FWIW -
Insight to our Military Leadership process worth reading.
J.K.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: Bedke, Curtis M MajGen USAF AFMC AFRL/CC
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:45 PM
To: AFRL DL-Personnel-All
Subject: AFRL Commander's WIT #34: A Difficult Time for Our Air Force
Men and Women of the Air Force Flight Test CenterÔÇö
I wish you could have been there. You would have been captivated, and mesmerized. You would have been proud.
IÔÇÖll explain in a bit.
As you all know by now, on Thursday the Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael W. Wynne, and the Chief of Staff, General T. Michael Moseley, offered their resignations to the Secretary of Defense. A report on the way the Air Force has handled the nuclear mission over the past few yearsÔÇöincluding the incident at Minot when an aircrew flew a B-52 loaded with nuclear weapons to Barksdale AFB last fall, and a previous incident when nuclear-related materials were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan and left undiscovered for 17 monthsÔÇöhad just been briefed to the SECDEF. It cited ÔÇ£lapses in discipline, compliance, focus, and attention to detailÔÇØ in the Air ForceÔÇÖs handling of that mission.
IÔÇÖm going to approach this issue THREE WAYS:
First, IÔÇÖm going to give you the official Air Force ÔÇ£Public Affairs Guidance and Talking Points on AF Leadership Resignations.ÔÇØ You owe it to yourself to read it and understand it.
Second, IÔÇÖll tell you my own personal thoughts on ÔÇ£What This All Means.ÔÇØ
And finally, I want to give you a little insight into what I saw as this unfolded before mebecause this occurred during the annual CORONA Top Conference, the years most important gathering of general officers, right here at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
________________________________________________
(Official Talking Points deleted for brevity. J.K.)
________________________________________________
My own personal thoughts on ÔÇ£What This All MeansÔÇØ
In many ways, itÔÇÖs simple. For all the water-cooler talk about whether the SECAF and CSAF were at fault, or whether there were more factors than just the two nuclear incidents, or whether there were personal animosities, it actually comes down to a few key points:
First: Accountability for our Responsibilities. The SECAF and CSAF are trusted with the United States Air Force. Everything that happens in, to, or because of our Air Force is their responsibility. That doesnt have to be fairit often is notbut anyone who signs up for command or leadership must always understand that everything that happens is in some way their responsibility.
I read an article 21 years ago that has stuck with me ever since. It was written by a naval officer. He pointed out that the old expressionand the older traditionthat a Captain goes down with his shipcame about because out on the high seas, it was always clear to everyone on board that the person in charge was responsible to no higher authority. He could play godand in his judgment and decisions lay the fate of the entire crew. But the crews continued to sign up, to go to sea, to trust their Captain, because of one simple principle: that the Captain himself understood that if things turned bad, he was the ultimate authorityand he would pay the ultimate price. That understanding meant that the Captain needed to do everything he could, every day, in every way, to guarantee the safety and welfare and competence of the crew.
And so it is today, in more modern times, and in the most modern of organizations. Secretary Wynne and General Moseley are mature adultsas mature as you will ever find, I warrantand they dont need coddling. They did their besttheir organization did many wonderful things, and will continue to do so as long as we existbut there was a failure in an area so important that the SECDEFwho also has the same responsibility, at one level higherdecided that severe action was required. So they have resigned with dignity and grace.
Second: What we do is important. This isnÔÇÖt about next quarterÔÇÖs earnings. ItÔÇÖs not about whether or not the particular science or engineering project we happen to be interested inÔÇöor which weÔÇÖve been working on so hard for months or perhaps yearsÔÇögets funded next year. ItÔÇÖs about whether or not what we are doing is making the Air Force better able to defend our nation.
Third: Our system is strong. We shall endure this. We will fix what is broken, we will move forward, we will get back to doing great things for the security of our families, our friends, our citizens, and our ideals. This is the first time in the history of the nation that both the civilian and military leaders of a service have been removed together. Abraham Lincoln during his tenure fired quite a few generalsit happened again at the beginning of World War IIbut this move is frankly unprecedented. And yetour Air Force has the people, the organization, and the tensile strength that allow us to wake up the next morning and know that life will continue, our mission remains, and our confidence that we can do our jobs does not diminish.
