JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
Members of the 12th Flying Training Wing, Team Joint Base San Antonio - it has been a great privilege to serve alongside you for the last two and a half years. It is bittersweet that our time together is coming to a close.
When I took command in February 2010, I knew the wing was in transition and I was charged by my leadership to stabilize and steer us in a new direction.
As a team, we've set a new course and are creating a new legacy for the 12th FTW. I'm immeasurably proud to have each and every one of you as a fellow brother or sister in arms.
The one constant since my assumption of command has been change. Our mission has experienced tremendous evolution and expansion since then.
We helped implement Joint Basing San Antonio at Randolph without mission impact. We developed the Air Force's only pipeline for undergraduate combat systems officer training under the 479th Flying Training Group at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., with only a six month interruption in graduates. Answering the Chief of Staff's vision, the 558th Flying Training Squadron successfully reactivated and is now the home of the Air Force's only remotely piloted aircraft pilot indoctrination and sensor operator qualification.
The 435th Fighter Training Squadron seamlessly integrated a tremendous increase in student numbers and aircraft in response to the AETC-directed consolidation of the Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals course, saving more than $1 million. Most recently, we added the 306th Flying Training Group to the wing, responsible for the oversight of all Airmanship programs at the U.S. Air Force Academy as well as the Air Force's Initial Flight Screening program at Pueblo, Colo.
We emerged victorious from several higher headquarters inspections including Logistics Compliance Assessments, Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation Visits, and Air Traffic System Evaluation Programs. Most notably, we earned an overall "Excellent" rating on AETC's first-ever Combined Unit Inspection.
Our team has also played a significant role by deploying hundreds of personnel in the support of Operations IRAQI FREEDOM, ENDURING FREEDOM, NEW DAWN and other military and humanitarian efforts around the world.
We did all of this while continuing to produce the world's greatest instructor pilots, fighter pilots, CSOs and RPA pilots and sensor operators.
In the midst of our successes we've shared tragedy, too. In March of 2011, we lost Airman 1st Class Ricardo Rivera, a 479th Operations Support Squadron aircrew flight equipment technician, who was killed when struck by a drunk driver. In April 2011, Maj. Jeff Ausborn, a 99th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot, was killed alongside eight of his comrades when an Afghan airman opened fire at Kabul International Airport. Their sacrifices serve as a daily reminder of the gravity of our oath of service to this nation and the fragility of life. I am honored to join their families, friends and co-workers in carrying their legacies forward.
Our wing is a team on top of its game. You are the best our nation and Air Force can provide in the defense of our great nation. Every pilot, CSO and RPA crew will now pass through the 12th FTW - a responsibility we meet with professionalism that is second to none. I am confident you all will continue the upward flight path that we've set together. You have worked through some of the most difficult challenges facing the Department of Defense and our Air Force, and you've done so with professionalism and grace. Our wing has used the challenges put in front of it to continuously improve itself.
Since Day One, I knew we were a wing in transition. What I didn't know was how far we would go.
Cathy and I are grateful for the opportunity to have served with you. The 12th FTW truly is "The Source of America's Airpower."
Thanks for the memories.