Andersen farewells 20 EBS, welcomes 23 EBS

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Veronica McMahon
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  Honing their expertise for the last four months, Airmen from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., bid farewell to Andersen after their deployment, here while the 23 EBS from Minot AFB, N.D., arrives.

Andersen has hosted the Continuous Bomber Presence since 2003 when Pacific Air Forces began to routinely deploy B-1, B-2 and B-52 bomber aircraft to Guam on a rotational basis. The rotation of the bomber aircraft is specifically designed to enhance regional security and demonstrate the United States' commitment to stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We have been here in support of the CBP mission," said Lt. Col. Mike Miller, 20 EBS commander. "The CBP's stated intent is to support Pacific Command through engaging with our partners across the PACOM area of responsibility and provide on-call combat capability for the PACOM commander."

Roughly 85 operators and support along with 220 maintenance troops deployed here in with six B-52s. During the past four months, 176 sorties equaling 1,370.5 hours were flown covering Japan, Korea, Alaska, Australia, Hawaii and local Guam.

"While here, we integrated with the U.S.S. Stennis Navy Carrier Strike Group, trained with Joint Terminal Air Controllers from Australia, flew multiple missions in RED FLAG Alaska, and engaged with regional partners in Australia, Japan, and Korea," Colonel Miller said. "We also made significant strides by integrating with the 607th Air and Space operations Center in Korea and the 608th AOC at Barksdale to enable rapid retargeting of cruise missiles."

During their time here, the 20 EBS Airmen also lent a helping hand to the community, serving 275 community service hours with seven different organizations.

As with the 20 EBS, the 23 EBS also arrives with six B-52s.

"We are here now in continuous support of the same mission," said Lt. Col. Robb Billings, 23 EBS. "And our goal here in Guam is to sharpen skills in the conventional realm."

The 20 EBS showed that they have met their goals and will tentatively return in April 2013.

"The CBP is an ideal place for us to focus on the conventional aspects of our mission," Colonel Miller said. "We have here on Guam an outstanding arrangement of airfields and ranges, to include weapons ranges, all co-located with tankers, which allows us to maximize training opportunities. At the same time we get to focus on the PACOM mission and train specifically to that mission in that environment. After four months here the 20 EBS is returning home experts of all aspects of support to the PACOM mission."