Future vision, successes highlighted by Air Force Reserve Commander

0


[ad_1]

The Air Force Reserve is essential to providing capabilities and capabilities to the United States, said Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee, Chief of the Air Force Reserve and Commander of Air Force Reserve Command,

Scobee spoke on September 21, 2021 at a panel discussion at the annual Air, Space and Cybersecurity Conference in National Harbor, Md.

Lt. Gen. Michael Loh, director of the Air National Guard, also spoke at the panel titled Total Force: Air and Space. Retired Major General Doug Raaberg, Executive Vice President of the Air Force Association, moderated the panel.

During the panel discussion, Scobee discussed the uniqueness of the Reserve and the role it plays in the Total Force.

“The Air Force Reserve is in every set of missions the Air Force has, every one of them,” Scobee said. “I’m asking where you wouldn’t want surge capacity. The answer is always, we want surge capacity everywhere. Well, then we’ve got to be wherever you are.

Scobee also discussed the role of the Air Force Reserve in the recent evacuation in Afghanistan.

“By the time we got to the 24 hour point, we had 34 planes, two C-5s (Super Galaxy) and the rest of the C-17s (Globemaster III), and 80 crews who had volunteered to operate in this environment. Scobee said, “This is what you call accessing the Reserve component, just through volunteering. We got our people where they needed to be.

He also said he was proud of the way the Guard, Reserve and Active Component worked together to complete the mission.

“It was a tough job,” Scobee said. “Probably the most complex air mission that has been carried out in history if you look at what we had to do and the ability we had to move cargo.”

Throughout the panel, Scobee and Loh responded to questions submitted by the public or follow-up questions from Raaberg.

In response to a question about the current fiscal environment, Scobee discussed the economic benefits of the Air Force Reserve.

“We have to make tough choices about what’s important, where we want surge capacity, and then pay for what we need instead of paying for all the huge overhead you might have in an air force. permanent giant, ”he said. “That’s one of the things that we’re really going to have to dig into and look at is where the effectiveness and efficiency of having the RCAF is in what we do in the Air Force.”

He also answered questions on some challenges for the Reserve and budget constraints.

“Towards the end of the year, as we are now, there are some tough choices,” said Scobee. “The choices between what we do for readiness and resources, and trying to combine those two things to balance them out well for our Airmen, is where we struggle. I spend a lot of time talking to our Airmen about everything we try as a command to make sure we give them the resources to be successful. “

Regarding the future of the Space Force and the Reserve, he said the intention is for the Reserve to continue to provide space capability in a transparent manner.

“What we want to do is put everything in place to be successful as we move forward to create an organization where everyone can serve to the best of their ability, whether full-time or part-time. “said Scobee. “What we need are great guards and air force personnel who are going to make this country’s space combat more deadly to our enemies.”

If there was one thing to take away from the panel, Scobee told Raaberg that there is “no country in the world with a reserve or guard as capable as ours, and that’s by design. This is why we are successful. “

[ad_2]

Share.

Leave A Reply