ARLINGTON, Va. – During a recent ceremony, the Operational Support Airlift Agency, or OSAA, located at Davison Army Airfield near Fort Belvoir, Virginia, ushered in a new commander and a new era.
As part of Army reorganization, OSAA will soon transition to an activity that reports directly to the commander of the Army Air Operations Group, or AAOG, and will realign itself under the Military District of Washington.
“As we combine [these] two commands together, OSAA will transition to an activity subordinate to the AAOG and that will include both the non-executive airlift that OSAA and 9Operational Support Airlift Command)currently do today and realigns it with the same mission command that does priority airlift for the [Department of Defense] travelers as well,” said Army Col. James W. Ring, the outgoing commander of OSAA.
Since 1995, OSAA has supported the total Army with fixed-wing capabilities and provided high priority, short notice critical air transport to passengers and cargo movement for Soldiers from all Army components, the DoD and other government agencies.
As a Department of Army Field Operation Agency under the National Guard Bureau, OSAA personnel have included active-duty Army and Army National Guard Soldiers and civilians, and is among the Army’s first operational, multi-component brigade level organizations.
As OSAA aligns under the Army Air Operations Group, it will continue to be a multi-component organization, Ring said.
This shift in command structure fits the vision of the new chief of staff of the Army, Gen. Mark Milley.
“There is only one Army,” Milley said during remarks he made Sept. 11. “We are not 10 divisions, we are 18 divisions. We’re not 32 brigades; we’re 60 brigades. And we’re not 490,000 Soldiers; we are 980,000 Soldiers.”
Those remarks rang true with Ring.
“It’s important to know that we are fully integrated in our mission because that’s how we deploy globally, doing these roles and missions together,” he said.
As Ring departs OSAA, he reflected on his time as commander and said it was a privilege to command such a successful unit.
“The success of a command is not as much in the commander as it is in the men and women that we lead, and OSAA OSACOM have been tremendous agenciesto lead. As they align under the Army Air Operations Group they will continue to serve our nation well for total Army fixed-wing requirements,” he said.