ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- More than 20 select civic leaders joined Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Gen. Stephen Wilson for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Air Force operations on Guam, April 27-28.

Completing their fourth stop on a week-long tour of Pacific Air Forces stations throughout the Indo-Pacific region, civic leaders received briefings from deployed aircrews and maintenance personnel supporting the U.S. Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence and got a rare glimpse into RQ-4 Global Hawk operations.

At Andersen AFB’s Northwest Field, the visiting officials viewed a live demonstration of the 554th RED HORSE Assault Assessment and Repair Operations Airmen, who fast-roped from a U.S. Navy UH-60 Helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25. In addition, Airmen with the 36th Contingency Response Group demonstrated deployment-readiness, airfield opening and contingency response capabilities in various skillsets.

The Air Force Civic Leader Program is an Air Staff-level program comprising major-command-selected community leaders from a wide variety of industries and sectors including banking and economic development, construction, manufacturing, education, healthcare, science and technology.

Civic leaders are unpaid advisers, key communicators and advocates for Air Force issues. Air Force leaders look to these subject-matter experts to provide ideas and feedback to the secretary of the Air Force, Air Force chief of staff, and Air Force senior leaders about public attitudes toward the Air Force and issues affecting military installations. As community liaisons, they likewise help local Air Force communities by explaining and relating Air Force programs, issues and current state of readiness to other decision makers and to the general public.

“Building awareness and understanding of our role in building partnerships in the region and protecting national security is key to maintaining public support for what we do,” said Brig. Gen. Douglas Cox, 36th Wing commander. “Team Andersen works hard to stand ready, day and night, for our nation’s defense. We’re happy to show our visitors how our Airmen make that happen.”

Previously the tour stopped at various locations throughout the U.S. Pacific Air Forces area of operations, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; Kunsan Air Base, South Korea and Yokota Air Base, Japan.