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A Blue Chip Investment – Developing our Airmen
Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche
Graduation Address to the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, March 23, 2004
Distinguished guests, faculty and staff, proud parents, family members, and graduates -- it is my great pleasure to be part of this graduation ceremony. I congratulate each of you on earning your degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology -- known to be one tough school.
Graduates, you should feel justifiably proud of what you have achieved; I commend your hard work and diligence. Today, not only are you fulfilling the objectives of this great institution -- to provide universally respected engineering and management education to sustain the technological supremacy of America’s Air and Space Forces -- but you are also marking a great milestone in your lives. For those of you with spouses, I would like to thank them for the support they gave you day after day during your studies.
The diplomas you receive are more than a tangible reward for completing a prescribed program of study. Emerson once said: "The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education." In this spirit, I challenge you to look upon these diplomas not as the brass ring that signifies the culmination of your efforts, but rather as another step in a never-ending journey of inquiry, discovery, and achievement. Strive to become a leader who can shape the future and create a better world for our children and grandchildren.
I can assure you, in this increasingly complex and technical world, your education will help prepare you to meet the challenges of the future. The skills you have learned here -- in the areas of engineering, logistics, operations research, acquisition management, mathematics, meteorology, computer science, material science, and space sciences -- should arm you with many of the tools needed to meet these challenges head-on. To succeed, you must be innovative, technically competent, creative, and superb leaders -- in other words -- using all the capabilities that come from your military experience and the advanced education you received here at AFIT.
I ask you to reflect on the tenuous and fractured world in which we live, and the challenges to freedom we face around the globe. It is a vitally important time in the history of our nation and, for that matter, for modern civilization as we work to solve the challenges posed by the threat of global terrorism. Quite apart from the attacks of Sept. 11, we can foresee threats posed by ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and smuggled chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. We can foresee the prospect of new kinds of attacks against our computer networks, in which distance is less important and our traditional defenses will likely provide little protection.
For those of us charged with protecting America, these realities have forced us to redefine our enemies as well as our concepts of defense. It is these new challenges that underscore the value of our service to our nation. They are more complex and technically oriented -- making your education and experience here at AFIT all the more important to our success.
The capabilities our Air Force delivers -- global reconnaissance and strike, and the mobility assets that make it all happen, often in enemy-controlled or politically sensitive areas -- are exactly what America needs at this time in our history. Operation Noble Eagle -- over the United States -- began the moment the Air Force was notified of the hijackings. Operation Enduring Freedom, our fight against terrorism, began less than a month later. The Air Force made possible previously unimaginable, distant operations in a landlocked nation. Everything going into Afghanistan moved by air, even the Marines who came ashore via landing craft transferred to Air Force aircraft to be flown into Afghanistan. In short order, but not without costs, our Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and coalition team liberated that nation. It now is on a course of reconstruction.
In Iraq, we deposed a despot and liberated an oppressed people by employing a highly effective joint and coalition force. We are in the process of helping to rebuild that nation in a very difficult political climate.
At the height of operations in Iraq, nearly 55,000 Airmen were deployed to the AOR. Our engineers, maintainers, and logisticians bedded down and sustained nearly 900 aircraft at 38 new or improved expeditionary bases. Our communications professionals established bandwidth capability eight times larger than we had in Operation Enduring Freedom. And we demonstrated unprecedented support of our land forces – just as we should.
And our work continues, at home in Operation Noble Eagle, in our stateside operational and training missions, and around the globe, with more than 23,000 Airmen and over 300 aircraft deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Haiti and elsewhere. Our operations in Iraq also featured the most dramatic illustration to date of what a coalition can accomplish with a just mission, high technology, a commitment to joint and coalition military operations, and the bravery and creativity of magnificently trained Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Special Operation Forces of several countries.
I am extremely proud of your contributions to protecting America and supporting our allies around the world. Together, our team liberated two nations, and achieved significant objectives in our war on terrorism. The events of the last few years offered an opportunity to demonstrate the contributions of the world’s finest air and space force to the joint and coalition effort to defend our nation and friends. With these priorities, and a sustained commitment to our core values of integrity, service, and excellence, we’ll sustain our position as the world’s premier air and space power.
