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Chief McVicar: Welcome and thank you from the bottom of my heart. A few of you here in the front have heard this presentation over and over again, but I have to start off all presentations that I do with a thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I flew out here, as most of you did, on Sunday, September 11th. I wore my uniform on board a Delta flight. It's because of what you do day-in and day-out and the leadership that you provide to those young men and women that are out there in the field—whether it's here in the United States helping with Katrina, or doing your normal day-to-day jobs, or over in the Area of Responsibility (AOR)—that I feel safe flying.

My brother-in-law thought I was completely insane for jumping on an airplane on September 11th. I told him point blank, “I'm not going to be the only military person on that aircraft, but I guarantee you if somebody, anybody, stands up on that aircraft and heads towards that front door, they won't make it one row.” So thank you for what you do and thank you for the leadership that you provide to our young men and women today. [Applause]

I’m here to talk about enlisted history and our heritage. Some people refer to it as a very boring subject. It's in chapter 18 in your Promotion Fitness Examination (PFE) and we contribute a large part of that at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute in terms of how that chapter is written. We think we've captured a pretty good slice of our history in the amount of pages they allowed us to have for our future Airmen to augment their professional development.

Why do we have the air power that we have today? We are the most feared air force on this planet. It's not because we have B-2 bombers, F-117s or smart bombs. It's not because we have a rather large budget. It's because of our people, and the largest force is our enlisted force. Those people are given the responsibility, the authority, to do things that no other service allows with their junior enlisted folks and their senior enlisted folks. And for that, we're recognized. They fear us.

An overview ... I'm in Air Education and Training Command (AETC). We're required to give it. This is what you're going to hear about today—our proud and rich enlisted heritage, our past accomplishments, those great Americans that we have, those heroes that we have out there, and how this is going to play into our future.

First and foremost, why is it important? Our enlisted heritage, our enlisted history formed today's air power. We were the driving force for the evolution. We honor our heroes. We have six that have become part of that eternal fraternity that have received the Medal of Honor. We've got others. They set the positive examples for our current Air Force. If you don't know from where you came, you're never going to get there.

Our first enlisted man was Corporal Eddy Ward. What a great feeling this individual had to have had in 1907 when the United States Army formed its Signal Corps and Corporal Ward stepped over as part of that team. There were three people involved that day and he was the first enlisted man there. So he secured a spot in his history in today's service. Can you imagine the feeling he had as an instructor aboard the balloons, over a battlefield, communicating through a telephone that's on a wire to the man on the ground, the commander, sitting there saying, “sir, the forces are building up over here on the left. I suggest you take action.” This is going to play an important part in how our history is done today. I can't imagine the excitement he was feeling as he was watching the forces build up to counter that team.

But that wasn't the only thing we did ... Very few people know about Ralph Bottriell. This guy designed, developed and tested the first free-fall parachute, and he was enlisted. He noticed that balloons go down and you don't want to be in them when they develop a leak. So he developed this thought about a parachute. When we went into the aircraft, he carried over. He went on to do free-fall parachute design and then on into the aircraft. Because of what he designed, what he tested, our leaders flying these aircraft right now, F-16s, when they hit that seat and have to leave that aircraft and not be on the ground they ought to be thanking this individual right here. This man right here is the one that designed that parachute. For his efforts, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1933.

Another individual that has really shaped not only the United States Air Force, but our country as a whole—Eugene Bullard, the first African American pilot. He was born in Columbus, Georgia, but he quickly found that the United States was not the place for him to be. He witnessed his uncle's lynching and his father's near lynching. His father told him, “son, you need to go to France. When you're in France it doesn't matter what the color of your skin is, you're still a man.” So he went over there. World War I broke out and he joined the Foreign Legion. He was given the opportunity to fly. He jumped at it and he took it on and he did it with great, great pride. He even shot down two aircraft, although he was never credited for those shoot-downs. In 1918, the United States and Britain came over to France with the Army and took over control of what Eugene Bullard was flying. Eugene Bullard did not meet their criteria to be a pilot, therefore he was not recognized as a pilot. He was no longer allowed to fly. He was never, ever recognized as an American hero by the United States. In New York they had this big ceremony in which the French came over and knighted him—it was the equivalent of our Medal of Honor ceremony. America still did not recognize him. Not until later was Eugene Bullard recognized as a great American and one of our first enlisted pilots.

