Thanks for that introduction Sergeant Davis (SMSgt Johnny Davis).
Thank you Don (LtGen Donald Lamontagne, Commander, Air University),
for your interest in furthering the interests of Aerospace Power.
And thank you Chief Ball (CMSgt Ball, Commandant, SNCO Academy), for
the invitation to speak here tonight.
On this date in 1950, President Harry S. Truman committed US Air
Forces, along with Naval Forces, to their first major conflict following
the establishment of our separate service. We stand ready today, as
we did over half a century ago, to protect American values at home
and abroad. You graduates are already committed to your nation, and
are the true leaders of the force. To you falls the responsibility
of sustaining the best Air Force on the face of the earth.
Tonight I am going to tell you about heroes-small heroes, but heroes
nonetheless; heroes that have been beacons of inspiration in my life
and career. My first memory is when I was two years old-sitting in
my Dad's lap in the cockpit of a P-51 Mustang. He was a second lieutenant
just after WW II. We were stationed at a small base near Tokyo during
the occupation of Japan. His job was to take fighter planes that had
arrived by barge, and after all the preservatives were removed, to
test fly them and ferry them inland to their permanent bases. Before
I was 3 years old I had time in all the great WW II fighters: P-51,
P-43, P-38 and British Spitfire. I just wish I could remember more
about them than the noise they made. I grew up in an era of heroes;
my Dad's contemporaries were all heroes, like Chuck Yeager who was
the first to fly faster than the speed of sound. My Dad commanded
an F-106 interceptor squadron at Langley AFB, Virginia and we lived
on Eagan Avenue. On the same street were several of the Mercury 7
astronauts. I was captured in the world of flying, and heroes from
an early age. They were larger than life; I knew that even then-but
there were other heroes not so large.
When I was the commander of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Eglin
Air Force Base in Florida we were in the final day of an ORI. We already
had achieved an Outstanding, and had generated 71 of 72 jets. I was
sitting back in the command post, ready to knock it off, when the
DCM (we had DCM's back then) came in and said, "Boss, before
we knock it off, you need to come out and see this." So we jumped
in a truck and went down to the flightline, and there was a group
of about 5 people pushing a jet down the taxiway. There was that 72nd
jet, a jet with an engine write-up, being pushed over to the trim
pad, trying to get the last check done to run up the engine and generate
the jet. On the way, the tow bar had broken, but these folks were
doing what they needed to get the airplane ready to fly. See, it was
a matter of pride with that last crew chief that his jet was going
to be generated for the ORI. So the DCM and I jumped out, and we started
pushing the jet too. And more folks along the flightline started to
join in. People in buildings all around the base started filing out
to help get this jet to the trim pad. By the time that the last check
was done, and the chief signed off the checklist, there were probably
3,000 people gathered in the area-a lot of them probably had no idea
what was going on-and when he signed it off, a cheer arose that was
better than anything you have ever heard in the Super Bowl.
When I was commander of the 457th Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB in Nevada,
I got an unusual call. The Chairman of the racing division at General
Motors called and asked to come out and take a look at our operations.
I agreed, and he and some of his folks came out to look around. We
had an aircraft out on the flight line and some of our maintenance
troops there to talk with the GM team. The Chairman asked the young
NCO out there if the aircraft was ready to fly. He said "No,
see if you look up here, you can see that the power supply is burned
out, but I've got the part over to Sgt Smith in the repair shop, and
he'll get it fixed and get it out here; If he doesn't get it out here,
I'm gonna go over and kick Sgt Smith's butt. We'll have it installed
and ready at about 1400 so it can fly this afternoon." The GM
folks were amazed that this young man would place such personal interest
in the mission status of this aircraft. He asked the young Sergeant
why he was so motivated to make it happen. And this crew chief replied
that "Well, sir, that's my name on the side of the airplane."
It's that kind of professional pride that we have in the Air Force,
and you don't always see in the outside world.
Next, I'd like to talk to you about something that happened during
Operation ALLIED FORCE. Specifically, let me describe a single night
from ALLIED FORCE that I'll never forget, 27 March to be exact. In
fact, some of you may also remember this night because it was the
night we lost the F-117 near Belgrade. Now those of us that were in
Vietnam learned very early to dread the sound of an aircraft emergency
beacon. And as I sat in my office at Ramstein AB, through the marvels
of modern technology, I could hear that beacon and knew that we had
lost one of our own. An F-117 had been hit, right over the center
of downtown Belgrade, and managed to glide to the outskirts of the
city before the pilot was able to eject. Well, soon after this, a
young Captain named Cherry-an A-10 pilot-scrambled his aircraft and
began to organize the search and rescue effort. And I sat there and
listened to him do exactly what our nation had trained him to do:
direct planes to the tanker, position surveillance aircraft, and coordinate
with the helicopters to set up for a very difficult effort to save
his fellow airman.