I would submit that it is in tough times like this that we can be most proud of our chosen service.
What I Saw at CORONA Top
IÔÇÖll preface by saying that the CORONA series are gatherings, three times a year, of the 4-star generals of the Air Force. They also invite some others to attend: 3-star commanders, and some 2-star commanders. If youÔÇÖre a 4-star, you sit at the big table and chime in at will. If youÔÇÖre a 3-star, you can sorta ÔÇ£raise your handÔÇØ and be recognized if you have a comment. (We 2-stars generally sit in the back and speak when spoken to!) CORONA Top, the most important of the three conferences, was held here on Thursday and Friday.
Thursdays schedule had been altered a bit as General Moseley would be unable to make the morning sessionhe had a meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. Secretary Wynne kicked off the meeting with a talk that reminded us that we are all airmenand that we in that room were the leadership that we all used to pan when we were Captains and Majors. He talked about disciplineabout the need to always take responsibility for our bases, even if we werent the base commanders, that we were accountable for our actions. He mentioned the nuclear incidents, and other examples not from our Air Force, that illustrate the importance of being ever-vigilant. We also discussed the concerns that perhaps we have let the lines between senior enlisted and junior enlisted blurand even perhaps the line between senior enlisted and junior officer. We agreed that, in the military, over-familiarity between the ranks can lead over time to subtle losses of disciplineand that while we were not going to over-react, we would all need to call upon our most senior NCOs to help us get things back in line.
In hindsight, IÔÇÖve asked myself if he somehow knew that within just a few hours he would be asked to resign. Knowing how it all played out, I believe he understood the gravity of the report that had been submitted to the SECDEF, but I think he was simply telling us that this business is serious and we would all have to do better in the future.
Late in the morning, during one of the briefings, the Secretarys aide came in to the room and whispered in his ear. He got up out of his seat and left the room. We did not see him againuntil that evening. The Chief never did make the morning session.
The afternoon session was a 4-star-only meeting. I had planned a separate side meeting with Brig Gen John Hyten, the AFSPC/A5, and with Lt Gen Tom Sheridan, the new Space & Missile Center Commander. Just before going into that meeting, I got a phone call from my office telling me the news was reporting the Secretary and Chief had been asked to resign.
_______________
That evening, as at every CORONA Top, was to be the Heraldic Banquet, held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. At this traditional event, each commander brings a display that represents their command. We sit at one long tableabout 50 of us, 25 per sideand dressed in our mess dress uniforms, we salute the flag, and toast each other, and randomly, one by one we stand sometime during the evening and tell the story of our heraldic device (as the display is called) and then propose a toast to our organization, or to the men and women overseas, or to those who have gone before, or whatever one wishes to toast. (Toasts can be deemed worthy or unworthy, so one dares not come unprepared!)
So the Big QuestionÔÇöor, I must say, just one of the many, many Big QuestionsÔÇöwas, ÔÇ£Is the Heraldic Banquet still on? Or will we cancel it?ÔÇØ Needless to say, nobody felt much like celebrating.
Then the word came down: The Heraldic Banquet was still on. And both the Secretary and the Chief would be there!
It began with a group photo in one of the museum hangars. I will not go into all the details of the evening. Suffice it to say that we were all lined up for the group photo, missing only one personand when the Chief arrived, the entire crowd broke into spontaneous applause. It lasted a long time.
The Chief opened the dinner (after the flag ceremony and invocation) in his usual direct but calmly amusing way. He noted that the day had been interestingthat it had started for him with a bit of an Administrative burp (and then he smiled)and then told us that in the big scheme of things, this was a small blip in the progress the Air Force had made and would continue to make. He toasted the Secretary, sitting across from him at the center of the long table, and called him the single most engaged and important Secretary in the history of the Air Force since Sep 18, 1947.
The Secretary then stood up and praised the Chief. (You may not know, but these two have been closer than any Secretary/Chief combination IÔÇÖve seen in my career.) He, talked about what an honor it had been to be allowed to work with so many fine people in an organization that was so important to the world.
