Submitted Photo U.S. Air Force Gen. S.L. Davis, right, takes the Air Force Global Strike Command guidon from Gen. Thomas Bussiere during AFGSC’s change of command ceremony at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, Tuesday, Nov. 4. Davis has served in a variety of operational and staff assignments, including commanding a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile wing and the nation’s only ICBM flight test squadron. U.S. Air Force photo.

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. – Air Force Global Strike Command airmen bid farewell to Gen. Thomas Bussiere and welcomed new commander Gen. S.L. Davis during a change of command ceremony at Barksdale Air Force Base Tuesday, Nov. 4.

“This command underpins every operational plan in the Department of War with its long range nuclear and conventional strike. If we fail, they fail,” Davis said. “Air Force Global Strike Command is the backbone of the Air Force and the joint force.”

Davis arrives at AFGSC from the Pentagon, where he served as the Inspector General of the Department of the Air Force. As the AFGSC commander, he oversees more than 36,000 airmen and two legs of the nation’s nuclear triad.

“We are going to ensure everyday readiness, prepare for the future and continue to build the Global Strike team,” Davis said. “We have been and we’ll continue to be ‘Always Ready.'”

Second Minot missile wing commander to lead AFGSC

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – Gen S.L. Davis is the second former commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base to become commander of Air Force Global Strike Command.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, who was the first commander of AFGSC, was in that position from August 2009-January 2011. He was commander of the 91st Missile Group, later redesignated the 91st Missile Wing, from January 1995-August 1996.

Davis was commander of the 91st Missile Wing from June 2011-June 2012.

– Eloise Ogden