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Secretary of Air Force speaks at Rodeo Town Hall

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott Sturkol
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Editor's note: The following transcription of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley's remarks at the Air Mobility Rodeo 2009 town hall Wednesday was provided by Tech. Sgt. Scott Sturkol, Air Mobility Command Public Affairs.

What a treat for me to be here with you today. I've been looking forward to this visit for many, many weeks. General Lichte, thank for this great opportunity and this invitation. You are having a wonderful week here at McChord. I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank you for what you are doing here and tell you how important we think your mission is. The men and women of Air Mobility Command are serving our nation and serving our Air Force 24/7 all around the world. You are doing an outstanding job. I want to thank you for that. But first, Joe Jackson, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Doolittle Raiders - gentlemen it is an honor to be in your presence. Thank you for not only the service that you gave to our nation, and the inspiration that you continue to give us for this generation. We thank you for the legacy that you left for our Air Force. You set us off on a very good start and we hope only to follow in your footsteps and chart an even more brighter future for our Air Force. Thank you for being here today with us.

I'd also like to thank our international partners for joining us. As General Lichte said, we have over 20 nations represented here. Some are in the competition and some are observers. We bid you welcome to the United States. We are so grateful you are here participating. Not just in the fun part of here of Rodeo at McChord, but you're participating in the competitions. We are learning from you. Hopefully you are learning from us. We share a common interest in protecting the global common and in making coalitions which benefit all of our countries together in the fight against international terrorism. We appreciate the partnership that your presence here represents. This is extremely important to the United States. We welcome each and every one of you to this important event.

Also again, thank you to the community leaders who have come to join all of the competitors from around the United States. I knew I'd be meeting Airmen. I knew we had many special guests and international partners. I didn't realize how many civic supporters you all would bring with you to this competition. It's really been great to see you all here supporting our Airmen. We thank you for the community support that you provide our Airmen all around the world. It means everything to us to know that we can send Airmen into your community in a safe and secure environment. They go to a place where they are welcome and the community reaches out and says what can we do for you? We appreciate that very much. It is so important for Airmen and their families. Thank you for being here.

I have been impressed since the earliest days of my return last summer of the importance of the missions that you all are performing for us on a daily basis. I get to see the list at the secretarial level, the list of missions, activities and deployments that you all making. I have the opportunity to not only speak with our defense leadership, but with leaders from around the country about the importance of the Air Force's role in the current fight. And a lot of that starts with the mobility positions that you provide from day one. You know America doesn't have global reach and global power without Air Mobility Command. You provide that global reach for the United States that allows our political and military leadership to offer the armed forces of the United States in security, in humanitarian relief, and to facilitate good relations between countries. And to meet common dangers when that is necessary too. That all starts with global mobility. Global mobility is enabled by the gray tales, by the tankers that support that air bridge, by the port operators, enabled by the tactical lift that moves people and goods around theaters of operation.

It also includes aeromedical evacuation when that is necessary. It provides, in the case of this conflict, the highest survival rate of any war today. That provides a tremendous capability. We are 'all in,' - active, Guard and Reserve - in this important mission from beginning to end. We will be there as long as the nation needs us.

I had an opportunity today to see various parts of Rodeo. It's been a great day. Of course, any day out of the Pentagon is a great day. Yes we do have an Air Force outside of Washington DC. And it is an honor to come see it and to be a part of this event today. I had an opportunity to watch the ERO competition, some of the loader competition. I saw some of the security forces out on the ranges today working very hard in the heat. They had full-up gear and gas masks. They were working very hard. I saw the convoy ops demonstration this afternoon. It's been a wonderful opportunity to see the scope and breadth of all the things that AMC is providing.

You know our mission is to "fly, fight and win ... in air, space and cyberspace." That's how we communicate. That's how we summarize what our Air Force is all about. At a more formal level, the role of the United States Air Force is to organize, train and equip forces for assignments to combatant commanders like Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of US Transportation Command. So, I guess my summary for today is, General McNabb, the Air Force is organized, trained and equipped and ready to provide strategic reach, global reach, for whatever you and the President of the United States need done. We are here for you.

From interview after town hall: 

Q - What is one thing you want people to remember about Air Mobility Command 50 years from now about their support for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom? 

A - Well that's a good question. I'd like them to remember that the United States and its coalition partners succeeded in giving the people of Iraq and Afghanistan a new start in a very dangerous part of the world. We want to look back and say we succeeded in giving them that opportunity. That's what we want to look back on. As far as the people part of this, we are growing, I think, right now, thousands of combat veterans who are performing in an outstanding fashion on behalf of our military. I think we are building America's next greatest generation right now. They are working themselves into a position of responsibility where after they serve they are working in community leadership positions. This generation have experienced the global war on terror up front after 9-11 and the conflicts that have followed. They are going to more important in building a new America. 

Q - What have you seen, internationally speaking, and across the Air Force how this (Rodeo) will help build on the mobility lessons learned for the future of the Air Force? 

A - I think the main thing I saw today was a mixture of experience of Airmen who have operated as teams in the past and perhaps new team members, or less experienced teams, who are coming to Rodeo and they are going to learn a lot from those whom they are competing with. They'll be able to grade their performance against that of their peers in a friendly and competitive environment. Our Air Force will benefit from that and our international partners are going to benefit from that as well. So it is a win-win for all who are concerned.