Paul W. Airey. He comes by and visits us often down there at the Heritage Hall and he's always filled with a new story. He's always bringing us more and more of his history, and we're taking that history and we're scanning the documents digitally and putting it into the Paul Airey section of our library that we have down there at the Research Institute.

He was a young man at age 20 and flying along in his B-24 aircraft as an aerial gunner. He was feeling safe and secure on his 28th mission. Not so. The aircraft was shot down and the entire crew was captured. He was held as a prisoner of war for ten months to include a long death march. He survived all of this and went on to excel in our United States Air Force. In 1958, he made the first Senior Master Sergeant promotion list. In 1962, he attained the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. He was quite happy at that time. In 1967 we, the United States Air Force, made the decision to form the Office of the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. There were 22 candidates—21 met the Board down at Randolph Air Force Base. Chief Airey was one of them.

At the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute we have the 19 questions that he was asked that day. We have the photographs that were taken while he was down there at Randolph. We also have the names of those others who were not selected to fill that position because of what Chief Airey kept as he went through our service. He has taken that information and given it to us at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute in Heritage Hall so that we can share this information with our new Airmen who are trying to go through and become more knowledgeable of our heritage and our history.

Chief Airey was also the recipient of the first Air Force Prisoner of War Medal that was ever awarded. Again, this is going back to his days when he was a young 20-year-old. I'm sure he was a bustle of energy back then as he is now.

If you ever visit the Heritage Hall, you will see that we have a room dedicated to the Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force. And of course Chief Master Sergeant Paul Airey is in the number one position. We have his uniform. We also have a bronze bust of him.

The Berlin Airlift in June 1948. The United States Air Force was not even a year old. This was our first operation, our first challenge and we met it head on. This particular event I believe changed the way the enlisted person was perceived out on the flight line, the way the enlisted person was perceived inside that aircraft. During this operation we took hold and we charged forward. We came up with innovative ideas. The largest maintenance line that was ever deployed happened during the Berlin Airlift. We have not matched it, not even in Desert Storm or current operations. It went off without a hitch. Every few seconds an aircraft was landing in Templehof. The enlisted folks developed a cargo loading and unloading system then that is still being utilized today. Although, when they did it, they were offloading and loading aircraft in minutes versus hours. Within Air Mobility Command, they still talk about the Berlin Airlift and all the innovative thinking that came out of this one single operation.

We recently dedicated an exhibit marking the Berlin Airlift in our new wing which AETC funded for us. During that dedication ceremony there were over 150 personnel in attendance. We had Medal of Honor recipients, former prisoners of war, the fastest human to ever fly in an SR-71, the greatest stick, Bob Hoover, who was also former enlisted. And Chief Master Sergeant Wayne Fisk, the first Director of the position I now hold, as he was inducted into the Gathering of Eagles through the Air Command and Staff College over at Maxwell Air Force Base. He was the first enlisted person going in there.

But when we did this dedication we had Gale Halverson, colonel retired, who was a candy bomber, and six enlisted individuals, one of whom drove all the way from New Mexico. He had called me two days before. He had found out through the Berlin Airlift Association that we were doing a dedication and his words were, “Chief, is it okay if I come out? I'm a veteran. I flew 96 missions into Templehof as a flight engineer.” I said, “sir, it's not only okay for you to come out, we're going to designate special parking for you and we're going to put you up in the front row.” I did not know he was going to bring a motor home so we did have to put him in a larger space. However, there were six of them there, and we got them all to sign a box that is within that exhibit. If you're ever down there, you really need to take a look at that exhibit. It's got some state of the art equipment in there. But this changed the way our enlisted were looked at.

