COMPACAF Speaks at the 2008 Hawaii Military Partnership Conference Published Jan. 9, 2008 By General Carrol H. "Howie" Chandler Commander Pacific Air Forces HONOLULU -- The following is a transcript of General Chandler's speech to Honolulu business leaders at the 2008 Hawaii Military Partnership Conference Jan 3. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The purpose of the conference is for senior military commanders to update state/city government officials and business/civic leaders on the status of military presence in Hawaii and rest of PACOM AOR. Good morning and Happy New Year. Hawaii is a great place to live and work, in large part because of the tremendous support that you give to our young Airmen... officers and enlisted, military and civilians... who do the hard work for our United States Air Force. As I leafed through my Air Force magazine last month, I found an article which describes the key elements of PACOM in 2017. It described those things that we're going to wrestle with over the next ten years in terms of air power, missile defense, sea power, reforming land forces, special operations and engagement. Your Air Force has equities in at least four of those six: air power and missile defense, special ops and engagement. My predecessor, General Paul Hester, described the strategic triangle that we have in our United States Air Force between Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. I happen to believe that as well and our Chief of Staff has placed great emphasis on what we're doing here in the Pacific, so I'd like to talk just a few minutes today about our Chief's priorities. When he became the Chief, he laid down three priorities and they are 1) winning the Global War on Terror as part of the Joint team, 2) taking care of our young Airmen, developing them and taking care of their families, and 3) recapitalizing and modernizing the force, which may be of some interest to this particular group. I report the health and readiness of Pacific Air Forces in terms of people, equipment, and training. So with the Chief's priorities in mind, there are 45,000 hard working men and women, military and civilian, active duty, Guard and Reserve personnel that represent the Air Force in the Pacific. Approximately 2,000 of those are deployed and many of those are in expeditionary combat support -- civil engineering, security forces, and combat communications--all supporting the Global War on Terror. Many of these Airmen deploy to the CENTCOM AOR. Recently a squadron of F-16s from Misawa Air Base, Japan returned from the Middle East. Today we have C-130s and combat search and rescue helicopters operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pacific Air Forces is also involved in Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines as well as providing fighters and tankers to maintain air sovereignty here in Hawaii as well for Northern Command and the North American Air Defense Command in Alaska. Many people forget that your Air Force has been at war for 17 years. We went to the first Gulf War and we did not come home. Courageous young Airmen are still in the desert. Two of which I'll describe. Senior Master Sergeant Dean Sprague from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska is a logistician who pulled passengers from the burning wreckage of an aircraft and rescued several other people on the ground in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Bronze Star and his story is captured in the latest Chief of Staff Portraits in Courage. Likewise, Senior Airman William Newman from the 15th Airlift Wing here in Hawaii was an explosive ordnance disposal technician deployed to Iraq. On June 7th, 2007 he lost his life attempting to neutralize an unexploded bomb and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Air Force Combat Action Medal. These Airmen are doing what we call "in lieu of taskings"--that means in lieu of other services filling those billets. We're happy to do that. Our Chief has said that if we have the capability, we'll send it. We're all in this conflict together and the sooner we get on with this and get it over with the better off we'll all be. The Air Force has put 24,000 Airmen through the desert performing in lieu of taskings and we'll continue to do that for as long as it takes. Interestingly, in lieu of taskings are not a new. On December 7th, 1941 Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Commander of the Army Hawaii Department employed Air Corps bomber crews to guard warehouses in downtown Honolulu. The Air Corps was also guarding the flight line at Hickam on that particular day. Recruiting and retention can become an issue after 17 years of continuous combat operations. However, the United States Air Force has met its recruiting goals over the last eight years and the standards have remained the same. Every year the Air Force recruits 30,000 enlisted people, about 3,000 officers, and future predictions look equally promising. Retention is another issue. In the Pacific, the Air Force is extremely fortunate in large part because of people like you who support us. Today, our first term Airmen re-enlist at a rate of 63 percent which compares very well against the Air Force goal of 55 percent. However, the Air Force is starting to see problems in mid-level leaders in the 10 to 15 year category--those supervisors that we rely on to carry the load for people deployed and to mentor and train our young Airmen. The Air Force goal for these Airmen is 75 percent. PACAF is hitting that 75 percent goal, but Air Force wide it's about a 53 percent number right now. We're looking very hard at that. On a different topic, the Total Force Initiative, the use of the Guard and the Reserve as well as the active force, is totally a team effort. Not only here in Hawaii, but in Alaska and in Guam as well. I have a great deal of experience with this over the years and it does not get any better than it is right here in the Pacific. In fact, you cannot tell apart an active duty, a Guard or a Reserve Airman without looking at their patches. The active duty, Guard and Reserve are trained, organized, and equipped