Headquarters Fourth Air Force and its 604th Regional Support Group (RSG) are located at March Air Reserve Base, Moreno Valley, Calif. Fourth Air Force is one of three numbered air forces assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), Robins Air Force Base, Ga. The approximately 200-member staffs of 4th AF and 604th RSG are dedicated to ensuring assigned units and personnel are properly organized, trained, equipped and ready to support national security requirements across a full spectrum of operations from war to contingency situations. They provide leadership, management and oversight to 11 flying wings, one flying group and two regional support groups who provide strategic airlift, airdrop, aeromedical, air refueling, and associated expeditionary support activities. Fourth Air Force responsibilities encompass 300 units and 24,200 personnel.
The staffs consists of air reserve technicians, traditional reservists and civilian employees. They direct activities and supervise the equipping and training of more than 24,000 Air Force reservists in unit programs located across the continental United States, Hawaii and Guam. If called to active duty, most of these ready reserve units would be assigned to Air Mobility Command (AMC). Airmen would also be gained to Air Force Material Command (AFMC), Air Education and Training Command AETC) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Fourth Air Force flying units include one unit-equipped air mobility wing, three unit-equipped airlift wings, four unit-equipped air refueling wings, one associate air refueling wing, one associate air mobility wing, one associate airlift wing, and one associate air refueling group. The 916th ARW and 932nd AW are reverse associate wings. (They have active duty associate organizations attached to them.) The 452nd AMW at March ARB is the premier AFRC base equipped with both the KC-135 Stratotanker and the newest airlifter in the fleet, the C-17 Globemaster III. The 433rd AW at Lackland AFB, Texas, operates the giant C-5 Galaxy and the Air Force C-5 Galaxy schoolhouse, while the 445th AW at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, also operates a squadron of C-5 Galaxy aircraft.
Fourth Air Force air refueling wings flying the KC-135 Stratotanker include: the 927th ARW, MacDill AFB, Fla.; the 916th ARW, Seymour Johnson AFB, N. C.; the 507th ARW, Tinker AFB, Okla.; the 459th ARW, Joint Base Andrews, Md.; the 434th ARW, Grissom ARB, Ind.; and the 931st ARG (Associate), McConnell AFB, Kan. Other associate flying units are the 349th AMW, Travis AFB, Calif., and the 446th AW, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (McChord Field), Wash. The Travis wing operates the C-17, C-5 and KC-10 Extender aircraft. The McChord wing flies the C-17. The 932nd AW at Scott AFB, Ill., conducts VIP Special Airlift Missions (VIPSAM) for the White House, Senate and Congress, operating the C-9C and C-40C aircraft. Reservists assigned to these units fly and maintain AMC aircraft with their active duty counterparts. Another subordinate unit is the 624th RSG headquartered at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. It is the sole Air Force Reserve presence in the Pacific Area of Responsibility and reports directly to 4th AF headquarters. The 624th RSG provides en route transportation, engineering and medical support for PACAF and AMC. The 624th RSG is comprised of nearly 800 personnel, most of whom are traditional reservists operating across a civil engineer squadron, two aerial port squadrons, including one at Anderson AFB, Guam, an aeromedical staging squadron and a regional support directorate. The full-time staff consists of approximately two dozen personnel working as Air Reserve Technicians, Active Guard/Reserve and civilians.
In addition to nationwide flying units, 4th AF commands numerous support units representing a broad spectrum of Air Force specialties such as aircraft maintenance, logistics, and aerial port. They oversee, regional medical headquarters that train to deploy with medical center personnel to establish contingency hospitals. Other units specialize in security forces, civil engineering, aeromedical evacuation, medical services and patient staging, communications, combat camera, airlift control, and basic military training. During Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM (1990-1992), more than 8,000 personnel were mobilized, and hundreds of others voluntarily augmented active-duty forces in the United States, Europe and Persian Gulf. This number included more than 2,800 medical personnel assigned to Fourth Air Force units. More than 1,000 personnel from Fourth Air Force units were called to active duty to support the crisis in Kosovo in the late 1990s. Hundreds more supported Operation ALLIED FORCE (1999) in volunteer status. Approximately 4,000 Fourth Air Force personnel were mobilized after September 11, 2001, in the support of global contingency operations and more than 20 percent of these numbered air forces personnel have served or continue to serve in Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM and NOBLE EAGLE. Fourth Air Force units also provided aid and assistance for several natural disasters, including the catastrophic Midwest floods and California wildfires in 1993; the Northridge (Los Angeles) earthquake in 1994; the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995; Hurricane Katrina; and the Central Asia Tsunami in 2005. Most recently, assigned unit members provided support to civil authorities in fighting California wildfires. Assigned units routinely support United Nations and Department of State missions. Fourth Air Force personnel were on the first teams into Haiti for Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY (1994-1995), and among the first Vigilant Warrior deployments to Southwest Asia during the first Persian Gulf War. In Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM, 4th AF personnel have continually supported, with mobilization and volunteerism, global contingency operations and other humanitarian missions on a daily basis since September 11, 2001.
Fourth Air Force is a proven partner in today's Total Air Force. Dedicated, highly trained men and women contribute to Air Force Global Reach objectives. As the Air Force Reserve moves into the 21st Century, these citizen-airmen willingly serve as an ever-visible deterrent to potential aggressor and as a source of pride and reassurance to all who treasure America's freedom.
(Current as March 2010) (Local reproduction authorized)
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