It's not just our firsts. It's not just what we did in the past. Along the way we had some fantastic individuals who stepped up who are our heroes, the ones that we aspire to be. We honor them through awards, through other recognition ceremonies. They're a source of inspiration. If you want to be motivated, you come up through your career and you talk with John Levitow, Vietnam Medal of Honor recipient, as I got the chance to do coming up through my career. I guarantee you would have been inspired to listen to those individuals tell you that what they did they did not consider heroic. They considered it training that the Air Force gave them. They just did their jobs.

It demonstrates the willingness of our nation that we will protect our freedom at any cost. And if that means we have to give our lives, then we're going to do that. And it also allows some family members to understand that we're never ever going to forget their sacrifices and what they have done for our country.

Our first hero that received the Medal of Honor, our first enlisted Airman—Sergeant Maynard Smith. He's first in a lot of ways. He was called up to duty to fly over Europe. He was part of those 100 newbies. We've all been in a unit in which we have newbies come in. Well, Sergeant Smith wasn't much different. On his very first mission he went out with a very seasoned crew. They were on their 17th mission. Their aircraft came under attack and subsequently a fire broke out through one of the explosions and oxygen fed that fire. Three of the crew members aboard the aircraft bailed. The other two were too severely wounded to bail and were going to pilot the aircraft down. Sergeant Smith, seeing that fire and the ammunition rolling around, used every fire extinguisher and every water container they had on that aircraft to put it out. When he ran out of those, he wrapped himself in the materials that he could find within the back of that airplane and put that fire out. He didn't stop there. Those German fighters didn't stop. So he manned the guns and he continued to shoot at those aircraft until they were safely out of that zone. They landed and they were all okay.

A little while later, the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, presented young Maynard Smith with the Medal of Honor. He became our first enlisted Airman to receive the Medal of Honor.

This is my favorite individual to speak about—Airman First Class William Robinson. This individual, a pararescueman, you've got to love that career field. "So others may live"…that's their motto. He lowered down to go rescue a pilot that met the fate of an enemy. While he was down there hanging on that string 90 feet down below, his helicopter was hit. The entire crew went down, with Bill and the pilot on the lift stick. He suffered a broken back and two broken knees. He was captured very quickly by the Vietnamese and taken to the Hanoi Hilton. Prior to the great bombing of the B-52s, there were only three enlisted personnel that were held as prisoners of war. He was one of them.

While he was held there in captivity there was a general officer named Flynn that was serving with him. He was the senior POW in the camp. They started talking and they came up with this brilliant plan that they were going to field commission these enlisted personnel, and they did. He did. They went through a training program that they equate to Air Command and Staff College in a short period of time while he was held as prisoner. They joked about it when they were released. They didn't think that his commission would stand. But General Flynn felt so strong about it that he went straight to the Secretary of the Air Force Dr. John L. McLucas, and said, “I want these to stand.” He wouldn't give up and they stood. And Airman First Class Bill Robinson retired as a captain in our United States Air Force. And for all his actions as a pararescueman, he received the Air Force's highest honor, and that was the Air Force Cross. As you can see, he is a true indicator of the great American heroes that we have in our enlisted force. And our enlisted need to know about these people.

I'm going to tell you right now, my son, his wife and my son-in-law are all serving in our great Air Force, and I'm willing to bet if you walked up to my son right now and said, “Airman First Class Bill Robinson, what do you know about him?” He'd give you that deer in the headlight look, even though his father has mentioned this many times.

