Commentary - It's been an honor to serve with you Published May 27, 2009 By Col. Timothy Leahy 27th Special Operations Wing commander CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Air Commandos of Cannon Air Force Base, it has been a pleasure serving with you as Commander, 27th Special Operations Wing - the finest combat wing in the United States Air Force and the Western Home of America's Air Commandos. The 22 months my family and I have been at Cannon have provided us with some of the most rewarding experiences in our 24 years of military service. We have been continually amazed and humbled by the selfless service of our Airmen and civilians who have worked tirelessly to create the 27 SOW and transition the base to the new mission. Your efforts are not only noticed by those of us on Cannon AFB, but by those outside the base as well. You have earned five Air Force-level awards and more than 55 command-level awards in 2008 alone! Of those awards, two Air Force-level awards and 24 command-level awards were earned by Cannon's Civil Engineering and Contracting squadrons, a testament to the enormous magnitude of mission growth and quality of life improvements that we have accomplished at Cannon. Also vital to the successes of Cannon has been the generous hospitality and fervent support given by the people of Portales, Clovis, Melrose and other surrounding communities to our Airmen and their families. We witnessed several community-supported events such as Cannon Appreciation Day and the Single Airmen's Christmas Dinner to name but a few, and there are more community sponsored events on the horizon. I can wholeheartedly say that the communities' support of our Airmen and their families is greatly appreciated. This mutual respect and close relationship is an integral part of the Cannon's success. That success has been crucial to the conflict this nation is currently engaged in. Every day we have hundreds of Airmen deployed from Cannon in support of combat operations around the globe, and very soon we will double, if not triple, the number of Airmen we have engaged in the fight. But while we fight our nation's battles today, we also diligently work to transform Cannon so we are better prepared to fight them tomorrow. We worked hard to build the plan and secure the funding to spend approximately half a billion dollars on base construction through 2015. Of that, about $36 million is geared directly toward quality-of-life projects. One project is the $10 million, 28,000 square foot Airman's Dining Facility. It will replace the Pecos Trail Dining facility and will accommodate about 500 people at a single seating - more than double the capacity of the current facility. In addition, it will allow for both indoor and outdoor eating, contain a 24-hour flight kitchen, the post office and the First Term Airmen's Center. Surrounding the new dining facility will be build eight modern, quad-style dormitories, each housing nearly 100 Airmen. Two old, out-of-date dormitories have already been torn down, with funding secured to demolish three more this year. We expect to build one new dormitory per year in Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, Although each project will take about 18 months to complete, we are working a plan that could accelerate the start dates of those new dormitories. Another ongoing major construction project is a $12.5 million fuel-loading and storage facility at the north end of the base. This structure will greatly increase our ability to move fuel from the storage tanks to our aircraft. It is on schedule for completion in September. Walk through our base housing and you will notice that old, out-of-date military housing is being torn down to make way for new homes. When the housing privatization contract is awarded, the developer will be required to build a minimum of 422 new housing units at Cannon within five years of the contract being signed. Housing privatization will provide Airmen and their families comfortable new, modern homes, most of which will have three and four bedrooms. We listened to you and now provide free Wi-Fi service and Starbucks coffee at the Drop Zone, in addition to making some minor improvements to the interior and are working on a plan for a major overhaul. We turned the upstairs of the Drop Zone over to the Junior Enlisted Council and they have already completed phase 1 of building an Airman's Center for Cannon's Airmen and soon will begin phase 2. We also built a $275,000 skate park and a new playground in Doc Stewart Park and made many other improvements to other service facilities around the base. On the mission front, the focus of the past 20 months has been largely dedicated to bedding down AFSOC Airmen and aircraft, and laying the foundation to bed down even more. We currently have the 73rd Special Operations Squadron, operating the MC-130W Combat Spear, the 318th Special Operations Squadron that operates two versions of theater mobility aircraft that call Cannon home. A third version of theater mobility aircraft is set to arrive this month. Additionally, we moved the entire 3rd Special Operations Squadron, operating the MQ-1 Predator to Cannon, and the first two AC-130H Spectre gunships of the 16thSpecial Operations Squadron also arrived this month. The entire 16th Special Operations Squadron will arrive by the end of the summer. Additionally this summer, we will stand up the 33rd Special Operations Squadron, operating the MQ-9 Reaper, the 551st Special Operations Squadron, which is an AFSOC training squadron responsible for training new aircrews, and the 524th Special Operations Squadron, which will be a second theater mobility airlift squadron. This winter we will see the arrival of the 20th Special Operations Squadron, which will operate the CV-22 Osprey, and the following year, we are forecast to stand-up the 523rd Special Operations Squadron, which will operate the MC-130J. Within the next five years, our aircraft fleet is expected to grow to nearly 100 aircraft, worth approximately $5 billion, along with several thousand more Airmen and government employees who are needed to keep those aircraft flying and to carry out the AFSOC mission. None of this would be possible without your hard work and dedication and I am truly awed by what you have accomplished in such a short time. In closing, I'd like to thank both the communities surrounding Cannon Air Force Base and the men and women of the 27 SOW for making the first 22 months of the rebirth of Cannon as a special operations base a phenomenal success. Also, I am overwhelmingly proud of all our Air Commandos who continue to support our overseas contingency operations around the globe. There is still much work to be done here, and our nation continues to need our special talents in the combat zone. However, I am certain you are up for the task, and I know the incoming 27 SOW commander, Col. Stephen Clark, will lead you well. It has been a profound honor to serve with you and unquestionable the high point of my career to have had the honor to call myself your commander. I wish you all God's blessings as you continue to be this nation's sword and shield and I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield.