Greetings from the birthplace of Naval Aviation, NAS North Island. To all who made it to Reno for Hook ’07, thanks for coming and making it one of our best Tailhooks ever. To those who couldn’t be there, you were certainly missed and we hope to see you next year at Hook ’08.
In my first article for The Hook as Air Boss, I want to share with you my view of where we are right now and what I think are the key areas we need to keep in our scan as we head into the future.
I am very proud of the state of our Force. In nearly 100 years of Naval Aviation, never before have we been more capable. Never before have our Sailors and Marines been more needed by our nation to meet so wide a range of challenges. And never before have we been more focused on ensuring we’re ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
The sheer volume and range of everything we are doing to meet the requirements of the combatant commanders is the best testament of the relevance and flexibility of Naval Aviation. Often the nation needs precise and flexible combat power that carrier-based tactical aircraft are uniquely suited to deliver. We are meeting those needs daily, supporting troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan with Hornets, Super Hornets and Prowlers flying from the decks of our carriers. Our TacAir aviators are doing some amazing things — things that 10 years ago we wouldn’t have expected them to do.
I recently had the opportunity to hear an audio recording of a Carrier Air Wing Seven strike fighter aircraft, supporting troops on the ground in Afghanistan. Our troops were on a night mission when they encountered significant enemy resistance. These troops urgently requested a strafing run in order to suppress the incoming small arms fire they were taking, and the aircrew had to use the 20mm cannon because anything heavier would have put our troops and innocent civilians at too much risk. The pilot laid down the strafing fire into the darkness, and it had the intended effect — as noise from the small arms fire disappeared, the troops on the ground found themselves very grateful for the Naval Aviators soaring overhead.
That’s just one example of what we are doing at the tip of the spear today. How we do tomorrow depends on how well we meet the challenges of sustaining combat readiness, building a force for the future, and developing 21st century leaders.
The first imperative for all of us is to ensure that we maintain the superiority of our Naval Aviation force. We have met every challenge in this war, and we need to remain committed to producing the readiness to deploy, to surge and to dominate in combat. Naval Aviation’s core competency is the projection of combat power, and that is our value to the nation.
While we need to hold on to the important gains we’ve made in producing our current readiness, we also need to build our future capability. Our ability to meet the future needs of the nation will be directly proportional to the readiness we bring to the fight. In the last year, we’ve seen the sundown of my fearsome F-14 Tomcat, and the final deployment of the awesome S-3 Viking is at hand. While it is always sad to say goodbye to beloved aircraft as they reach the end of their lives, especially ones that have been as stalwart as these, we have to transition legacy systems to support future capabilities like the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter and EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.
Finally, we need to cultivate leaders who possess the skills necessary for Naval Aviation in the 21st century. We must work to shape the Total Force of the future by recruiting and retaining the right people. Our Sailors, Marines, Reserve force and civilians are at the heart of everything we do. We have to develop a balanced team that reflects the ?different talents and experiences of our nation’s citizens by creating an environment where individuals can reach their full personal and professional potential. Our future mission success depends on our meeting this leadership challenge now.
When visitors embark our aircraft carriers and see a jet launched from the catapult, one of the questions they inevitably ask is, “How many Sailors does it take to do that?” And our standard answer has been, “Five thousand,” because every Sailor on board the ship, from the greenshirts operating the catapult, to the helmsman who puts the ship into the wind, to the culinary specialists who feed the crew — every Sailor on the ship is involved in the successful launch of that aircraft. Everyone plays a part.
Well, we need to broaden our answer to that question even further. It isn’t just the 5,000 Sailors aboard the carrier who make it possible to launch that aircraft successfully, but every one of us who work in Naval Aviation. We all play a part. If we don’t rise to the challenges before us now, then we won’t have the aircraft, or the fuel, or the parts, or the properly trained greenshirts on that deck, to launch that aircraft.
We have got to get it right. The Sailors charging that cat with steam — or electromagnetic energy, as the case will be in the not-too-distant future — the shooter signaling for power, the pilot with his hand on the throttle sitting in tension waiting for the launch — all of them are depending on us.
Fly. Fight. Lead.
Killer sends.