United States Forces Azores Management Command Azores Detachment and the base's resident officer in charge of construction. There are approximately 425 U.S. military and 10 Department of Defense civilians assigned to the group. The total U.S. population, including dependents, is about 2,170. Department of Defense employs approximately 930 Portuguese civilians at Lajes Field. An Air Force colonel serves jointly as U.S. Forces Azores commander and as commander of the 65th Air Base Group, Air Combat Command. United States Forces Azores United States Forces Azores (USAFORAZ) is based at Lajes Field, Portugal near Lajes on Terceira Island in the Azores. In 1953, the U.S. Forces
Captaincies of the Azores in 1460, in a letter from Henry the Navigator, the prince described Cabral as "Capitão por mim em minhas ilhas de Santa Maria e São Miguel dos Açores" ("Captain for Me in My Islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel in the Azores"). Cabral was the ideal Captain to obtain this title, who "cultivated the island [of Santa Maria] with noble people, treating the island with mcuh love and caring the people with much gentleness; for this reason he was obeyed by all and very dear to the entire island. It is still unclear at what time Gonaçalo Velho Cabral