After that came dinnerand one toast after another. Most talked a bit, as tradition required, about their heraldic device; others talked about Hap Arnold, or Billy Mitchell, or about the Japanese bushido warrior ethic (from 5th Air Force, Yokota), or told a story involving the Chief or the Secretary. But always, of course, it came back to toasting the Chief and the Secretary. The stories were alternately about flying, or about OEF or OIF, or about some incident from the past. They were funny or serious or witty or maudlinsometimes in combination.
Now, the Chief is big on Air Force history. He knows his stuff. And I realized, as the evening progressed, that we were both living a moment of history, and we were recounting, as if channeled by those who have gone before us, the glories and follies of the past. The stories were as big as DoolittleÔÇÖs Raiders and as small as some recollection from a bar in Korea by a general who, as a Captain, had just passed the checkride given to him that day by Major Moseley.
At one point, it was either Gen Moseley or Secretary Wynne who noted that it isnÔÇÖt the places you are assigned or the jobs you do, but rather the people you have the pleasure to get to know that makes for a wonderful life. And thatÔÇÖs when I realized thatÔÇöfor these two men as well as for each of usÔÇöit may be the ÔÇ£big historyÔÇØ that entices us to join the Air Force, but itÔÇÖs the ÔÇ£little historyÔÇØÔÇöthe personal storiesÔÇöthat keep us in.
And so it went, throughout the night, with much laughter and a few tears, and eventually a general feeling of sad-but-accepting well-being suffused the crowd.
It struck me at one point that there was in fact some larger humor at work, and I mentioned it. People looked at me a bit quizzically, wondering where I could find the humor in the situation we were in at that moment. Well, I said, right now this evening, in homes and on bases and in theater, and in Air Force aircraft all over the world, about 690,000 airmen and their families are thinking to themselves: My goodness, the Air Force has been dealt one shocking blow. Our leadership must be in a total panic, in complete disarray right now. And here we are, folks, banded together and telling stories and recounting our history and as closely knit as Id bet we have ever been before. As General Moseley has told usits going to be all right. Now we need to go out and get that message to our people.
And so I am.
--CMBedke
CURTIS M. BEDKE
Major General, USAF
AFRL Commander
Insight to our Military Leadership process worth reading.
J.K.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: Bedke, Curtis M MajGen USAF AFMC AFRL/CC
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:45 PM
To: AFRL DL-Personnel-All
Subject: AFRL Commander's WIT #34: A Difficult Time for Our Air Force
Men and Women of the Air Force Flight Test CenterÔÇö
I wish you could have been there. You would have been captivated, and mesmerized. You would have been proud.
IÔÇÖll explain in a bit.
As you all know by now, on Thursday the Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael W. Wynne, and the Chief of Staff, General T. Michael Moseley, offered their resignations to the Secretary of Defense. A report on the way the Air Force has handled the nuclear mission over the past few yearsÔÇöincluding the incident at Minot when an aircrew flew a B-52 loaded with nuclear weapons to Barksdale AFB last fall, and a previous incident when nuclear-related materials were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan and left undiscovered for 17 monthsÔÇöhad just been briefed to the SECDEF. It cited ÔÇ£lapses in discipline, compliance, focus, and attention to detailÔÇØ in the Air ForceÔÇÖs handling of that mission.
IÔÇÖm going to approach this issue THREE WAYS:
First, IÔÇÖm going to give you the official Air Force ÔÇ£Public Affairs Guidance and Talking Points on AF Leadership Resignations.ÔÇØ You owe it to yourself to read it and understand it.
Second, IÔÇÖll tell you my own personal thoughts on ÔÇ£What This All Means.ÔÇØ
And finally, I want to give you a little insight into what I saw as this unfolded before mebecause this occurred during the annual CORONA Top Conference, the years most important gathering of general officers, right here at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
________________________________________________
(Official Talking Points deleted for brevity. J.K.)
________________________________________________
My own personal thoughts on ÔÇ£What This All MeansÔÇØ
In many ways, itÔÇÖs simple. For all the water-cooler talk about whether the SECAF and CSAF were at fault, or whether there were more factors than just the two nuclear incidents, or whether there were personal animosities, it actually comes down to a few key points:
First: Accountability for our Responsibilities. The SECAF and CSAF are trusted with the United States Air Force. Everything that happens in, to, or because of our Air Force is their responsibility. That doesnt have to be fairit often is notbut anyone who signs up for command or leadership must always understand that everything that happens is in some way their responsibility.
