Supreme allied commander comes home

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Grace Lee
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO supreme allied commander for Europe and the commander of U.S. European Command, visited Luke Air Force Base Sept. 12 to speak with Airmen, receive updates on the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter training program and attend a B-Course pilot graduation ceremony.

During his visit, Breedlove also met with Fighter Country Partnership associates, spoke with Airmen at the base theater about the new enlisted performance report and answered questions, toured the newly built F-35 academic training facility and more.

As a prior 56th Fighter Wing commander, coming to Luke and seeing familiar faces brought back several memories for Breedlove.

"It feels like I came home," Breedlove said. "Although home has changed a bit, some things have not. I can see a lot of pride is taken in the care of this base, and it looks great. I'm looking forward to just seeing people and getting to meet real Airmen. I'm now in a joint job, and it's very rare that I actually get to come back and be immersed in an Air Force base, an Air Force mission and more importantly, see Airmen."

From the beginning of his career to today, Breedlove has seen changes in Airmen for the better.

"When I was the wing commander here it was very clear to me that the young people we were training in maintenance and aircraft were so much better than when I was a young lieutenant and captain," he said. "They're much more lethal, brighter and technically savvy."

"Today it's even better," he said. "Now the guys that we were training when I was a wing commander are looking at these new folks arriving and they see they're better than we were then. Just looking at the new syllabus used to accomplish the training here, I can tell the young aviators and the maintainers who support them leave here with such a higher level of capability."

Today, the general's areas of responsibility include interacting with military and political leaders from 28 nations and making important decisions about day-to-day operations. But the service members are the motivation behind his drive.

"I really enjoy getting things right for our forces," he said. "My job is not to fight anymore. My job is to make things right for those who do. They have so many challenges. They don't need to be worried about budgets, politics and policy because those are the battles I have to, and will, fight for. My job now is to make sure they are ready.

"One of my favorite sayings is, 'Take care of your Airmen, and they'll take care of the mission,' Breedlove said. "Now it's my job to take care of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines in my command and let them take care of the mission."

Breedlove shared a message for all service members.

"I'd like to say how proud I am of what the whole joint team -- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines -- do for our country," Breedlove said. "It's just uncanny what our young people do these days, what they put up with and the level of expertise they bring. What our Airmen offer this nation is incredibly important, and it's evident every day in the operations we see downrange. I would just like to encourage them, remind them of just how important their part of our joint mission is and tell them I'm proud of them."