Schoomaker likes USAF’s push to create more Battlefield Airmen that travel with ground troops and help mesh air operations with ground operations. Schoomaker said he saw some of these airmen in Iraq working with forward Army units and was impressed by their effectiveness. “[Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.] John Jumper is committed to building a thousand more battlefield airmen to populate our brigades,” said Schoomaker. “I want a continued drive to achieve this kind of interdependence and interoperability.”
Air Force depots are not typically meant for quick repair jobs, but during Operation Epic Fury, the service moved some of its stateside heavy maintenance capability forward to fix battle-damaged aircraft closer to the fight.