I read an article 21 years ago that has stuck with me ever since. It was written by a naval officer. He pointed out that the old expressionand the older traditionthat a Captain goes down with his shipcame about because out on the high seas, it was always clear to everyone on board that the person in charge was responsible to no higher authority. He could play godand in his judgment and decisions lay the fate of the entire crew. But the crews continued to sign up, to go to sea, to trust their Captain, because of one simple principle: that the Captain himself understood that if things turned bad, he was the ultimate authorityand he would pay the ultimate price. That understanding meant that the Captain needed to do everything he could, every day, in every way, to guarantee the safety and welfare and competence of the crew.
And so it is today, in more modern times, and in the most modern of organizations. Secretary Wynne and General Moseley are mature adultsas mature as you will ever find, I warrantand they dont need coddling. They did their besttheir organization did many wonderful things, and will continue to do so as long as we existbut there was a failure in an area so important that the SECDEFwho also has the same responsibility, at one level higherdecided that severe action was required. So they have resigned with dignity and grace.
Second: What we do is important. This isnÔÇÖt about next quarterÔÇÖs earnings. ItÔÇÖs not about whether or not the particular science or engineering project we happen to be interested inÔÇöor which weÔÇÖve been working on so hard for months or perhaps yearsÔÇögets funded next year. ItÔÇÖs about whether or not what we are doing is making the Air Force better able to defend our nation.
Third: Our system is strong. We shall endure this. We will fix what is broken, we will move forward, we will get back to doing great things for the security of our families, our friends, our citizens, and our ideals. This is the first time in the history of the nation that both the civilian and military leaders of a service have been removed together. Abraham Lincoln during his tenure fired quite a few generalsit happened again at the beginning of World War IIbut this move is frankly unprecedented. And yetour Air Force has the people, the organization, and the tensile strength that allow us to wake up the next morning and know that life will continue, our mission remains, and our confidence that we can do our jobs does not diminish.
I would submit that it is in tough times like this that we can be most proud of our chosen service.
What I Saw at CORONA Top
IÔÇÖll preface by saying that the CORONA series are gatherings, three times a year, of the 4-star generals of the Air Force. They also invite some others to attend: 3-star commanders, and some 2-star commanders. If youÔÇÖre a 4-star, you sit at the big table and chime in at will. If youÔÇÖre a 3-star, you can sorta ÔÇ£raise your handÔÇØ and be recognized if you have a comment. (We 2-stars generally sit in the back and speak when spoken to!) CORONA Top, the most important of the three conferences, was held here on Thursday and Friday.
Thursdays schedule had been altered a bit as General Moseley would be unable to make the morning sessionhe had a meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. Secretary Wynne kicked off the meeting with a talk that reminded us that we are all airmenand that we in that room were the leadership that we all used to pan when we were Captains and Majors. He talked about disciplineabout the need to always take responsibility for our bases, even if we werent the base commanders, that we were accountable for our actions. He mentioned the nuclear incidents, and other examples not from our Air Force, that illustrate the importance of being ever-vigilant. We also discussed the concerns that perhaps we have let the lines between senior enlisted and junior enlisted blurand even perhaps the line between senior enlisted and junior officer. We agreed that, in the military, over-familiarity between the ranks can lead over time to subtle losses of disciplineand that while we were not going to over-react, we would all need to call upon our most senior NCOs to help us get things back in line.
In hindsight, IÔÇÖve asked myself if he somehow knew that within just a few hours he would be asked to resign. Knowing how it all played out, I believe he understood the gravity of the report that had been submitted to the SECDEF, but I think he was simply telling us that this business is serious and we would all have to do better in the future.
Late in the morning, during one of the briefings, the Secretarys aide came in to the room and whispered in his ear. He got up out of his seat and left the room. We did not see him againuntil that evening. The Chief never did make the morning session.