While this was happening, I had one of those red phones you see in
the movies, with all the buttons-the first one being the President,
and the rest all the way down the chain of command. Well, this thing
was ringing off the hook! All the lights are flashing at once, and
everyone with the same questions: "Why aren't we in there?"
"When are we going to pick him up?" and so on. In the background,
that young Captain Cherry was calmly continuing to marshal the forces,
ensuring that every piece was in place prior to executing the rescue.
Well, my answer to some high officials in our government was "Sir,
the very best thing we can do is let Captain Cherry do his job. There's
nobody better equipped to do what needs to be done." When the
time came, it was incredible to see a package of 75 aircraft converge
on downtown Belgrade, just waiting to pounce on the smallest move
from the Serbians. There wasn't a peep! The helicopters then worked
their way into the area, picked up a very grateful pilot, and brought
him out safely, followed by the rest of the package. It was truly
inspiring to watch the spirit, dedication, loyalty and patriotism
all come together. But what do these stories tell us? What do they
mean? These are demonstrations of character-manifestations that attend
the character of those able to transcend preoccupation with self-that
virtue within us all which elevates the human spirit, compels us to
reach beyond our meager selves-commands us to seek more-to attach
our spirit to something bigger than we are.
When I was a Rat at VMI, entering in 1962, the cadet Regimental Commander
was a fellow named Josiah Bunting. Si graduated in the class of 1963,
was a Rhoades Scholar, served in the US Army in Vietnam and has since
devoted his life to higher education, having been a professor at the
United States Military Academy and President of several colleges.
He is now the Superintendent at VMI and a noted author. Si Bunting
lectures widely on value-based education. I recently heard him render
the finest definition of character I have ever heard. He said, "Character
is integrity projected over time." And then he reminded his audience
that the Indo-European root of the word integrity is "tag"-to
touch. Literally translated, the word integrity means, "that
within us that cannot be touched." But we went through a period
in the decade of the 90s where the AF lost some of its character as
an institution. We once had a quality Air Force that was ruined by
a concept known as Quality Air Force. During the early '90s, I was
in the Pentagon on the Joint Staff and in OSD while the Air Force
was taking up something called the Quality Air Force.
When I was going to take command of 9th Air Force, the QAF had taken
root. Now, I had read about Deming and Baldridge, and some of what
they said made sense-common sense. The management tools they talked
about were good in some cases. We were using them as well-we didn't
talk about it though, we just did it. When I arrived at Shaw, the
first guy to meet me was the Quality guy. He said we needed to have
an off-site-get the staff together and come up with our "mission,
vision and goals" for the future. I understand the off-site idea,
get folks focused on planning and get away from the distractions of
the office. Then he started talking about how we needed to break down
barriers. And this was a little curious, so I asked him how we were
going to do that. He said, "Well, we're not going to wear our
uniforms-and we are going to call each other by our first names."
It was all about breaking down barriers in his mind. It was bulls***.
My plan was a little different. We went off station, but we wore uniforms,
and we used ranks and were professional in all we did. We used no
coaches, no timekeepers, and we were able to accomplish everything
we set out to do, and more.
We were told to believe that big business had all the answers. "Quality"
was used as a substitute for leadership. It let words and slogans
guide our behavior. Words like 'empowerment,' 'break down barriers.'
We stopped mentoring our people. We lost touch with the fine art of
chewing ass. An example of this is the Blackhawk shoot down. We screwed
up with those F-15 pilots. The essential nature of our business is
to gain and maintain air superiority by shooting down bad guys. When
you visually ID an aircraft and shoot it down, and it's one of ours,
you have failed in your primary mission. It's worse than a doctor
taking out the wrong lung. Something should have been done. Then Gen
Fogleman made his video about accountability. He sat there as chief,
on the edge of his desk, and with an angry tone talked about how we
were going to be accountable for our actions. Scared a lot of people
in the fighter community. He said we needed to have our flyers take
responsibility for their actions. For starters, a good butt-chewing
would have worked.
