Mountain Home AFB commander briefs Idaho committee on readiness, airspace and school funding

Colonel Mike Alfaro, wing commander at Mountain Home Air Force Base, told the Idaho House Transportation and Defense Committee on a presentation day that the base is prioritizing people, preparedness and professionalism as it prepares for higher-risk operations and training tied to a renewed focus on great-power competition with China.

Alfaro told the committee: "our job is to provide mission ready, gunfighters to conduct operations anytime, anywhere," and said Mountain Home is ‘‘laser focused on China, as our pacing threat.’’ He described recent exercises, infrastructure projects and quality-of-life investments for service members assigned to the base.

The briefing summarized several operational and infrastructure items that committee members flagged as priorities. Alfaro highlighted base recognition — Mountain Home won the Commander in Chief Installation Excellence Award for the prior year — and said the award brought more than $1 million to invest in dorm upgrades, kitchens and recreation spaces. He described recent force-generation activity, including the Deployable Combat Wing and Air Base Wing validation exercise (DAVE) and the two-week Raging Gunfighter 25.1 exercise that trained personnel to operate from multiple austere locations. He said the 388th Fighter Squadron was deployed to the Middle East and that other units are preparing to rotate through overseas missions.

On training airspace, Alfaro described a long-running effort to lower the authorized altitude over portions of the Mountain Home…