AF senior leaders address Hill Airmen

  • Published
  • By Lee Anne Hensley
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) --  The acting secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force chief of staff spoke to top leaders and several thousand airmen here Aug. 22.

Michael Donley and Gen. Norton Schwartz brought a tone mixed with both optimism and practicality in their speeches to Airmen.

"It's been two months and one day since I've been appointed as your acting secretary," Secretary Donley said. "I've found the Air Force a little rocked by some of the decisions that have been made in Washington and the leadership change standing in front of you today is unprecedented. Our immediate goal is to settle things down in the Air Force. This is the world's greatest Air Force; it always has been and it always will be."

Secretary Donley outlined the "rich agenda of things we are addressing," he said.

"The nuclear enterprise is getting a lot of my attention," Secretary Donley said, adding that he would attend briefings on the subject later that morning and also planned to visit Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., to see its nuclear related efforts.

Secretary Donley is focusing on securing a new air tanker for the Air Force and said, "We're going to get that tanker no matter how long it takes."

Securing the new air tanker though requires the reassessment of the Air Force acquisition process.

"Obviously, because of the tanker issue, we are working our acquisitions systems, especially in the short term," Secretary Donley said.

Taking the lessons learned earlier this year, Air Force officials hope to apply changes in the acquisition process, he said. 

"We need to get through these complicated acquisitions processes with a clean bill of health," Secretary Donley said.

Secretary Donley and General Schwartz are focusing on strategic planning with Air Force leaders this month to secure a short term plan.

"It's a critical time," Secretary Donley said. "Congress is finishing action on the appropriation bills this fall. We're at the front end of the normal cycle of Air Force planning, there is planning under way for a new administration and later in calendar year '09, we'll be into the next quadrennial defense review. You will see decisions within the next few months."

General Schwartz echoed Secretary Donley's pragmatic optimism in his address to the crowd.

"We have some things we need to work on, and we will," the general said. "But a key point, in my view, is that your Air Force, in those areas where we've had some difficulties, is coming back. The way we do that is through precision and reliability, in everything we do." 

Stressing the importance of keeping the promise to uphold the Air Force's core values, General Schwartz told the crowd to "Keep the promise."

After the speeches, General Schwartz held a question and answer session where he said the code of conduct should be the core feature in all Air Force jobs. 

"We want to be the best performers in the Department of Defense, we want to have the reputation of keeping our promises, we want to be known as the force that says, 'Send me,'" he said.

Addressing a question on the plan to merge the maintenance and operations groups, General Schwartz said he thought the maintenance group should remain independent and the Air Force should treat maintenance as a professional discipline.

General Schwartz also addressed a question about how the decision to place the Cyber Command on hold affects the war on cyberspace. The general stressed that Cyber Command is still viewed as a growth area. However, decisions that will drive its development hinge upon debates in Washington as to what is the best way to structure this command.

General Schwartz and Secretary Donley both congratulated the Hill Airmen on their efforts to make the Air Force base here an excellent installation.

"Actions, ladies and gentlemen, speak louder than words," the general said, "What we saw today walking around (the flightline) and so on, was action."

"That's what we're about," he said. 

Secretary Donley talked about the maintenance aspect of Hill and specifically addressed Ogden Air Logistics Center here.
 
"It's been over 15 years since I have been to Ogden and it looks even better than the last time I was here," Secretary Donley said. "The ALCs are crown jewels for the United States Air Force and you certainly have a shining jewel here at Ogden." 

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