Wednesday, Aug. 05, 2009

Change might impact Shaw

The role of 9th Air Force headquarters at Shaw Air Force Base will change today when the job of running air campaigns over Iraq and Afghanistan is handed over to a new unit.

As part of the Air Force’s reshuffling, 9th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Gary North’s job will be split, with a two-star general handling stateside chores and a three-star general overseeing the air war.

Local and state officials wonder if the move could impact Shaw’s future as home to 3rd Army headquarters and 1,700 soldiers who are to arrive in Sumter by the fall of 2011.

That’s because a component of the 3rd Army — Army Central Command — is responsible for ground operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When the move was ordered by the 2005 Base Relocation and Closure Commission, officials thought having the Army unit at Shaw would enable commanders from both services to work and live alongside each other.

The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, told the S.C. congressional delegation in May that the arrangement wouldn’t be permanent.

“He assured us first and foremost that that this was all temporary,” said U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a Democrat whose district includes Shaw. “But those are his words, not mine.”

In justifying the changes, Schwartz said North and other recent unit commanders spent most of their time in the combat zone directing operations.

There was a need to “download” stateside duties, which include overseeing five flying wings and 14 Reserve and National Guard units, Schwartz said.

Under the new arrangement, Maj. Gen. William Holland, the current vice commander, will take command of 9th Air Force headquarters at Shaw.

Running the air war as boss of the new unit — Air Forces Central — will be Maj. Gen. Gilmary Hostage III. Hostage, former vice commander of Pacific Air Forces, also today will receive his third star and be promoted to lieutenant general.

North is being promoted to four-star general and will assume command of Pacific Air Forces headquartered in Hawaii.

The Army, though, remains committed to the move, and Spratt noted that about $150 million will be spent on a new headquarters and other facilities for troops at Shaw.

The House also has approved about $20 million for expansion of 9th Air Force headquarters, Spratt added.

The 9th Air Force is a tenant unit at Shaw and has about 1,000 airmen and civilians.

Shaw is home to the 20th Fighter Wing and has about 4,500 airmen assigned to it. The wing’s commander is a colonel.

George Patrick, executive coordinator of the S.C. Military Base Task Force, said since the buildup for the first Iraq war in 1991, the 9th Air Force’s top commander and key staffers have spent much of their time in the Middle East.

“Pragmatically, does it change anything?” Patrick asked. “It does not.”

Yet he noted there’s less prestige in having the flag of a two-star general outside a unit headquarters than that of a three-star leader.

“You’ve got to let the guys wearing the uniforms make the decisions,” said Patrick, a retired S.C. Air National Guard major general.

“But we do not want Shaw losing prestige.”

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.

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