Officials at Travis AFB, Calif., inactivated the 615th Contingency Response Wing, ending the unit’s seven years of operations, according to a base release. The move leaves the Air Force with one consolidated unit, the 621st CRW at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., to oversee the service’s airmen who are specially trained to rapidly set up air bases and conduct airfield operations at austere locations around the world. “The 621st CRW must remain ready to answer the call whenever and wherever across the globe it comes,” said Maj. Gen. William Bender, commander of the Air Force Expeditionary Center at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, during the May 29 inactivation ceremony. The center oversees the 621st CRW, which assumed control of the 615th CRW’s two contingency response groups and one contingency operations support group, according to Travis’ release. (Travis report by TSgt. Lesley Waters)
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.