AF considers personnel shifts for AFRICOM

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AF considers personnel shifts for AFRICOM
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Though the fledgling U.S. Africa Command is barely off the ground, the Air Force is considering personnel shifts within Europe to accommodate future missions to the continent.

While supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is paramount, the future needs of AFRICOM — set to be fully operational by October — will require a shift in personnel southward from England and Germany to Spain, Italy and Portugal, said Col. Keith Keck, chief of the Strategic Planning Division at Air Mobility Command headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

The command is working with U.S. Air Forces in Europe to possibly reroute AFRICOM traffic out of its current hub at Ramstein Air Base in Germany through Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base in Spain, Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily and Lajes Field — a Portuguese island base in the Atlantic, Keck said.

“Would it be more appropriate to have the focus of AFRICOM coming out of one of those bases? That’s what we’re trying to figure out now,” said Keck.

Ramstein is convenient and subsequently popular — particularly since the closing of Rhein-Main Air Base outside Frankfurt — “but we can’t fit everything into Ramstein so we have to look at other places,” Keck said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53577