MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The Air Force’s top defender notes the relevance of air base defense to the entire service community and its criticality to airpower itself.
Brigadier Gen. Andrea Tullos, Air Force director of security forces and deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering and force protection, made those observations at the Air University Press book launch for volume 2 of Defending Air Bases in an Age of Insurgency, May 14, 2019, here.
“We know that airpower projection starts on the ground,” she said. “Air base defense is everyone’s responsibility. We’re all defenders, and in today’s environment there are no sanctuary areas for airpower. ABD is an inflection point for the new National Defense Strategy. It is a foundational point for me … it’s not only timely but timeless.”
Tullos, a former 42nd Air Base Wing commander, identified the Air University community as a key driver in elevating issues to the chief of staff of the Air Force through its scholarly examination of topics affecting airpower projection and force readiness, also pointing out that today’s leaders “learn here what makes us tick through deep learning, critical thinking and writing.”
The book’s editor and coauthor, retired Col. Shannon Caudill, built volume 2 from the work of students participating in a yearlong Air Command and Staff College research elective he taught on counterinsurgency and base defense, which was a partnership with the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
“I used my time at Air University to reflect on my experience in Iraq and wanted to help the next generation of Airmen better prepare themselves for counterinsurgency and the strategic changes occurring in today’s operational environment,” he said.
Four of the students in Caudill’s ABD seminar were pilots and operators from the F-22, F-15, F-16 and A-10 communities.
“They understood and appreciated that as operators, they would very likely become responsible for the defense of an air base in the future,” he said.
Their selection of this elective and writing, Caudill added, also reinforces the important point that the defense of air bases is “a critical component of airpower itself and that ABD is not a parochial interest of security forces.”
Coauthor retired Col. Bill DeMarco, ACSC faculty and who stood up one of the initial Air Mobility Command contingency response groups, noted that his chapter was based on his School of Advanced Air and Space Studies research paper.
Volume 2 fills in some of the gaps from the first book and brings in the perspective of some notable general officers, including retired Maj. Gen. Thomas Deale, former vice director for joint force development, Joint Staff; Maj Gen Bradley D. Spacy, commander, Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center; retired Lt. Gen. Walter Buchanan III, a former commander of 9th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces; and retired Lt. Gen. Norman Seip, a former commander of 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern).
Additionally, this volume features writing from two Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents, an Army infantry officer, six security forces officers and a former member of the airlift community.
Coauthors Spacy and Col Erik Rundquist will be at the annual Air Force Security Forces Worldwide Symposium at the Air Force Academy, June 11-13, 2019, and books will be available.
Download the book at www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress/, pick up a copy at AU Press or order a copy (free for DOD) by calling (334) 953-4859.