as a ready and responsive force. The closest examples to home are the classic association of the C-17s here in Hawaii as well as Alaska; the Air Reserve Association of the F-22 units in Alaska; and in the future, the active associate F-22 and KC-135 units here in Hawaii. Regarding the subject of equipment, the Chief laid out five distinct acquisition programs. First, is the modernization and recapitalization of our tanker aerial refueling fleet. The second program is a new combat search and rescue helicopter and third, is recapitalizing our aging space systems. Some people may not consider space very often, but it's important not only from a military perspective, but for our economy as well. For example, the Global Positioning System - GPS - enables you to use a credit card at a gas station. Fourth is the F-35, the Joint Strike Fighter -- a Joint effort between the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. And finally, the next generation long range strike capability, including a new bomber by 2018 that was mandated by the last Quadrennial Defense Review. The Chief of Staff's emphasis on the Pacific has resulted in three of the Air Force's seven F-22 squadrons to be assigned in this region, the only two C-17 squadrons assigned outside the continental United States, and the future placement of Global Hawks at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. For the last four years the Air Force has provided an expeditionary presence of tankers and bombers in Guam. This effort will continue in order to provide the speed, range, payload, and persistence we need readily available in the Pacific. Nonetheless, the Air Force faces the challenge of managing an aging fleet. For example, the Hickam KC-135s are an average of about 50 years old. The Hickam F-15s, that are currently grounded, average 34 years old and it takes about 19 hours of maintenance for each F-15 flying hour. In addition, the PACAF recently replaced the 36-year old C-130Es from Yokota Air Base Japan with 34-year old C-130Hs from Elmendorf Air Force Base Alaska ... essentially replacing old airplanes with old airplanes. Today, it is no secret that the F-15 fleet is grounded. Many of you have read about that situation. They have been grounded since the November 3rd after cracks were found in some of the aircraft. To date the Air Force has found eight aircraft fleet-wide with cracks and two of those are in the Pacific at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The investigation board results are due by the end of January. At that point, the commander of Air Combat Command will make a decision as to when those airplanes will go back in the air. In the mean time, Minnesota Guard F-16s are defending Hawaii and PACAF's F-22 in Alaska are maintaining the air sovereignty mission. PACAF's maintainers take great pride in their ability to maintain these aircraft, but it comes with a sizeable cost in terms of time and effort. Quite honestly, this every-day effort is done on the backs of our young men and women. So, modernizing and recapitalizing the force is important to the Air Force. Another modernization effort is the use of synthetic fuels. The United States Air Force spends about $6 billion a year on fuel, which accounts for 90 percent of the fuel in the Department of Defense. The Air Force has flown the B-52 on a 50/50 mixture of JP8 and synthetic fuel derived from liquid and coal gas. The Air Force continues to look at additional opportunities to use this fuel. Recently a C-17 flew from coast to coast using synthetic fuel that costs about $75 per barrel compared to the $110 to $115 price per barrel of normal JP8 jet fuel. Clearly, this level of savings is important for more than the Department of Defense. If the Air Force can fly the C-17 with synthetic fuel then that opportunity for savings may translate to commercial aviation as well. Several nations today have equipment on par with the United States Air Force. But U.S. Air Force training gives us the edge today and makes us the best Air Force in the world. Red Flag in Alaska provides the Airman's first eight to ten combat missions and show him or her a spectrum of training across air, space and cyberspace to include countries all around the Pacific Rim. Also, the Pohakuloa Training Area on the big island of Hawaii, provides a great opportunity for precision targeting, C-17 airdrops, and joint training opportunities. Many of you have heard about the Kona International Airport proposal that would give us what we call a Short Austere Air Field to practice C-17 assault landings. The environmental assessment and the FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) are complete. The proposal carries a $28 million price tag, but would provide a necessary training facility. In the meantime, the active duty and Guard will continue to travel to CONUS for training which unfortunately includes the associated costs and availability constraints. People often ask "Why the Air Force needs more training space if it continues to get smaller?" The Air Force looks at this situation in terms of the capabilities our Airmen and equipment bring to the fight. These tremendous capabilities simply require tremendous training space. The payoff for this training is when a C-17, loaded with medics and civil engineers go to places like Oceania to train the local populace in preventative care, provide medical and dental operations on over 4,000 people in ten days, as well as perform civil engineering projects to help improve clinics and other facilities. That shows Air Power's flexibility to rapidly execute low cost missions that incur only a small footprint. Likewise, PACAF's C-130s and C-17s supported the relief operations after Cyclone Sidr had devastated Bangladesh. In closing, let me tell you that you would be very, very proud of the young men and women serving in your United States Air Force here in the Pacific. Without them, all this equipment that I've described is nothing more than an expensive static display. It certainly is a pleasure to live and work here in the Islands with the great folks from the great State of Hawaii. Again, thank you very much.