Ninth AF commander gives praise and encouragement Published Feb. 12, 2009 By Kendahl Johnson 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- "The field work you are doing right here will hone your skills, will sharpen your ability to work as a team and will enable you to go anywhere our Air Force sends you." That's the message Lt. Gen. Gary North, Ninth Air Force and U.S. Air Forces Central commander, offered to members of the 5th Combat Communications Group. He was specifically speaking to group members in the midst of a four-day field training exercise at Combat Communications Readiness School. The general's visit to Robins was in part to offer congratulations to the 5th CCG for winning the Air Combat Command's Outstanding Large Communications Unit Award. "Thanks for being the absolute best communications unit in ACC," he told members of the unit. The 5th CCG's deployed unit, the 447th Expeditionary Communication Squadron at Sather Air Base, Iraq, also won a major ACC award, the Outstanding Small Communications Unit Award. General North also offered encouragement and support, and expressed his gratitude for the work being done by members of the 5th CCG. "My very simple message is thank you. We are very proud of what you do and how you do it," the general said. "That is so very important; not what you train for here but what you are prepared to do wherever we send you." Col. Jose Rivera, 5th CCG commander, said the general's visit was significant, not just because of the two major awards his unit won, but because the unit is preparing to transition from the Ninth Air Force in ACC to Air Force Space Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. -- By Kendahl Johnson