RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
When Maj. Gen. Irving Halter Jr. turns over his command of 19th Air Force July 30, he will do so knowing the impact 19th Air Force has on the Global War on Terror, military aviation and, most importantly, Airmen.
"The 19th Air Force has always and will always be at the forefront of execution," General Halter said. "We teach pilots to make life or death decisions in a matter of seconds. I believe that aircrews - like doctors, emergency technicians, policemen or infantrymen - learn a set of skills that requires them to make those decisions as quickly as possible with limited information and to execute to perfection because everyone's life depends on it. In only a year's time, we teach them that very thing."
General Halter said when he arrived as commander in October 2006, he set out to find ways to do business with dwindling resources.
"Everyone - from the wing commander, to the Airman in Services, to the guy on the flightline fueling jets at 2 a.m., to the person who takes care of your child's medical needs - is critical to making the same amount of mission happen with less stuff," General Halter said.
"If tomorrow morning you come and take 10 percent of my force, nothing changes. All those jobs still have to be done. When you combine that with financial challenges and an aging fleet that requires more work to keep aircraft in the air, it becomes a balancing act."
It's important for man, mission and machine to work in harmony to accomplish such great things, the outgoing commander said.
But the balancing act also means giving up some things leaders have come to expect while working to find better ways to do business. With the Air Force at a crossroads, General Halter said leaders have many questions about the Air Force future: What will the force structure look like? How dependent will we be on unmanned aerial vehicles? What skill sets will future pilots need? How much training can be accomplished in simulators?
"Fuel costs aren't going down," he said. "With all the advances in technology, simulators can provide a realistic, low-cost, task-focused training experience with no casualties or wear-and-tear to aircraft. But no matter how great the technology is, you can't pull (G-forces) or completely feel everything that's going on around you."
During his command, General Halter has worked to integrate an Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals program at all undergraduate pilot bases and to standardize initial flight instruction across the board, all while meeting the needs of combatant commanders.
"Within two to three months of graduation our pilots are in theater doing their jobs," he said. "F-16 training has changed a lot over the past few years because they were doing things in theater differently than in the past. The folks out at Luke Air Force Base, Air Education and Training Command and my headquarters worked to fix the syllabus to focus more on urban close air support, a task they weren't doing much of just five years ago and now find themselves doing almost exclusively."
Although many things have changed in his two years, some things remain constant.
"This is a place where we help people make their dreams come true," General Halter said. "For some, going through pilot training and earning their wings is the culmination of a life-long dream - to become a pilot; and that is something I will miss being part of.
"What we do is a challenging and sometimes dangerous business; given everything we do with as little as we have," the general said. "There are a thousand miracles performed at 19th Air Force bases every day, by every person in the field. I'm very proud of the entire team."
General Halter will fly the T-38 Talon here Monday for the last time as 19th AF commander before heading to his new assignment as Joint Staff vice director of operations at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Brig. Gen. Gregory Feest will succeed General Halter as 19th Air Force commander July 30 and pin on his second star Aug. 10.