Mayor of Hampton visits Langley

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bryan Myhr
  • 192nd Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. --  The mayor of Hampton, Virginia, visited Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, on Oct. 31, 2018.

Mayor Donnie R. Tuck toured several facilities at Langley Air Force Base to gain a better understanding of the F-22 aircraft and other missions that the United States Air Force, both guard and active duty components, is responsible for at JBLE.

Col. Jason T. Hinds, 1st Fighter Wing commander, and Col. Frank J. Lobash, 192nd Wing commander, led Tuck around several static munition displays and an up close tour with an F-22 Raptor.

“Just to see the capabilities of the plane up close, that’s impressive,” said Tuck. “I think most civilians and non-military people are clueless about the F-22, it’s capabilities, as well as the people who maintain the aircraft and what the missions are. That was all very enlightening to me.”

Building relationships with the community is a priority for the 192nd WG. Throughout the year, multiple groups visit Langley AFB to learn more about what we do for our country, state and community. This includes government representatives, civil air patrol cadets, aviation academy students and more.

"It's always good to spend time with our friend, Mayor Tuck,” said Lobash. “Today is a great opportunity to show him what our 192nd Airmen do inside the gates of Langley daily, side by side, with our ‘Total Force’ partners while also sharing the part-time Guardsman mission with him. I appreciate Mayor Tuck taking the time to get to know the VaANG and appreciate that our Airmen are not only inside the gate providing for the defense of our Nation, but also outside the gate as protectors of the Commonwealth's citizens during times of local emergencies.”

There are numerous mission sets at Langley. The 192nd WG, Virginia Air National Guard, has twelve mission sets which include fighter jet operations, maintenance and operations support, distributed common ground system intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, cyber operations, military meteorology, force protection and military police, highly mobile civil engineering response force, supply chain management, chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive materials enhanced response force packages, medical support, and domestic emergency response and support.

“Our Airmen accomplish all this while continuing to be daily, active citizens inside our communities,” said Lobash.

Many of these missions are integrated with the active duty components in the 633rd Air Base Wing and 1st FW while others are unique to the VaANG.