Lt. Gen. Goldfein: An Iraq end-of-mission message

As we enter the 2012 fighting season, I wanted to share what the final days in Iraq felt like here in the AOR [area of responsibility]. Many of us have spent the majority of our adult lives engaged in the campaigns to first free Kuwait, then contain Iraq and then free Iraq. For our Airmen, it is all most have ever known.

We have good reason to stand tall today.

Dec. 19 marked the first day since Jan. 17, 1991 that we did not produce or fly an air tasking order (ATO) in Iraq, a time frame that spanned from Gen. Charles A. Horner through Gen. Gilmary M. Hostage with 10 classes of Combined Forces Air Component Commanders (CFACC), Deputy Combined Forces Air Component Commanders (DCFACC), Air Component Coordination Elements (ACCE) and Command Chief Master Sergeants (CCC) in between. Here's just a small sampling of what we accomplished for the joint team:
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