How Central Command at MacDill Air Force base has been central to America’s wars

Since its creation in 1983, the U.S. Central Command at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base has made Iran a prime focus.

Today, “deter Iran” is listed as the No. 1 priority of the command. Last week, Central Command was at the heart of the Trump administration’s bombing of three nuclear facilities in the Middle Eastern country.

Central Command is one of 11 such commands in the U.S. Department of Defense. Four operate around specific functions; seven, including Central Command in Tampa, cover geographic regions worldwide.

Central Command at MacDill is the busiest and newest command station within the U.S. Department of Defense. It initially focused on eight countries, but has since expanded to 21 in the “central” part of the globe, including the Middle East, Central and South Asia and the waters that surround them.

How did this key command station come about in Tampa, and why has Iran mattered so much? Here is a rundown.

Why was Central Command created, and what does it have to do with Iran?

Central Command is a direct result of the Iranian revolution that began in the late 1970s and the U.S. hostage crisis that followed. In February 1979, Iranian militants overthrew the country’s secular monarchy and installed a Muslim theocratic republic. In November of that year, militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 American diplomats hostage.

In March 1979, President Jimmy Carter established the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force as a response to the hostage crisis. The task force’s mission was to respond to threats in the Persian Gulf region. Because such threats persisted, the task force became a permanent, unified command under President Ronald Reagan in 1983, according to the Department of Defense.

Four years later, in 1987, Central Command directed a combat operation against Iran to protect Kuwaiti ships in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war.

In 1991, Central Command led Operation Desert Storm, known as the first Persian Gulf War, after Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait.

What role has it had in America’s wars since 9/11?

The command has led the longest fight in American history.

Since it covers the Middle East, Central Command has been directing America’s operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. It led the fight in Afghanistan and managed the war against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. In 2014, it also launched operations to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

What do people do there day to day?

The day to day at Central Command is diverse and includes people physically based at offices at MacDill in Tampa who are researching, planning, coordinating and working with military officials at the Pentagon in Washington and with other nations and U.S. military commands.

The command is made up of five smaller commands that specialize in various military partnerships and operations, including military training and peacekeeping efforts. It also collaborates with several coalitions and organizations, including initiatives of NATO and the United Nations.

Why is Central Command at MacDill, and what else is there?

Central Command is at MacDill because its predecessor, the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, was also based there, along with commands focusing on similar priorities as early as 1961.

“The growth of these major combatant command headquarters themselves spawned sub-headquarters at MacDill which began to shift the character of the base from an Air Force-centric installation to one serving all its joint and Coalition partners,” according to MacDill.

MacDill is also home to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, which involves planes that refuel military aircraft in mid-air. Special Operations Command, which does specialized, short-term missions, is also housed at MacDill.

Who leads Central Command?

Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla is the commander of Central Command. He assumed that role in April 2022 from Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., who now leads the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute.

Other high-profile generals have led Central Command, several of whom have gone on to lead the Department of Defense or become key presidential advisers. They include Gens. Lloyd Austin and Jim Mattis, who each served as Defense secretary, and Gen. David Petraeus, former director of the CIA.