Our future success continues to rest with fighting as a joint team -- we are all on the joint team, and our Air Force exists to produce battlefield effects for this team. Our future is closely tied to the future of our land forces, and we have done a good job making this shift in how we see the future of our Air Force. But, we can do more. It is important that our land forces continue to understand our commitment to air-to-ground support, both deep interdiction and close air support. We will be fully integrated with them, whether Army, Marines, Special Operations Forces, or coalition land forces. I look out among the graduates today and see our brothers in arms from the Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Department of Defense employees and our international military partners -- this is very typical of what you will see at our deployed locations -- learn from the time you have spent together and bring that knowledge with you to the fight.
In these times of conflict against a new kind of enemy, we are reassessing how we think, and we are adapting to a new form of warfare. As General Douhet stated years ago, "Victory always smiled on the one who was able to renew traditional forms of warfare, and not on the one who hopelessly ties himself to those forms." We need people who can understand and use new ideas, breakdown complex problems, and employ technologically complex systems. People who can recognize problems and who are so highly motivated that they want to solve them. Airmen who can sense opportunities, and are excited about the prospects of exploiting them for yet better air and space dominance. Those who can be innovative with technology, and comfortable with the inherent uncertainty of strategy, will lead our country in this new century.
We need to develop thinkers, leaders, and professional men and women of high intellect and unquestioned skill. If we hope to preserve freedom, we cannot -- and will not -- depart from this course. Our force’s capabilities are based on the collective abilities of our personnel and a dedicated career-long focus on the development of professionals.
I truly believe your continued training, education and development are key investment in our future. As most of you in the Air Force know, we’ve implemented a new Force Development Program. I believe we have an obligation to equip you with the tools you need to make us a more potent team. We are making that investment in all career fields and all ranks more deliberately than we had in the past in order to better prepare our Air Force for the future.
Our Force Development Program will enable us to focus on each individual by emphasizing our common Airman culture while offering a variety of choices that respects the distinctive elements of your career field. We are developing leaders who motivate teams, mentor subordinates, and train successors. We are working with our educational institutions, like AFIT, to provide responsive, defense-focused continuing education, research, and consultation that will improve Air Force and joint operational capabilities.
Our goal is to employ a deliberate process that creates and grows leaders -- commissioned and non-commissioned -- capable of taking our Air Force to the next level of excellence -- leaders who instinctively know how to leverage individual skills collectively to accomplish the mission -- you are here because you are among those leaders. We understand what former Chief of Staff General Charlie Gabriel meant when he said that "The Air Force's real strength lies in its people. The mission is not done by machines, it is done by people. The best weapons are of little value without trained and motivated people to operate and support them."
Our officer corps is the envy of every other Air Force in the world. But, in my travels around the world, foreign political and military leaders continually ask how we field such a talented, dedicated, and capable enlisted corps. Our enlisted corps is a key reason why we have emerged as the most respected air and space force on the planet. This is no accident. Over the years, we’ve invested heavily in our Airmen -- in training, education, and benefits. We’ve reaped the rewards of these investments many times over, in war and peace -- which is why I am particularly proud to see our first enlisted AFIT graduates today. Fourteen senior NCOs -- eight Air Force and six Marines (now with a tinge of "blue") -- represent the first of many senior noncommissioned officers who will attend classes here. I consider your attendance at AFIT long overdue and I am extremely proud that this program has come to fruition. General Jumper feels the same. And I’m sure the officers in your class agree with us as well.
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The future global environment presents serious challenges, both for our nation and our Air Force. We are working to tackle new missions, and to leverage better our capabilities to meet these challenges. We will succeed by capitalizing on new technologies, integration, and by capitalizing on our most valuable asset -- our people.
In our Air Force, we are committed to the development of competent Airmen who understand the challenges of today and can anticipate the challenges of tomorrow -- and who are prepared to operate in these environments. This is the difference between excellence and mediocrity, success and failure. And in this fight, we will prevail -- because of smart, dedicated, and gifted military members like you.
Again, on behalf of General Jumper, the other leaders of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Haggie, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Schoomaker, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Collins, and certainly me, congratulations and God Bless America.
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