100th ARW commander takes firsthand look at deployed mission

Col. Troy Pananon, 100th Air Refueling Wing commander, visited deployed Airmen at Moron Air Base, Spain, August 6, 2019.

Airmen from the 100th ARW are deployed to Spain providing support for Operation Juniper Micron.

“Our mission here is to support our partner nation’s forces to degrade terrorist groups as part of United Nations peacekeeping by providing air refueling for the French military and restore peace back to Mali,” said Master Sgt. Shaun Bryant, 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron NCO-in-charge of operations flight. “Our goal is to help partner nations to be able to conduct counter terrorism activities organically.”

Airmen participating in OJM work hard to support the mission and make every effort to keep it moving forward.

“The components I work with tend to ground the aircraft from flying when they break. If something goes wrong it needs to be fixed quickly, so the mission can keep going,” said Senior Airman Michael Force, 351st EARS electrical environmental journeyman. “I dual hat as a crew chief, assisting with refueling preparing of the jet to be launched so the other crew chiefs they can take care of other matters.”

While Pananon was at Moron AB, he met with the installation commander, inspected the dorms and recognized several top performers for outstanding achiements. A top priority of his visit was ensuring that the Airmen deployed from the 100th ARW had everything they needed to continue to accomplish the mission.

“As leaders, we give Airmen objectives; any Airman given an objective will execute it boldly, professionally and to the best of their ability,” Pananon said. “As long as we give them the resources and we set the conditions for their success, they are going to be effective no matter the objective.”