Congress, Teamwork, Courage

AFA members, Congressional staff members, Civic leaders, DOCA members, this week AFA leaders will visit the offices of every new member of Congress. Our messages will be similar to those we have shared with you in the past: The future is uncertain; we've been consistently wrong in our forecasts. America needs a strong defense. Airpower is our asymmetric advantage. If we are strong, we prevent conflicts. The Air Force is a truly unique Service, maximizing speed, power, and vision to net global effects in the air, space, and cyber space. The Air Force has an aging fleet. The weapons systems we buy today will be in service for decades into the future. Numerous lessons-learned throughout history have demonstrated that inadequately equipping our forces can have devastating consequences for our nation. The industrial base is increasingly at risk. The only thing more expensive than a first rate Air Force is a second rate Air Force. Chairman of the Board, Sandy Schlitt, will provide feedback on these visits to AFA field leaders.

Secondly, I received a note from the Commander, 321 Air Expeditionary Wing in Iraq. He wrote:

"Amazing that I find myself tasked now to help rebuild the very Air Force I was tasked to destroy 20 years ago. I wrote the attached article a couple of weeks ago on the anniversary of combat ops commencing. It focuses on the fact my first visit in command to my detached Airmen was to the very base I attacked on Day one of DS [Desert Storm]. … Aimpoints actually picked it up so I am "published".... Thanks for carrying the torch for us."

In the article, he makes an excellent point on the importance of people in his command – that projecting Airpower is not just the job of one person … but a coherent team. Here is the link to the piece he wrote: http://www.afa.org/EdOp/2011/Airpower-A_Team_Sport_Defined.asp

Thirdly, Secretary of the Air Force, Michael B. Donley spoke last month at our AFA-Air Force Breakfast series. We captured the Secretary's words in an audio file that you can find at this link: http://www.afa.org/CorpMembers/0111_Donley_Breakfast.asp

Finally, the Air Force has released it next “Portraits in Courage.” In my notes, I will include one link which takes you to our website where we have them all listed. The third link is to the heroism of Staff Sergeant Deante Brooks. SSgt. Brooks is a Security Forces Specialist. You can find the link here: http://www.afa.org/Portraits/2010/Portrait_Brooks.asp

For your consideration.

Mike

Michael M. Dunn
President/CEO
Air Force Association