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Col
(ret) Bob Kjar is largely responsible for my becoming
actively involved in Chapter activities. I owe him
huge for a) convincing me to get involved and b) for
the strong support he has shown this last year. I
have been impres sed by the work of all of our officers.
We are lucky that so many talented folks step up to
carry out the planning and implementation of our programs.
I regret that I will not be able to continue to actively
participate in our chapter for the next 6-9 months.
I am confident that you all will benefit from my absence
as Richard Campbell moves in to replace me. I have
been offered an all expense paid trip to an exotic
land. The offer was too good to refuse-airfare, lodging,
all meals and drinks, and a stipend for living expenses-all
at one of the largest beaches I have seen yet; Afghanistan.
While I am looking forward to the deployment, I am
sorry that I will miss our Summer of Fun! The Lone
Star Flight Museum is one of my favorite destinations
for me and my kids. I thoroughly enjoyed the Ship
Channel Cruise last year, and I think the addition
of the China Garden dinner will top off a great year.
I
hope that you all have been watching the news and
following the issues facing the Air Force. If our
country fails to recapitalize where necessary, our
ability to project airpower as we have been able to
do for the last 6 decades is at risk. I urge you to
do your own research and then share your opinions
with your congressional representatives. In addition
to letters to your congressional representatives I
hope you will make an effort to attend every public
forum that your representative or their staffs attend.
As the representatives and their staff become more
familiar with you, you will be able to increase the
frequency of your message and it will resonate clearer.
Frequent and consistent messages will influence our
representatives. As I became more familiar with my
representatives, both republican and democrat, I was
pleasantly surprised at their in-depth interest into
military needs at the military installations in their
districts and State. We are the Force Behind the Force
and our voice is needed to ensure the accomplishments
of the last 60 years do not erode in the future. The
B-52 is dear to me and I would enjoy flying one again
in a permissive air environment in which we enjoy
air supremacy. And, while I would, if ordered, fly
it into airspace in which we have neither supremacy
nor superiority, I prefer that our future aviators
fly an aircraft that has a semblance of a chance to
return from a mission though airspace where superiority
is still being contested. Long Range Bombers, Combat
Search and Rescue, Aerial Refueling, Air Superiority
Fighters, topnotch equipment for our airmen—the list
of needs is long and funding is short-tell your representatives
where you want the budget authority available spent!
I’m
a believer in the 20/80 rule. Twenty percent of the
folks do eighty percent of the work-we are the twenty
percent. We accept that the majority of Americans
accept the gift of freedom provided by our armed forces.
Whether you believe the Clausewitz theory that war
is just an extension of politics or something else,
I think we all agree that war is ugly and failure
is uglier. Our men and women deserve the best equipment
and training we can provide-our job is to ensure our
Congress understand the needs of our airmen and provide
the tools they need to win our nation’ s battles.
Thank you for your continued support of the Air Force
Association and the United States Air Force. Thank
you for your service, past and present, to the greatest
country on Earth.
Editors note: Rodney, you will be sorely missed
at the helm of our Flagship, AFA Houston
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