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Air show thanks and celebrating our Air Force heritage

  • Published
  • By Col. Michael Hornitschek
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing commander
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  What an amazing air show this weekend! Anyone who participated in this year's fantastic "Airpower Over the Midwest" knows that our air show was an absolutely phenomenal event. From the picture perfect blue skies Saturday and Sunday, to all of the acts, static displays, concessions, etc., our weekend went exceptionally well. Most importantly, it was a very safe weekend.

I cannot tell you how many praises I received on behalf of the 375th AMW and Team Scott--if I received one, I received 100. I pass them all on over to you. It took a great deal of planning and execution to make this event such a success for the estimated 180,000 guests, and I know that's a direct reflection on all our team partners--military members, civilians, community members and more than 400 volunteers . This weekend was actually a very large military maneuver for our base in terms of organization and leadership, and you hit the ball out of the park.

My sincere thanks go out to everyone for the long hours they all put in--from the entire air show committee led by Lt. Col. Mike Kayser, to each security forces augmentee who manned a street corner for two days straight and missed a front-seat view to everyone in between, thank you all. We've made a couple hundred thousand happy memories and made Scott AFB and the Air Force look great once again. We could not have done this without superb leadership and community partnering through the entire planning and execution stages. Again, my hat is off to you!

As we close a chapter in our wing's history with the successful completion of a great air show, we look ahead to another opportunity to celebrate--our Air Force's 63rd birthday. It was just 63 years ago on Sept. 18, 1947 that the United States Air Force set out on a mission of excellence as a separate military service.

Since 1947, we have supported our nation in wars, conflicts, operations, and humanitarian and relief missions, large and small; first through airpower (as demonstrated this weekend) and then, as we evolved, through space and cyberspace operations. In our first year as a separate service and over a year's time beginning May 1948, we defied a Soviet blockade of Berlin by airlifting over two million tons of supplies on more than 277,000 flights to the people in West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift was arguably air power's single most decisive contribution to the Cold War, and it unquestionably achieved a profound strategic effect.

Over the past two decades, our Air Force has been continuously deployed and engaged in overseas contingency and humanitarian operations. From Operation Desert Shield which kicked off the largest airlift in history over a short period of time in August 1990, to Desert Storm months later when we achieved air supremacy within the first 24 hours of the 43-day Persian Gulf War, to the most recent Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. And just this past year alone, our Airmen have provided humanitarian relief to victims of floods in Pakistan and earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and have conducted aeromedical evacuations the world over.

As you know, the United States military marked a historic milestone Sept. 1 as it made the transition from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn signifying a formal end to U.S. military combat operations in Iraq. Operations are still ongoing in Afghanistan.

Today, nearly 40,000 Airmen are deployed to 263 locations across the globe. That's in addition to the 58,000 Airmen--and in many cases, their families--forward-stationed overseas, strengthening regional stability and longstanding alliances in support of Combatant Commanders. And, on any given day, approximately 130,000 Airmen support the Combatant Commanders from the home front. Our deployed-in-place Airmen are indispensable to the day-to-day defense of our nation.

We do not know what the future holds, but to realize our senior leaders' vision of a consistently powerful, capable Air Force, we will almost certainly need to pursue initiatives not yet fully imagined. We know our Airmen will respond. After all, we are the stewards of a remarkable and vibrant history that began on the sands of Kitty Hawk and continues to be written in places like Afghanistan.

Whether our contribution is in irregular warfare, humanitarian relief operations, engaging other air forces, aerial combat, strategic deterrence--or just getting the job done--we stand firm as a vital component of U.S. military power. America's Air Force entered the 21st century as the world's best air, space and cyber institution, and together we must expand on that legacy to deliver and preserve full spectrum excellence!