Air Force leaders discuss challenges, achievements

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Patrice Clarke
  • 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz hosted a multi-command panel of generals to address issues from the audience at the Air Force Association's Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition at National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Sept. 15.

The panel discussion, which also featured Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy, opened with General Schwartz encouraging audience members to query the panel.

Lt. Gen. Donald C. Wurster, the commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, and other generals on the panel expressed concerns about personnel and stressed career fields.

"We are talking about our battlefield Airmen in career fields like combat controllers, pararescuemen, tactical air control party Airmen, and our special (operations) weather teams," General Wurster said. "That force is fewer than 600 people, and last week I went up to McChord (Air Force Base, Wash.) to pin on our 65th Purple Heart in that group."

General Wurster emphasized that this number represents more than 10 percent of the group.

"One in 10 of those brave, young, beret-wearing enlisted members is wearing a Purple Heart," he said.

Gen. Raymond E. Johns, the commander of Air Mobility Command, shared examples of the Air Force's response to Haiti's devastating earthquake in January.

He described the aerial delivery, almost overnight, of hundreds of pallets of food and water, as well as the quick move of a brigade combat team of the 82nd Airborne from Ft. Bragg, N.C., to the disaster-stricken country.

"When Haiti kicked off on the 12th of January, we put the call out to everybody," he said. "That night, 13,000 active, guard and Reserve Airmen said 'let's go do the mission.'"

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, the commander of Air Force Space Command, also shared his perspective and related milestones during his three years at AFSPC.

"We just went past our first birthday in 24th Air Force," General Kehler said. "The first undergraduate cyber training classes are in session. The cyber professionals will soon be going through an assignment night, and they will graduate in December."

He also highlighted the many operational successes of AFSPC and how the command's Airmen continue to provide a much-needed advantage to the warfighter.

"It's the United States Air Force who is charged with providing the Global Positioning System capability to planet Earth," General Kehler said. "We continue to provide the ability for the warfighters to strike with precision, see the battlefield with clarity, operate with assurance, and navigate with accuracy."

Toward the end of the panel, Chief Roy, who advises headquarters Air Force leadership on enlisted interests, noted some constraints the enlisted force faces, including undermanned career fields with high deployment rates.

Despite the demanding operations tempo, General Schwartz said the entire Air Force team will continue its important mission defending the U.S. and assisting its partners.

"As long as people are dying in the ongoing military operations, this team of panel members and our Air Force family are going to do what's necessary, and we are going to do it well," he said.

The panel discussion also featured Gen. Craig R. McKinley, the National Guard Bureau chief; Gen. Roger R. Brady, the U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander; Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz, the Air Education and Training Command commander; Gen. William M. Fraser III, the Air Combat Command commander; Gen. Donald J. Hoffman, the Air Force Materiel Command commander; and Gen. Gary L. North, the Pacific Air Forces commander.

Additionally, Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz, the Air Force Global Strike Command commander; Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., the Air Force Reserve Command commander; and Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, the Air National Guard director, participated in the event.