But he does know about this individual: Sergeant William Piazza, 3rd Security Squadron. Tet Offensive, 1968. He was in charge of the west end of the base. The east end of the base came under attack and they called for reinforcements. They were running out of ammunition really quick. This individual, being the cunning enlisted person that he was, commandeered a pickup truck and raced over there just in time to watch his captain get shot and killed, so he took command. He laid out a barrage of fire against the enemy forces and helped the wounded. When the AC-47 that was dropping flares over that base ran out of flares, he knew where some were. He jumped back in that pickup truck, ran over, got flares, and marked the positions for the Army to bring in the big guns. When the firefight was over, the next morning, there were 139 dead Vietnamese on the east side of that base, and another 25 of them were captured and held as prisoners of war. They never made it into that base. They never got their objective in destroying the aircraft. He was credited for saving millions of dollars worth of aircraft and materials his other security forces personnel.

For that action he was awarded the Silver Star. If you ever get to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, look him up. This great American is still there and speaks quite a bit.

Here's a story of secrecy. A Chief Master Sergeant. We don't all have to be Staff Sergeants. Some of us have done great things. Chief Master Sergeant Richard S. Burger was a radio operator in a place that didn't exist. We weren't in Laos. He was. He was defending Lima Site 85. It came under attack. They were attacking him from above so he started returning the fire. He called in air support so the helicopters came in to get him and the rest of his personnel. Several people lost their lives during this firefight, but he refused to give up and continued that barrage of fire. He also refused to get on board that helicopter until the last of his wounded crewmen were on board. Everybody got up there and the Chief did the right thing, he got on the rope and started going up. I'm sure that he felt everything was great and a lone bullet caught him. He died on the way to the hospital. His family was awarded the Air Force Cross behind closed doors.

Now we don't know exactly how it went because it was closed. I know what the family has said and I believe it went something like this: “Your father/your husband is a great American. For his actions in a classified job we're presenting you with his Air Force Cross. However, you can't tell anybody.” That had to be tough. Right now, there are some people that are considering upgrading him to the Medal of Honor which he was originally put in for, but again, the President could not acknowledge where we were at that time. I for one hope he gets that one.

Most everybody knows the story of Bill Pitsenbarger, 1966. He was another pararescueman, “so others may live.” He was lowered down to help the Army out and he did. He got nine soldiers up inside that helicopter to safety before such great intense firefighting broke out that the helicopter had to flee for its own safety. When they came back the next day, there was nothing there but a bunch of dead soldiers and an Airman. But there were enough witnesses out there to relay the story of what happened, how he refused to give up. He took care of the wounded. He went and got more ammunition for as long as he could. He was awarded the Air Force Cross for his actions. Some time later, through organizations both public and military, it was upgraded in a ceremony at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to the Medal of Honor. Now the Navy even has a ship named after him.

Our latest. A young Senior Airman at Moody Air Force Base. A pararescueman, “so others may live.” He refused to give up. Operation Anaconda. There was a lot of stuff going on, but Airman Cunningham refused to heed to safety. He continued to take on the enemy in a very forceful action. Everything was going good, then he lost his life.

He wasn't the only one there. We also have a Tech Sergeant Chapman who received the Air Force Star in the same operation. Tech Sergeant Chapman is a combat controller. We are currently building an exhibit that's going to recognize these two individuals for all our future leaders to learn from. We're going to wrap this with Combat Controller Teams (CCT), pararescue; there are actually six Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs) we'd like to roll into one. Former USAF Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper refers to them as our Battlefield Airmen. These are individuals who do jobs that, quite frankly, a lot of us wonder why they do them. They don't even question it, just go out and do it day in and day out.

We have six Airmen who have received the Medal of Honor. We have at the Enlisted Heritage Hall six separate, actually seven if you count the outdoor exhibit on the AC-47, exhibits for those individuals. Three are full-sized, life-like manikins. The other three soon will be. We're going to expand this exhibit. We really think these individuals need to be recognized.

I'm often asked, “how does our history apply to the future?” At the very beginning of this when I spoke of Eddy Ward and his balloon efforts, “what are balloonists today?” UAV pilots? Photo reconnaissance interpreters? Pretty close to it.

Our safety experiments that we did with Ralph Patrill, those led to our F-16 pilots and our F-15 pilots and all those other pilots that fly around having parachutes strapped to them. They have a confidence. When that aircraft needs it, when they need it if an aircraft goes down, they've got a parachute and it's going to work.

