Mission Monday: MAJCOM Basing & Beddown Support

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  • AFIMSC Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday. Meet Sarah Amthor, a project manager for basing and beddown, and National Environmental Policy Act liaison, at the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center’s Detachment 8 at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

As the NEPA’s liaison, she supports Air Combat Command for all basing and beddown actions as well as other NEPA actions requiring major command support. This includes engineering support to identify facility requirements, overseeing program objective memorandum inputs to ACC’s various mission teams, delivering documentation for programming plans and tracking the status of assigned installations, weapons systems and facility and infrastructure projects.

We asked Amthor, a Yorktown, Virginia native, to tell us more about herself and the work she does for the Department of the Air Force.

Briefly tell us why you joined the Air Force civil service?  
Upon the recommendation of a college peer and my father, a former employee of what is currently known as Air Combat Command, I embarked on my journey in the civil service sector at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

Why do you serve and what keeps you serving?
In my view, it’s a major responsibility being a civil servant and being a good steward of the taxpayer’s dollar. Making the right decisions, which are not always popular, and doing what’s right to support our Airmen so they can successfully execute and complete their mission is what keeps me serving.

What do you love about your job? 
Being part of a team that values great camaraderie among co-workers and the current top-notch leadership we have at Det. 8.

When it comes to your job, what keeps you motivated? 
The variety of the basing and beddown projects I work. In my position, I support several complex initiatives to include the beddown of E-7As and consolidation of the Tactical Air Control Party operations at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and Fort Cavazos, Texas, which allows the implementation of Air Task Force; Singapore, Qatar’s F-15 Foreign Military Sales cases; and the Department of Homeland Defense’s over-the-horizon radar efforts. Each proposed and programmed action on these efforts is unique and I’m motivated knowing that I directly contribute to the success of the Air Force’s mission.

Why are you and your team important to the Air Force and Space Force enterprise and your customers?  
We are fully integrated into the strategic basing process, on behalf of AFIMSC. Our team briefs the Strategic Basing Group and Board on technical beddown issues on behalf of ACC’s corporate structure and weapons system teams as well as the headquarters Air Force panels.

Describe a project or event you and your team worked on recently that gave you a great sense of accomplishment: 
In January 2024, we helped complete the final NEPA documentation for the Combat Air Forces Contract Air Support Adversary Air program. The document completed an eight-year long effort that began in 2016 and involved numerous DAF organizations working together to determine compliance with NEPA regulations. This teamwork resulted in a $6.4 billion contract awarded in October 2019 to support U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot and Tactical Air Control Party production and readiness for Combat Air Forces. Ultimately, the effort benefited the entire Department of Defense and six different partner nations under the Foreign Military Sales program. Since then, more than 38,000 adversary air sorties and 15,000 CAF close air support range hours have been executed. As a result, over 350 Air Force fighter pilots were produced, increasing readiness levels by over 400%. 

How does what you do support AFIMSC’s strategic priorities? 
My involvement in the CAF effort significantly helped to increase pilot production and DAF mission readiness levels. My advocacy for facility infrastructure investment helps strengthen mission execution and provides quality base operating support for families. Det. 8’s basing and beddown team is directly matrixed with ACC A-Staff 5/8 Directorate and the major command functionals during planning conferences, site surveys and site activation task forces. We work closely to support the optimal organization for each beddown effort based on our continuous engagement with each respective installation and weapons system team.

Is there anything else you’d like to add which might help people understand the importance of what you do for the Department of the Air Force?
Without the proper advocacy for investment in our facilities and infrastructure, our Airmen and Guardians will not have the tools needed to successfully support and execute the DAF’s mission.