page_title: Kenneth S. Wilsbach
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Kenneth S. Wilsbach / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: Alaska’s senior military leaders traveled to the state capitol in Juneau March 23 to brief the legislature’s Joint Armed Services Committee about armed forces activities in Alaska. Air Force Lt. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and 11th Air Force; Army Maj. Gen. Bryan Owens, U.S. Army Alaska commanding general; Maj. Gen. Laurel Hummel, The Adjutant General, Alaska National Guard and Commissioner of Alaska Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs; and Rear Adm. Michael F. McAllister, commander of the Seventeenth U.S. Coast Guard District, met with the capitol press corps after the briefing to talk about military activities. (Army photo/John Pennell)
context_page_description: Kenneth Stephen Wilsbach is a General in the United States Air Force. He is the Commander, United States Pacific Air Forces; Commander, Air Component Command, United States Indo-Pacific Command, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
context_section_description: Wilsbach was commissioned in 1985 as a distinguished graduate of the University of Florida's Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program, and earned his pilot wings in 1986 at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. He has commanded a fighter squadron, an operations group, and two wings, and has held various staff assignments including Director of Operations, Combined Air Operations Center, and Director of Operations, United States Central Command.
  Wilsbach served as Director of Operations for Pacific Air Forces at the Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. From 2006 through 2008 he served as Commander of the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
  Wilsbach was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on 17 August 2009 and served as the Commander of the 18th Wing at the Kadena Air Base, Japan. He was the Commander, 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force- Iraq; Commander-Air, U.S. Forces- Iraq; and Chief of Staff-Air, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command. He oversaw three air expeditionary air wings and three expeditionary groups consisting of more than 6,900 Airmen directly engaged in combat operations, and advised on joint expeditionary tasked/individual augmentee taskings in the Iraq combined joint operating area. Additionally, Wilsbach served as the Central Command Combined Forces Air Component Commander's personal representative to the Commander of Headquarters ISAF as well as the Commander-Air to the Commander U.S. Forces- Iraq, ensuring the optimal integration of air and space power in support of Headquarters ISAF and Operation Enduring Freedom missions.
  In June 2018, while serving as commander of the Eleventh Air Force, Wilsbach was nominated for reassignment as deputy commander of United States Forces Korea and commander of the Seventh Air Force. In May 2020, Wilsbach was nominated for promotion to general and reassignment as Commander, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), and Air Component Commander for United States Indo-Pacific Command.
  Wilsbach has flown 71 combat missions in Operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom.
caption: Lieutenant General Kenneth S. Wilsbach during the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing at The Capitol Hill.
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