KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — The Air Force’s “quiet professionals” are making their mark on the global war on terror, Lt. Gen. Michael W. Wooley, commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command, said during a recent visit to Kadena’s 353rd Special Operations group.

“It’s a significant role that they play,” Wooley said Wednesday at the 353rd’s headquarters on Kadena. “In today’s expeditionary environment and the war on terror, Special Operations is a huge player, and the 353rd in particular plays a significant role, one that’s upholding the tradition of our motto in special ops, as being ‘quiet professionals.’”

He said the 353rd is especially busy in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. Current media focus on places like Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t diminish the importance of the 353rd’s work in the Pacific, he said: “There’s significant activity going on in Indonesia and other places in Southeast Asia. It’s something we need to keep on our radar scope.”

A particular problem, the general said, is countries where “franchise” terrorist organizations have set up shop — organizations with very fluid leadership structures, where if one leader is killed another one steps in and quickly takes his place.

Special Operations comes into significant play, Wooley said, in pinpointing such groups, capturing their leaders in small, covert actions and searching their locations for information that can lead to other groups.

“These are places that are harboring these individuals, providing them safe havens and being a host to training and getting financing,” Wooley said. “We’ve got to make sure that we keep an eye on those areas.

“One of the most important things we can do is maintain close ties with the local governments and make sure that we provide them with some help where we can, whether that be with training or certain types of equipment or just some good old-fashioned advice,” Wooley said. “Special Operations is very well suited to providing this, low key, across the spectrum.”

Wooley said he was excited about several ongoing improvements to how Special Operations works, especially a program to reduce the “battlefield airmen’s” heavy load.

“When our folks go into combat we take about 160 pounds of gear on our back,” Wooley said. “Our goal is to cut that about in half and export technology to make the remaining 80 pounds or so worth of gear that we’re going to put on the battlefield airman’s back more capable than the 160 pounds of gear that they have now. It will make them more effective on the battlefield.”

One key piece of equipment is a two-pound flying camera, sometimes called a Raven or “flying bat,” Wooley said.

“It’s something that they can pull out of their rucksack and launch to go around the river bend, or, if they’re in an urban environment, to pop up on top of the roof to see if there’s enemy forces that they can engage before they have to go eye to eye with them,” he said.

Wooley likes to point out that not a single special operations unit in Operation Iraqi Freedom equipped with a Raven was ambushed by enemy forces. “We also have the capability of getting digital data from that airman on the battlefield into the cockpit of an airplane,” Wooley said.

Saying that “victory” in the war on terror is an imprecise term, Wooley has called this a “critical time in world history” in which the Air Force Special Operations Command “will have a huge chapter in the history book.”

“We’ve literally been in this war on terror for about 20 years,” he said, noting that the front lines are a blur. “What is going to be the definition of victory in this global war on terror is when we can eradicate the training ground for the terrorists.”