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Goldfein ‘pins’ LOM on Harrigian

  • Published
  • By Maj David Faggard
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Lt. Gen. David Goldfein, the U.S. Air Forces Central Command Commander and Air Component Commander for U.S. Central Command, presented Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian the Legion of Merit Medal here in a ceremony Feb. 8, 2013 for his efforts while serving as the Assistant Deputy Commander.

The ceremony, conducted by a real-time video-teleconference because the two generals were separated by more than 7,000 miles, is reflective of the daily distributed operations while managing the Airmen's contributions to the U.S. CENTCOM Area of Responsibility.

"This award highlights all the great work by the Airmen in our command, both here and overseas deployed in harm's way," said Harrigian. "It's the effort of the whole team - not me - who deserve this thanks; for without them, none of what we do daily in this AOR would be possible. I thank them all," the general said reflecting on the 24,000 deployed Airmen spread across the 20-nation AOR covering Central and Southwest Asia.

Major General Steven Foster, the Air National Guard Assistant to the Commanders for 9th Air Force and USAFCENT, physically pinned the LOM on Harrigian.

Daily video teleconferences are commonplace in the command where operations-tempo, distance, and distributed operations make commanding and thanking Airmen in person difficult, but not impossible, according to Goldfein.

At one and half years at Shaw AFB, Harrigian moved on to USCENTCOM headquarters to become the deputy director of operations.