AFA Policy Forum

General Hal M. Hornburg
Commander, Air Combat Command
AFA National Convention Awards Ceremony
Washington, D.C.
September. 15, 2003

General Hornburg: I want to tell you (award recipients) that representing Secretary Roche, General Jumper and the leadership of the Air Force―all of the leaders that come here to pay tribute to you―it is a pleasure for me to be able to share just a few thoughts with you this morning as you come forward to achieve recognition and tribute for your accomplishments.

Your accomplishments are this year’s accolades. But they represent many, many other accomplishments by 365,0000 airmen across what I consider to be―and Chief, I know we are supposed to be humble―the greatest Air Force in the world. I am proud to be a member of this great organization. There is no doubt we’ve been busy the last year, since we came here in September of 2002. We’ve had a few significant events in the past year, but let me take you back 140 years to a small town about an hour south of here on I-95 that is called Fredericksburg.

If you read, as General Jumper or General Moseley does, much more than I, the history of the Civil War, the Battle of Fredericksburg was a very significant event. There was a northern general named Burnside who led 40,000 Union soldiers across the Rappahanock, down Stafford Heights, and on to some of the most rolling territory there in Fredericksburg and was soundly defeated by an army of General Robert E. Lee that was inferior in numbers. 40,000 people and there are a lot of sons and brothers and dads who did not come home.

Why do I mention this? Because at the line of departure in Iraqi Freedom, there were about 40,000 soldiers and marines, brave to their marrow, that stepped forward to try to defeat an army of almost a million men under arms in a country the size of California that we had been paying attention to for a decade and in three short weeks, a militarily that size (the Iraqi army) was soundly defeated.

What was the difference? We are studying lessons learned today and I am not going to give you lessons learned because I distinguish between lessons learned and observations. So let me share with you some initial observations. Lessons learned require a change of behavior. Observations are easy. I think that some of these may take themselves and transcend into lessons learned.

Number one, we paid attention to command and control many years ago and General Jumper led the charge, thank God, to make sure that our command and control was as good as it could possibly be. We had sight of control to enable great commanders like General Buzz Moseley to do the things with the assets at his disposal, at the time and place of his choosing, to do the will of General Tom Franks. Command and control needs to be improved, but it was just magnificent.

What else? Our legacy force—the force that needs to be recapitalized and modernized with F/A-22 and Joint Strike Fighter and many other things that are coming. That force performed admirably. These were new airplanes in large measure during Desert Storm, but they are not so new today. I won’t say that they are old, but I would say that the only thing we don’t need to recapitalize are our airmen. We do need to recapitalize the things that our airmen use to do the will of their commanders.

ISR. One thing Burnside had was linear, one-dimensional ISR. You heard John Politi mention this morning about the Global Hawk and all of the great machines and the technology that looked down over that battlefield. He mentioned the sand storm. What he didn’t mention was that the sandstorm was forecast five days in advance by a young airman at Shaw Air Force Base. General Moseley was prepared for that storm. While the media was talking about something called a strategic pause, our air power was destroying the Medina Division. They couldn’t find each other, but we could find them. That ISR has largely brought truth to the statement that General Fogelman made many years ago that if it is there, we can see it. If we see it, we can track it. And if we track it, we can kill it. Anywhere in the world. But that is the story about the “stuff.”

That is not the story about the “why.” The “why” is for each Global Hawk and each F-16 and F-117 and B-52, there were airmen who brought it to life. Look at these beautiful banners. Look at Orville and Wilbur Wright. Orville made the first flight. There were four flights that day. Wilbur made the longest flight and before they even took off, though, they knew one thing: they needed a crew chief. So when Orville flew, Wilbur was the crew chief. For every sortie that we flew, there was a crew chief. For every Global Hawk that flew from Beale Air Force Base, there were operators and they had blood coursing through their veins and they weren’t just technical things; they were real Americans doing airmanship, performing airmen’s deeds for the United States of America.

Look at the rocket launching. There was so much space involved that you are going to see space awards today. And you are going to see airmen coming through. Space is a place. Airmen make it relevant. Look at these women. I shared with Secretary Roche and General Jumper the fact that two weeks ago, when I was signing a few distinguished flying crosses, I noticed strange names in there. Strange? Yeah, names like Kim. There were four women awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism for the first time in the history of the United States Air Force.

So, as these airmen come up and get the Vandenburg Award, think of the training that they’ve gotten from AETC. And when the ABM crew comes up from Tinker, think about the things they can do with an AWACS, the things that enable other airmen to do their job with the tangible positive benefit of saving the lives of our precious soldiers and marines on the ground. The logistics award―nothing moves without logistics. Think about that when our folks come up and receive the Garrity Award. Think about the spouses, the Joan Orr Award that we saw this morning. It is not just about military. There will be civilian awards today. It is not just the active duty. In fact, the Guard and Reserve carried the load in the kinetic application of aerospace power in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Think about that. And think about this as the bottom line: our Air Force is fueled by the spirit of its airmen. Today you are going to see some of the stories of those airmen told. The only thing standing between them and the deserved recognition is the two magic words: in conclusion.

John, let me thank you for being here to represent the leadership of the Air Force as we pay tribute to the things that make the Air Force most relevant and that is its airmen.