Orlando, Fla.—The views of the two-star generals from the Active Duty and reserve components who comprise the Air Force’s Total Force Task Force have “crystallized” around the right way ahead for Total Force Integration, said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh here on Friday. Speaking at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium, Welsh said he expected that the task force members would “hate each other for three months,” but eventually come to a “deep understanding” of each component’s unique circumstances, missions, and capabilities. They’ve even jumped to each other’s defense in certain debates, an “amazing transformation . . . into the ‘three amigos,'” he said. The task force has morphed into a permanent organization and made inputs for the Fiscal 2015 budget that Welsh said he felt “very strongly are the right recommendations.”
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
