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New CC: AFSOC packs a punch

  • Published
  • By Rachel Arroyo
  • Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
Hurlburt Field, Fla. --  There is nothing Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel enjoys more than to deploy as part of a joint team.

So to be back among the Airmen who do it the most as commander of Air Force Special Operations Command is both humbling and exciting, he said.

"I cannot imagine any other command in the Air Force that is more forward postured and forward deployed than AFSOC," Fiel said.

If given the opportunity to sit down with each Air Commando, the first words out of his mouth would be "thank you." Thank you for having the courage and ingenuity to get the job done and for sacrificing time with family in order to do it.

"I'd thank each individual, but more importantly, I'd thank their families as well," he said.

Fiel, who took command of AFSOC in June, has come full circle. His first assignment out of navigator and electronic warfare officer training brought him to Hurlburt Field, Fla. where he was an MC-130E Combat Talon electronic warfare officer, instructor and executive officer assigned to the 8th Special Operations Squadron.

Approximately 13 years of his 30-year career have been spent at Hurlburt Field and have included assignments as chief of the electronic combat division at the 23rd Air Force, director of operations at the 18th Flight Test Squadron and commander of the 4th Special Operations Squadron.

After being promoted to brigadier general, Fiel returned to Hurlburt Field in 2005 to direct all AFSOC operations. His most recent assignment was as vice commander, Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command, Washington D.C.

Eleven years spent in joint and combat assignments have reinforced the impact special operations forces have working as a team in theater.

"We usually provide one hell of a punch to any combatant commander," Fiel said. "There's not much a SOF team can't solve."

The combatant commanders' focus is directed toward the operational capabilities of the joint team, the general said, emphasizing AFSOC cannot complete the mission without its Army, Navy and Marine Corps counterparts.

"Everyone has their service affiliation and their patch, but when you're forward deployed patches come off," Fiel said. "Everyone wears the same flight suits and uniform, so it is truly a SOF team. The Army Special Forces guy cannot do his job without us. Neither can the SEAL. They've got to have mobility, they've got to have fire support, they've got to have intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or they're walking."

This impact has Fiel confident AFSOC will hold up well in the face of impending Department of Defense budget cuts. For an organization that is allocated approximately one percent of the Air Force budget, AFSOC is a bargain.

"We are a relatively cheap organization with high payoff, so I think we'll do okay," he said. "But I think we need to focus on quality, not quantity, because the bigger you get, the harder it is to maintain that quality edge."

Over the course of the next 60 days, Fiel will be conducting a "Health of the Force" assessment that will focus on combat readiness, force structure and infrastructure.

It will culminate in the October release of fiscal year 2012 "AFSOC Commander's Guidance."

Fiel will brief the state of the command to both the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and the commander of USSOCOM following the close of the assessment.

While the budget is of concern, it is not what keeps Fiel awake at night.

"The thing that bothers me the most is waiting for the phone call - that we lost another Airman - and you know it's going to happen because we've been doing this for ten years," the general said. "I think to myself, have we done everything we possibly can to keep our Airmen forward deployed in a safe manner?"

The SOF Truth "humans are more important than hardware" resonates with Fiel. His first piece of advice to Airmen centers on family.

"Make sure that you take care of your family because the higher rates of deployments put a lot of pressures on the family unit," he said.

Problems at home can often yield problems at work, making it difficult for Airmen to perform on the job. While it can be a challenge to balance the two, the New York native said, Airmen should do their best to take care of not only their families, but their teammates' families.

Fiel credits his own wife and son for support that enables him to serve.

"I love deploying. I absolutely do. But my wife and son have paid the price," Fiel said. "They've allowed me to go do what I absolutely love doing, and that's why I joined."

Their commitment to the mission, in addition to the commitment of the Air Commando, distinguishes AFSOC.

"We work at it," Fiel said. "We're not perfect. There's always room for improvement, but at the end of the day, it's the family that makes SOF special."