Welcome. This exhibit is a collection of commissioned artwork and photos depicting various branches of the military and the lives of those who serve in Southwest Asia.
For more info on this exhibit or the artist contact Erin Dorrance - U.S. Central Command Community Relations and Protocol Officer, erin.m.dorrance.civ@mail.mil
About MacDill Air Force Base
Tampa Bay has a long association with the Military, going back to its founding as Fort Brooke. In 1941, the military gained a new presence in Tampa Bay with the opening of MacDill Field.
As the war effort peaked, Tampa military air fields prepared B-17 Flying Fortress and B-26 Maurader crews for battle in Europe. Since the war, MacDill has been home to a variety of aircraft including B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet bombers, F-4 Phantom II and F-16 fighters, and KC-135 tankers.
Today, MacDill is under the command of the 6th Air Refueling Wing, with a 3,000-person force providing air refueling tankers to the U.S. military anywhere in the world. The base has the unique distinction of hosting two joint combatant command headquarters: U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.
U.S. Central Command, activated in 1983, exercises operational command and control of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. The command has led combat operations against terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen over the past four decades. The headquarters is home to Coalition Village, which includes foreign military members from 47 nations who work in real time alongside their U.S. counterparts to fight terrorism.
U.S. Special Operations Command was established in 1987, and it develops and employs fully capable special operations forces to conduct global special operations and activities around the globe. The command has supported operations in Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Haiti, and the Balkans to name a few.
This exhibit is a collection of artwork from the Air Force, Army, Marine, Navy, and Coast Guard art programs, which employ artists to capture military operations in the form of artwork. This collection also includes a few photographs from military photojournalists. We hope this artwork tells a story about what it is like to serve in the U.S. military at MacDill Air Force Base and deployed in Southwest Asia.
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