Our heroes, well, they're our inspiration. They're my inspiration. They really are. So I tell you, if you hear the story of Levitow, Irwin, Smith, any of those Medal of Honor recipients, Bill Robinson…if you hear those stories and it doesn't perk you up just a little bit, it's time to leave.

So again, how have our lessons of the past changed what we're doing today? I think we've changed a lot. I think each and every day when our enlisted folks go in, they come in with new ideas and they bring it forth to each and every one of you, the senior leaders.

Sometimes their ideas are a bit wild, I'll admit, but sometimes they're not. Take for example fair and equitable housing for our young Airmen. How many remember the day in which they came in and you had to be a Senior Airman or a Staff Sergeant in order to live on an Air Force base? The reason why that was changed was that there were a whole lot of young folks out there who didn't think that was fair. Over time the senior leaders took that on and reformed it. Now an Airman Basic can move on base from day one. I think that's a great thing. Those individuals need that.

Education, we now have a Community College of the Air Force (CCAF). What a great, great opening that was. Now we have better trained Airmen. But if you look at the enlisted faces of the past, they don't look much different than the ones from today. They really don't.

They've got new toys. We're now launching UAVs, little Dragon Flies over in the Area of Responsibility (AOR). A lot of them are still the same. We have women doing jobs that were unheard of back in the day. Now they're out there. We still represent with our medals for bravery, and we still have our Honor Guard.

We're everywhere, folks. We really are. I think that our young Airmen need to be recognized for what they do day in and day out to bring the fight to air power.

This is the motto I live by: "Pride in our past, faith in our future." And this quote: "If you wish to change your future, you must first understand your past." I believe in that. Day in and day out… We're not going to get to tomorrow if we don't first understand the mistakes and the great achievements that we reaped in our past.

Yesterday's Air Force, today's Air Force, tomorrow's Air Force, we're all one. We must learn from where we've been.

Any great leader will sit there and tell you that if you want to study your enemy, you study their history. They study our history. We recently had 18 NATO Chiefs visit the Enlisted Heritage Hall. I had 15 minutes with them to explain our enlisted heritage. After 15 minutes went by, I was granted 45 minutes because they did not want to leave until they could understand why it is that our senior leadership puts the responsibility, the authority, in our junior NCOs and our senior NCOs. They don't get it. Some of them are getting there. Germany's getting there at a pretty good rate. But they really wanted to understand. So if you're in one of those positions, share that information, especially with our young troops.

I was speaking with a young colonel back there in the back. He had one tour with the United States Army. Before I could sit there and tell him what my thoughts were, he shared a story in which Soldiers he knew knew our Air Force song, but Airmen he knew didn’t. Unbelievable. I guarantee you those Army folks out there, they know their history. They're taught on day one. They are.

This is a fantastic opportunity that we at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute and Heritage Hall were given to come up here and speak. This is the first time that I can find in our history that we were afforded this opportunity. If you follow AIR FORCE Magazine you'll see two articles in this last year that were done on the Enlisted Heritage Hall, and I have repeatedly thanked the Air Force Association for all they have done to highlight the Enlisted Heritage Hall. And it does more than that. It highlights our enlisted heritage and it highlights our history.

I think we have a great story and I love to sit down there and talk about it all the time. I love all the free press we get and we want to share it.

We live off private donations. That is true. We're doing fine. We could do better, but we're doing fine. But like I told the Senior NCO Class last Thursday when I got up on the stage, at this point in time there is a greater need for that legacy to be preserved. That has carried on through all 14 of our NCO Academies and every single one of them has made a contribution to the hall.

I'd like to open this up, if anybody has any questions whatsoever on our heritage, on our history, on anything else, speak up.

Q: With the Enlisted Historian AFSC going away, what do you see as the future in documenting enlisted history? How can we help in that process?

