Submitted Photo U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. bomber force members' contributions to Operation Epic Fury have been decisive. U.S. Air Force photo.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bomber force airmen are putting bombs on time, on target and with the proper effects, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, during a briefing at the Pentagon Thursday, March 19, commended the airmen engaged in the fight daily – U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard crews within the U.S. bomber force – the B-1s, B-2s and B-52s – and the airmen on the ground who maintain and load these weapon systems.

“They are the backbone of America’s long-range strike capability, and their contributions to Epic Fury have been decisive,” Caine, the nation’s highest ranking military officer, said.

Caine said he recently had a chance to visit with some deployed young aviators and maintainers about their typical day.

“These are crews comprised of between two and five airmen – two on the B-2s, five on the B-52s, and four in the B-1s. Some of these Americans are in their early or mid-20s, and we give them the gift of this incredible responsibility – hundreds of thousands of pounds of aircraft, and they take off and go do our work as required,” he said.

During the flight, he said they’re surrounded by technology and capabilities.

“And they’ll do multiple aerial refueling efforts across tankers on the way to the AOR (Area of Responsibility) either coming from the states or coming from a forward deployed basing. I will tell you as a fighter pilot, getting gas is a lot easier in an F-16 than it is in a B-1, B-2 or a B-52,” Caine said. “They stay on that boom for sometimes up to 30 minutes taking hundreds of thousands of pounds of gas. It is a physical, demanding thing to take gas, and they do it multiple times on the way there, and they do it multiple times on the way home.

“As they enter the operating area, they bring the entirety of America’s Joint Force together to go do the things that we’ve tasked them to do – to put bombs on time, on target, with the proper effects,” Caine said.

“Behind each and every one of them are incredible maintainers and weapons builders who go out there and make sure these aircraft and their weapon systems are ready to go,” he said.

He added, “We hand these Americans – young Americans – incredible and weighty responsibility, and they deliver every single time for you.”