Another example is the Lieutenant Kelly Flynn situation. You remember,
she was the one who was caught messing around with an enlisted member's
husband. Now, the press tried to make it into an adultery issue. It
was never an issue about adultery; it was about lying. Lying, and
taking responsibility for your actions. Now her squadron commander
had the opportunity to stop the problem before it got out of hand.
If he would have brought young Lieutenant Flynn into his office and
said, "I don't know if the stories I'm hearing are true or not,
and frankly, I don't care. But I'm giving you one chance, and one
chance only to knock it off!" I guarantee that would have been
the end of it. That's what our young people today need: a little personal
attention and counseling.
So this virtue of character is about institution, but it's also about
individuals. The character we seek to define is the fire of conscience
that burns within us and superintends our conduct over a lifetime.
But character is out of vogue in this world whose standards are set
more by the culture of Beavis and Butthead, or the Simpsons, than
by the standards of, say, our founding fathers: John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson or James Madison.
These men were truly unique. They transitioned easily from the pulpit
to the plowshare to the musket. They wrote the history of their time
with powerful words that will live forever: The Declaration of Independence,
The Constitution, The Federalist Papers. And they used words we don't
hear today-Words that describe the supreme traits of virtue and character
that inspired them. Words like Continence: "Self-restraint; the
ability to refrain from impulse." Also Disinterested: "Free
of selfish motive;"-intellectual curiosity in the lifeblood of
real civilization." Thomas Jefferson once said of John Adams
that he was "as disinterested as the being who made him."
It was the supreme compliment for one who was totally devoted to crafting
the framework of a new nation. It is that same dedication we see in
the F-15 crew chief, or the A-10 pilot who is determined that we won't
leave one of our own stranded deep in enemy territory.
Bunting describes the "death of shame." It is the propensity
that exists in today's society to reward the most unconscionable behavior
with a "tell-all" book or a movie contract. To hate the
sin but love the sinner; to turn the perpetrator into the victim;
to deflect blame and responsibility anywhere but on me. But this is
not a diagnosis of despair-these traits of culture are turned around
by generations that seek the path of higher standards. Such a generation
sits before me tonight.
You, here, have chosen such a path-the path of most resistance instead
of least resistance. The path that can forge the very character we
seek to revive. And it will be tested-again and again-as you exercise
the power of your choices: To do the right thing and to make it prevail
at whatever cost; to always speak the complete truth; to assume responsibility;
to be accountable for your mistakes as well as rewarded for accomplishments;
and, to make these choices without calculation of risk or reward.
It is the sum of that power which gives strength to this nation, and
will define the character and integrity of your generation of senior
NCOs. You, as future Air Force Leaders, must earn the right to lead
our heroes. Finally, here are a few practical tenets that have served
me well for more than 35 years in uniform. Jumper's Rules of Life:
Number 1. Your most meaningful memories will be the times when your
character, integrity, endurance, stamina or fortitude was most challenged
and you had the courage to do the right thing.
Number 2. The things that make you feel best about yourself will
not be things you do for yourself, but the good things you do for
others. During the Kosovo war one member of my staff went to a refugee
camp where twenty thousand or so Kosovar Albanians were living in
tents. As he entered the front gate with several other people they
were immediately surrounded by a huge throng of people-none of them
could speak English but soon a chant began to arise from the people:
"NATO, NATO, NATO." The people were grateful; they were
alive because NATO was protecting them from the Serbian military that
had tried to eliminate them.
Number 3. I can tell you exactly how to get ahead-the unfailing key
to success: Always do the best at the job you have right now-the rest
will take care of itself. How remarkable it is that prosperity, good
luck and fortune come to those who work hard.
Number 4. The experiences in your life that truly elevate the human
spirit will not come from material rewards, but from moral and spiritual
rewards that attend virtues of sacrifice, duty, honor and courage.
So, as you sit here tonight you are ahead in the marathon of life
and your goal is to finish. You have already demonstrated the virtues
of hard work and success that shape character. Stay on that path-remain
the same person that got you where you are today-listen to the wisdom
that surrounds you: your seniors, your peers, your spouses, your children
all contribute to that wisdom. They have walked the path you are on
and they do understand. They are beside you here tonight because they
care. Remain united with them into your future.
Thank you, and God bless the United States of America and the US
Air Force.