The afternoon session was a 4-star-only meeting. I had planned a separate side meeting with Brig Gen John Hyten, the AFSPC/A5, and with Lt Gen Tom Sheridan, the new Space & Missile Center Commander. Just before going into that meeting, I got a phone call from my office telling me the news was reporting the Secretary and Chief had been asked to resign.
_______________
That evening, as at every CORONA Top, was to be the Heraldic Banquet, held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. At this traditional event, each commander brings a display that represents their command. We sit at one long tableabout 50 of us, 25 per sideand dressed in our mess dress uniforms, we salute the flag, and toast each other, and randomly, one by one we stand sometime during the evening and tell the story of our heraldic device (as the display is called) and then propose a toast to our organization, or to the men and women overseas, or to those who have gone before, or whatever one wishes to toast. (Toasts can be deemed worthy or unworthy, so one dares not come unprepared!)
So the Big QuestionÔÇöor, I must say, just one of the many, many Big QuestionsÔÇöwas, ÔÇ£Is the Heraldic Banquet still on? Or will we cancel it?ÔÇØ Needless to say, nobody felt much like celebrating.
Then the word came down: The Heraldic Banquet was still on. And both the Secretary and the Chief would be there!
It began with a group photo in one of the museum hangars. I will not go into all the details of the evening. Suffice it to say that we were all lined up for the group photo, missing only one personand when the Chief arrived, the entire crowd broke into spontaneous applause. It lasted a long time.
The Chief opened the dinner (after the flag ceremony and invocation) in his usual direct but calmly amusing way. He noted that the day had been interestingthat it had started for him with a bit of an Administrative burp (and then he smiled)and then told us that in the big scheme of things, this was a small blip in the progress the Air Force had made and would continue to make. He toasted the Secretary, sitting across from him at the center of the long table, and called him the single most engaged and important Secretary in the history of the Air Force since Sep 18, 1947.
The Secretary then stood up and praised the Chief. (You may not know, but these two have been closer than any Secretary/Chief combination IÔÇÖve seen in my career.) He, talked about what an honor it had been to be allowed to work with so many fine people in an organization that was so important to the world.
After that came dinnerand one toast after another. Most talked a bit, as tradition required, about their heraldic device; others talked about Hap Arnold, or Billy Mitchell, or about the Japanese bushido warrior ethic (from 5th Air Force, Yokota), or told a story involving the Chief or the Secretary. But always, of course, it came back to toasting the Chief and the Secretary. The stories were alternately about flying, or about OEF or OIF, or about some incident from the past. They were funny or serious or witty or maudlinsometimes in combination.
Now, the Chief is big on Air Force history. He knows his stuff. And I realized, as the evening progressed, that we were both living a moment of history, and we were recounting, as if channeled by those who have gone before us, the glories and follies of the past. The stories were as big as DoolittleÔÇÖs Raiders and as small as some recollection from a bar in Korea by a general who, as a Captain, had just passed the checkride given to him that day by Major Moseley.
At one point, it was either Gen Moseley or Secretary Wynne who noted that it isnÔÇÖt the places you are assigned or the jobs you do, but rather the people you have the pleasure to get to know that makes for a wonderful life. And thatÔÇÖs when I realized thatÔÇöfor these two men as well as for each of usÔÇöit may be the ÔÇ£big historyÔÇØ that entices us to join the Air Force, but itÔÇÖs the ÔÇ£little historyÔÇØÔÇöthe personal storiesÔÇöthat keep us in.
And so it went, throughout the night, with much laughter and a few tears, and eventually a general feeling of sad-but-accepting well-being suffused the crowd.
It struck me at one point that there was in fact some larger humor at work, and I mentioned it. People looked at me a bit quizzically, wondering where I could find the humor in the situation we were in at that moment. Well, I said, right now this evening, in homes and on bases and in theater, and in Air Force aircraft all over the world, about 690,000 airmen and their families are thinking to themselves: My goodness, the Air Force has been dealt one shocking blow. Our leadership must be in a total panic, in complete disarray right now. And here we are, folks, banded together and telling stories and recounting our history and as closely knit as Id bet we have ever been before. As General Moseley has told usits going to be all right. Now we need to go out and get that message to our people.
And so I am.
--CMBedke
CURTIS M. BEDKE
Major General, USAF
AFRL Commander
