Jumper: Airmen haven't changed at all

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  The Air Force's top-ranked officer first donned a flight suit more than 39 years ago -- before 83 percent of active-duty Airmen had even been born.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper has seen a lot of changes during his time in uniform, but he said one thing remains the same -- the dedication of Airmen to the job they are sworn to do.

"The thing that marked my generation in Vietnam is that we all did our duty," he said. "We answered the call, we did what our nation asked us to do, and we were all very dedicated to what we were doing. If you look at this generation of Airmen we have today, it is the same thing. They are every bit as committed and patriotic as you want them to be."

Though the dedication of Airmen to their mission has not changed over the years, General Jumper said the Air Force mission itself has changed dramatically.

"We have gone from the days (where) we were prepared to deal with Cold War dynamics -- to deploy over to Europe or the Pacific and prepare for the great monolithic war against the Warsaw Pact -- and made a shift into a world where you don't know what is coming next," he said.

That change in mission and focus forced the Air Force to adapt the way it does business, to develop into a force that is leaner, more flexible and more responsive. That new way of doing business, embodied in the air and space expeditionary force concept, was adopted quickly by the Air Force and has changed the Air Force in big ways.

"To be able to project our force into an AEF force, to be able to deal with contingencies on a rotational basis, to be able to surge our AEF to deal with something like Operation Iraqi Freedom -- all of these things are remarkable transitions to the kind of agility we never had when I was a young captain," General Jumper said. "It shows us we do have the strength to change our culture and stay the best Air Force on the planet."

That transition to a more agile and responsive force has put new demands on the Airmen who do the mission.

"We have asked all Airmen to be expeditionary Airman now," he said. "That's a lot different than spending your career at Holloman Air Force Base (N.M.) or MacDill AFB (Fla.). If you go to a Balad (Air Base, Iraq) or one of the airfields we have in (the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility) where Airmen are stationed today, it is a different life. Expeditionary Airmen have to be able to live in an expeditionary setting. They have to be able to defend the airfield and generate sorties or do their job in the face of mortar attacks or the face of fire, and we have to be able to fall in with the other services to do our job."

The Air Force has even asked Airmen to change their personal fitness to align themselves with the new role the service plays, the general said.

"The fitness program is going to make sure we have Airmen who are fit enough to walk around in the 30-pound Kevlar vest or wear a chemical suit when they have to," General Jumper said. "We have a different outlook now."

Airmen have changed the way they work to adapt to an Air Force that has changed its mission in response to a changed world. But one thing about Airmen remains as true today as it did when General Jumper became an Airman -- their dedication to whatever mission it is they are asked to do.

"The longer you are around, you realize that every generation has more in common than they don't have in common," he said. "When exposed to the right kind of leadership, the right kind of motivation, and most of all, a sense of pride, this generation of Airmen is no different of any generation that has ever served."

General Jumper will retire in September.