10th Anniversary of Operation Enduring Freedom Event

Mitchell Institute Director Rebecca Grant moderates
the Q&A following Gen Moseley's speech.

The AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies recently hosted an event commemorating the 10^th Anniversary of Operation Enduring Freedom, with General T. Michael Moseley, USAF, Ret., as the guest speaker.

Titled “Operation Enduring Freedom: A New Model for Airpower”, this hour-long event had Gen Moseley speaking about the initial days of the campaign, addressing a crowd about his experiences, lessons learned, and regrets. 

Check out Air Force magazine's Daily Report for highlights >> 

General Moseley, former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, assumed command of 9^th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces in November 2001 and served as Coalition Forces Air Component Commander for Operation Enduring Freedom. During the attacks of 9/11, Gen Moseley was in the Pentagon, soon to be "intimately" involved in fighting the terrorists responsible in the years that followed. 

He admitted that they had no situational awareness in Afghanistan in the initial days, not even owning a map of the territory. "We didn't really have much of a clue about Afghanistan," he said.

Beginning with a no-fly zone template and building on relationships with international and coalition partners (i.e., Saudi Arabia, ), OEF quickly changed the way they had been fighting for the decades prior in the Middle East.

"We had almost no situational awareness in Afghanistan." Before he left Washington, he requested a map of Afghanistan to get familiar with the area on his tanker ride over. "The staff called back and said we don't have any maps of this place, you know, we're trying to find them ourselves." 

So, with $20/$30, he got a map of Afghanistan from National Geographic. "I fought, much to the demise of the intel guys, I fought most of the campaign in Afghanistan off a national geographic map, which is an excellent map by the way."

To hear the full speech, go to http://www.afa.org/Mitchell/Presentations/Mitchell_101911_Moseley.mp3

General T. Michael Mosley was the 18th Chief of Staff of the Air Force

This Mitchell Event was held in Salon III of the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City,
October 19, 2011.

The Mitchell Institute is an independent, non-profit research, studies, and analysis organization founded by the Air Force Association. It takes its name from America’s most famous and arguably greatest airman, Brig. Gen. William Mitchell. The Institute seeks to carry on, in the modern day, General Mitchell’s tireless and dedicated effort to expand airpower thinking and increase public awareness of the need for this unique military instrument.