Reoptimization for Great Power Competition

GPC Key Decisions

USAF Case for Change

SecAF Memo

Air Force FAQ for Reoptimizing Great Power Competition

“We need these changes now; we are out of time to reoptimize our forces to meet the strategic challenges in a time of great power competition.”

~ Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall

The United States faces a time of consequence marked by significant shifts in the strategic environment. To remain ready, the U.S. Air Force must change.

In early 2024, the Department of the Air Force unveiled sweeping plans for reshaping, refocusing, and reoptimizing the Air Force and Space Force to ensure continued supremacy in their respective domains while better posturing the services to deter and, if necessary, prevail in an era of Great Power Competition. Through a series of 24 DAF-wide key decisions, four core areas which demand the Department’s attention will be addressed: Develop People, Generate Readiness, Project Power and Develop Capabilities.

Today, the Air Force once again finds itself at a critical juncture—an era of Great Power Competition marked by a new security environment, a rapidly evolving character of war, and a formidable competitor. This new era requires understanding its challenges and the attributes needed to succeed.

Embracing change is not a choice; it is a necessity. The Air Force must “reoptimize” into an enterprise prepared for high-end conflicts and long-term strategic competition.

Retired Spc. Gene Rouse a Vietnam Veteran LR

4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office

Video by Spc. Tyler Brock

March 9, 2022 | 1:42

On March 29th every year we take time to honor those who served in the Vietnam War. One of those men was Spc. Gene Rouse, a retired track vehicle mechanic, who was assigned to Bravo Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment on deployment status with 4th Infantry Division, who will gladly share his story with anyone willing to listen to his recount of his experience in Vietnam.

Transcript:

00:00:00:02 - 00:00:41:14
SMG Woods
I'm Sergeant Major. Woods your host for this issue of The Big Picture. While the U.S. Army has many missions in many lands. The attention of our nation is focused inevitably on army activities in one particular part of the world, Vietnam.

00:00:41:14 - 00:01:04:19
GENE ROUSE
Back then, there was a lot of open space in the Central Highlands where I was it was fairly flat. And there were hills and mountains here in there which had jungle on them. But the elevation was like 3,000 feet. Vietnamese themselves were mostly in the towns around my control and Pleiku. Civilization just wasn't quite what it was, you know, back home, of course.

00:01:04:19 - 00:01:08:07
GENE ROUSE
I got sent to Vietnam. But then, yeah, that was the hard part.

00:01:08:07 - 00:01:21:19
JOAN ROUSE
Before he left, he wanted us to send tapes back and forth to each other so we could hear each other's voices. He would mail them to him and he'd mail them to me. And that made it real that he was okay.

00:01:21:19 - 00:01:34:09
JOAN ROUSE
Now, after the experience is over, looking back on it, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm so happy that I did. The guys that I met and worked with and so on and so forth. I mean, it was it was really an adventure. More