It would not be surprising to find pizza boxes, soda cans and hygiene products scattered across a teen’s or young service member’s room. These items, while common, are the perfect places to cache pills, alcohol and drug paraphernalia. The…

After serving as the senior military officer in Alaska for the past two years, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ken Wilsbach rendered a final salute to the men and women he led.

Wilsbach served as commander of Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, Alaskan Command and Eleventh Air Force from August 2016 to August 2018, and will move to a new assignment.

“You always grow from every assignment you have, and the experiences are what grow you. I would say what’s most memorable about this assignment are the people of Alaska,” he said. “I’ve had a chance to go around the state and meet with many of them. They’re an incredibly warm and very patriotic group. Most communities around the globe are welcoming and supportive of military installations, but here, the people take you into their families, and it’s really a remarkable situation.”

Wilsbach said one of the biggest positive changes he’s seen during his tenure is the consciousness of the rest of the nation that the U.S. is an Arctic nation.

“There’s more human activity in the Arctic,” he said, “and that has ramifications and implications for the military and what are we going to do for our national interests and also help with our allies who are also interested in the Arctic.”

Wilsbach spoke of the distinct geographical advantage Alaska provides to military operations; from Alaska you can be almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in about nine and a half hours, he said.

In addition, Wilsbach said, if threat nations ever fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at the U.S., it would likely come across the north, making Alaska critical for defense.

At a change-of-command ceremony Aug. 24, Wilsbach passed the reins of his commands to Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom Bussiere, and offered his successor some advice.

He encouraged Bussiere to continue to advocate for the Arctic and for readiness of military forces, so if called, they’re ready to do their mission. He also stressed innovation.

“Advocate for innovation,” he said. “Our young service members have tremendously innovative ideas, and capturing those ideas and realizing the benefits of innovation is really important in making the United States the greatest in the world. If we ever let up on that, our adversaries may catch up to us, and we simply can’t accept that.”

Wilsbach’s journey will continue at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, where he will command the Seventh Air Force.

“I’m excited. It’s a historic time to be going to Korea with the recent talks between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Trump and some of the discussions they’ve had and agreements they’ve made,” he said.

Before departing, Wilsbach thanked the men and women he led.

“Whether it’s defending North America with Canada against many threats, or whether it’s projecting air power across the Pacific and Southwest Asia as we took the fight to ISIS, the incredible efforts of men and women sacrificially for their nation has been humbling, and it’s been quite an honor for me to have been your commander and work with you,” he said.