Chief McVicar: I've struggled with that one. I really have. The historian folks are downstairs at the Aerospace Technology Exposition. They've got a booth, and they're recruiting left and right.

For a long time, every base had a historian at it, generally in the staff to tech sergeant range. We're replacing every one of those with a civilian now as we draw down. Every one of them has to have a Master's degree, so not too many are going to be able to transfer over. But I'm hoping as they come through their classes over at Maxwell and visit us at the Heritage Hall that we impress upon them the importance of capturing the entire history.

I'll give you a classic example. I won't name the base, but it's an aircraft refueling base in which they passed the millionth, billionth, whatever, gallon of gas in a particular operation. We brought up the crew at that base and they were formally recognized. There was one person in that crew that was not on that stage, and that was the person that actually passed the gas, the boom operator. They did not remember who it was. They did not track that information. That is a big-time problem.

So I'm hoping that, with the Historian School being co-located over at Maxwell Air Force Base, as all these new historians come on board they’ll visit us, gain a greater understanding of our history, and maintain it.

We're also our world's worst enemy on that because for how many years have we, the enlisted, been documenting history as historians? Although we have a pretty good sized library at our fingertips over there at the Heritage Hall, it should be four to five times that size. I'm often asked questions that I can't answer. We didn't document it. Hopefully we're getting through there.

We're doing a lot better. We are. With our Enlisted Firsts, and we’re starting to get the information on the individuals who are doing the convoy operations over in the AOR. That's a huge first. We haven't done that in the past. I believe they are the most injured, right now, in our Air Force. We're capturing that information.

Q: You mentioned in your briefing how the Berlin Airlift was a significant milestone for how the enlisted force was viewed during that time. In your opinion as a student of history, what time in our history was the most important in terms of the growth and recognition of what the enlisted corps gives to our Air Force and its capabilities? And how do you view the Global War on Terrorism and how the enlisted force may be perceived in this crucial period?

Chief McVicar: I did say it. The Berlin Airlift did change the way our enlisted was viewed, however, they were not recognized back then. It took some time, we took a history lesson to get there to figure out what we did.

I think—and granted, I've only been in since 1982—but I think in my view of everything that I've read that our greatest recognition came during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. There was a lot of senior leadership that was out there that said, “if it weren't for the men and women who were out there on that flight line, putting the wrenches to the bolts, if it wasn't for their innovative thinking that they drew upon, the education that they had received through more technical schools, through more Professional Military Education, and through advancement through CCAF…,” I think that in itself was where we were most recognized.

As for current operations, we're doing pretty good right now. We're getting recognized. I don't get a whole lot of reports of what's going on. I have to actually search for it and that's one thing that kind of bothers me. I wish that we at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute were able to be fed a little bit more from the AOR. We pull stuff from the different newspapers that are over there and that's how I get the information on the convoys, on Red Horse squadrons who are doing marvelous feats in repairing runways overnight so that C-17s can come in.

There's a little bit of other information I receive through having children in the service. My son-in-law is at Moody Air Force Base. He's a cop. He's been deployed into the AOR three times in two and a half years. So I get a wealth of information from him. Some of it I really shouldn't get. I've counseled him on that. But we get information that way.

We are recognizing our folks more, and I think that overall the Air Force is recognizing the enlisted folks a lot more than what they did in the past. I'd hate to see it go too far. Over-recognition is just as bad as not recognizing folks. I believe we're doing fine.

But the Berlin Airlift did change things. We became more technological after that, and with the introduction in the latter '50s of Professional Military Education, that right there was the turning point. It's not just because I'm part of PME right now, but I know from what I've read that PME has changed the way the enlisted person is thought of.

I thank you for allowing me to come in here and speak. Hopefully I've given you a little bit of information that you can take back to your troops. I don't think it gets said enough to our troops out there on a daily basis, that we thank them for what they're doing. They are working some really long hours, doing some really critical thinking and getting it done. Whether it's here in the homeland or over in the AOR or down at basic training, they're doing great things. I think that you owe them your kind words.

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