Wing welcomes C-17 with ceremony

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  • By 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  More than 600 Airmen and community leaders attended the 445th Airlift Wing C-17 Welcome Ceremony July 9 in Hangar 4016 as the wing welcomed its newest asset with a ceremony full of military tradition, camaraderie and encouraging words for continued airlift success.

Featured speakers included David Hobson, former U.S. Representative Ohio's 7th District; Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., Chief of Air Force Reserve and commander, Air Force Reserve Command, and retired Brig. Gen. Howard Ingersoll, who represented the Boeing Company.

Col. Stephen Goeman, 445th Airlift Wing commander, spoke of the training involved in such a transition as everyone - from maintainers to pilots - had to learn about the new airframe.

"This is a great aircraft," he said. "Don't let the size fool you. It may be smaller than the C-5 (Galaxy), but its capabilities far exceed it."

During his remarks, General Stenner said because the C-17 was smaller than the C-5, it can take cargo in where only convoys could go before. Taking convoys off the road lessens exposure to improvised explosive devices.

"It not only gets supplies to where they need to be, it saves lives. This is a beautiful match - the 445th Airlift Wing with the experience, with the history, with the capability that you bring to the United States Air Force Reserve, the United States Air Force and to the Department of Defense - because we don't carry stuff for us, you carry stuff for the warfighters and for our sister services," Stenner said.

In addition to presenting model C-17s to Hobson, Stenner and Goeman, Ingersoll presented a tail flash to Master Sgt. Douglas Werner, the first dedicated crew chief for aircraft 044, the first C-17 to arrive at the wing earlier this year. The sergeant gave positive remarks about the aircraft.

"This aircraft is easier to maintain and more reliable," Werner said. "I'm glad to be part of this historical event for the wing."

After the ceremony, the 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron gave attendees touring the aircraft a snapshot of their capabilities and how they are configured inside the aircraft. The C-5 was not configured to support the AES mission. Col. Linda Stokes-Crowe, AES commander, said now that the wing has C-17s and if there's a disaster, they now can use one of their own airplanes.

"The C-17 can hold 36 litter patients and or in a disaster, 60 litters secured to the aircraft's floor," Tech. Sgt. Thomas Shannon, 445th AES, said.

According to the official Air Force site, the C-17 is the newest, most flexible cargo aircraft to enter the force. It is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to forward bases in the deployment area. The aircraft can also perform tactical airlift and airdrop missions.

"Get ready to be busy. We're going to be places where we haven't been," Goeman said.