RE: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

An interesting first person perspective on the recent comments by SecDef Gates.

tags: opsec, disclaimer, air force, history, letters

-----Original Message-----
From: X Maj 46 ERS/CC
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:18 PM
To: 46 ERS OPS ALL
Cc: X Maj 332 AEW/PA
Subject: FW: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

All,

Here's some clarification from someone who was actually there. We can't always believe what we hear in the media.

-X
________________________________
From: X USAF AETC ACSC/AY08 STUDENT [mailto:X.X@MAXWELL.AF.MIL]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 18:55
To: X USAF AFSOC 3 SOS/CC; X USAF ACC 432 WG/CC; X J6C/J6CS; X USAF ACC 432 OG/CC; X A3/5/AFCSO; X USAF ACC 17 RS/CC
Subject: SecDef Gates Did NOT rip the AF at Maxwell Today

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Sirs,

Did you hear the news today that said "AF Gets Scolding Over War Effort (CNN)" or "Gates says AF Not Doing Enough In Iraq (Associated Press)"?

In case you were wondering . . . that is NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

I was in the room (with about 1000 friends)--and I was awake-- no one left the briefing thinking that the SecDef was upset with the AF.

He did say a few things like:

- The AF did not want UAVs in 1992

- "We can do more" . . . but he said it very casually like we can always do more

- He very very briefly mentioned that he has been working on getting more UAVs/ISR . . . but this was a very small point in his entire brief

- Mainly he challenged us to think outside the box (like Col Boyd w/ the OODA loop)

The CNN article is completely out of context. His brief was very positive, uplifting, and even motivational.

Two theories racing through the school:

-- possibly he pre-released his negative speech and then changed his mind at the last minute

-- or CNN pre-wrote this speech waiting for him to say something close enough to trigger this negative article about the USAF

Sec Gates' theme was to challenge Air Univ (and the students) to think of smarter ways to deal with future conflicts-not to reprimand the AF.

This is an accurate story of what he talked about from the SecDef Website.

This picture was taken from the brief this morning and is indicative of the tone of the brief (in the background is Lt Gen Lorenz - AU CC). It does not look like he is reprimanding the AF to me . . . and he didn't.

"Now you know, and knowing is half the battle"
-- G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero

v/r

X

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