatar reached capacity, but flights have since resumed.

He also said 169 Americans had been retrieved from masses near the airport perimeter.

Earlier in the day, NATO foreign ministers released a joint statement calling for an end to violence and for safe passage to the airport. The ministers also declared that all assistance to the Afghan government would cease until human rights guarantees were in place.

The State Department has continued to fly in additional consular officials to third countries to help with the processing of the Afghans.

Yet despite Biden’s boasting “significant progress” in the evacuation mission, members of the President’s own party were quick to criticize him.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said the effort reeked of a lack of planning.

“I think the Biden administration did not adequately plan for this,” he told CNN before the speech. “The main reason they didn’t adequately plan for this is they were kind of kidding themselves about the ability of the Afghan government to stand after we left.”

An Afghan military of some 300,000 ground forces capitulated and allowed Taliban forces to enter the capital largely without resistance Aug. 15. Rather than attack the incoming fighters, at least 46 aircraft also fled to neighboring countries.

Biden criticized the failure of Afghan leadership, citing a lack of will of the American-trained forces to fight.

“Let’s assume the Afghan national force had continued to fight and they were surrounding Kabul. It would be a very different story, very different story,” he said. “The overwhelming consensus was that … the Afghan forces, they were not going to leave. They were not going to just abandon, and they would put down their arms and take off. So, that’s what’s happened.”

Biden said counterterrorism would be the focus when it comes to Afghanistan moving forward, and he reiterated that the United States will maintain an “over-the-horizon” capacity to attack “large groups of terrorists.”