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National civic leaders visit AFSOC during SLEP tour

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Melanie Holochwost
  • Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  More than 20 civic leaders toured Air Force Special Operations Command as part of the Secretary of Defense’s Senior Leader Engagement Program Aug. 26 through 27 here.

The civic leaders hailed from across the nation and included the president of the American Bar Association, the executive vice president of business at Fox Sports, and the chief people officer at Coca-Cola, to name a few.

AFSOC represented the Air Force portion of the weeklong SLEP tour, which included stops at Army, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard components. The program has exposed hundreds of national opinion leaders to all branches of the military since 1948.

The hand-picked crew, with very limited military experience, if any, received an AFSOC mission brief, flew simulators, toured static aircraft and embedded with Special Tactics on a mock deployment.

They processed through the entire deployment line and received a simulated intelligence brief, complete with a hostage-recovery mission objective. This fully immersed them into the Air Commando mindset.

Then, they took off in a CV-22 Osprey and headed to Eglin Range, where they witnessed the physical side of special operations.

Calls-for-fire came over the radio. Multiple airstrikes destroyed targets. Ground forces secured a building and seized an airfield.

Peter Marx, City of Los Angeles chief technology officer, said the whole experience was humbling.

“I never thought I would have the opportunity to be this close to military action,” he said on board the aircraft, referring to the pararescueman seated next to him.

Ryan Moss, Little Giant Ladders CEO, and Decker Watson, Original Productions co-executive producer, also enjoyed the tour.

“The scale of expertise and technology we saw was astounding,” Watson said.

Moss said he was impressed by the attitudes and responsibilities of everyone he met.

“We all sleep better at night because of you good people,” he said. “We could not have asked for a better day.”

Lt. Gen. Brad Heithold, AFSOC commander, thanked all of the civic leaders for visiting Hurlburt Field and encouraged them to share their experiences with families, friends and colleagues.

“Thanks for all you do to support our men and women every day,” Heithold said. “Now you can see why I’m so proud of this command.”