JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. James Porterfield, NORAD and USNORTHCOM Command Senior Enlisted Leader, visited the Western Air Defense Sector on May 3, 2022, and stressed to the WADS team the importance of their mission. During their visit, they met with U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty, The Adjutant General-Washington National Guard, WADS senior leadership, and Airmen working on the operations floor.
While touring the WADS operations floor, VanHerck let the WADS team know that, “The mission you do, I can’t tell you how important it is…defending the most senior leaders, our continuity of government, and defending the homeland….there is probably no mission nobler than getting up everyday and defending your homeland.”
Even though VanHerck’s visit was on a compressed schedule, members of the 225th Air Defense Squadron had the opportunity to give overviews of how each of the operations floor sections execute the Operation Noble Eagle mission of defending North America’s skies.
At the end of his visit, VanHerck’s expressed how important the WADS innovation team has been in working on solutions that are needed to solve critical problems in the DoD. As a result of this effort, the 225th Air Defense Squadron battle control center spark cell is the Air National Guard’s nominee for the Air Force 2021 General Larry O. Spencer Innovation Award. This award recognizes the individual and/or team who demonstrates innovation in cost and manpower savings to improve efficiency, operational readiness and replication of the innovation across the Air Force enterprise.