2nd OG honorary commander takes flight

  • Published
  • By Staff. Sgt. Mozer O. Da Cunha
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
The 2nd Operations Group honorary commander took to the skies with the 96th Bomb Squadron as part of an honorary commander’s unit orientation flight, June 20, 2018.

The honorary commanders program aims to foster relationship building and communication between base commanders and community leaders, in addition to educating key civic leaders about the Air Force, the installation and their assigned units.

“Providing honorary commanders the opportunity to do things like this is great for the relations between the base and the local community,” said Maj. Cody Bias, 2nd OG executive officer. “I believe that Barksdale has a very good relationship with the community, and that’s important because the better the relationship between the base and the community the easier it is for the base to do the mission.”

During the flight, Mike McSwain, a local architect, civic leader and honorary commander, experienced how the aircrew interacts and accomplishes the mission.

“I found it fascinating the charter amongst the crew while doing their jobs,” McSwain said. “Being able to listen to all that chatter while being a fly on the wall - it’s really cool how they communicate with each other and work as a team during the flight.”

In addition to learning about the base’s mission, honorary commanders get to learn about the Airmen and their roles supporting their units and the Air Force mission.

“I wanted to say how grateful I am for this opportunity,” McSwain said. “Being able to go up and fly with the crew, was really exciting. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see how professional these guys are.”

In its commitment to promoting and maintaining open and positive relations with our community, Barksdale continues to engage with active community members for participation in its honorary commanders program. For more information on the program or the nomination process, contact 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs at 2BW.PA@us.af.mil.