Twitter
Facebook
— Photo by Senior Airman John R. Wright
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. and his wife, Sharene, visited Ramstein Air Base July 13-15 as part of a trip to multiple locations in Europe.
During their visit, Brown and Mrs. Brown toured multiple agencies across Ramstein proper to meet face-to-face with the Airmen and families who support the Global Gateway’s diverse mission set.
While at Ramstein, Brown served as a keynote speaker at the virtual Global Air Chiefs’ Conference where discussions focused on what the future may look like for the Air and Space Force in 2040. At the virtual conference, he spoke about collective defense, the importance of strategic investment in airpower, and agile combat employment.
As Brown participated in the GACC, Mrs. Brown visited several facilities such as the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center Warrior USO Center and the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. She met with these agencies, in addition to key spouses, to discuss how taking care of the health and well-being of service members, and their families, enables them to accomplish the mission.
As part of Brown’s tour, he received an overview of the mission and capabilities of the three wings based at Ramstein, including their focus on multi-capable Airmen and agile combat employment.
Brown held an All Call with Ramstein Airmen prior to departing. He took time to answer Airmen’s questions and focused on his strategic vision of “Accelerate Change or Lose.”
“The time is now,” Brown told Airmen. “When you look for someone to drive change, we all need to look ourselves in the mirror because every one of us has the opportunity to drive change. I can’t do this by myself. It requires all of us to be committed to making change.”
Brown stressed the significance of the change in the Air Force mission statement which is now, “To fly, fight, and win…airpower anytime, anywhere.”
“Not some time in some places; it is anytime, anywhere,” Brown said. “Every one of our specialties contributes to that.”
Brown also vocalized his strong desire to empower Airmen at all levels.
“I want to give Airmen the intent, authority and resources to allow us to execute the mission as multi-capable Airmen,” Brown said. “We’ve made changes, but there’s more to do. ‘Accelerate Change or Lose’ is the why. Action orders are things we focus on to get there.”
— Photo by Senior Airman Milton Hamilton
Airmen asked a variety of questions including the potential for any future uniform changes.
“My intent is not to make any major changes,” Brown said, regarding uniforms. “I’m focused on making some other changes.”
He also addressed a question about what Air Force resource allocation and modernization would look like moving into the future.
“Part of allocating resources is being able to make tough calls about what we need,” Brown said. “We have to prioritize the things we need to do as an Air Force. There are certain things we’re probably doing that don’t provide air superiority, and we need to focus on that. There are some other things we’re probably doing that we don’t need to be doing anymore, and we need to make some choices.”
Brown went on to explain how he works with commanders at the major command level to make these tough decisions.
“I’m making them part of the solution by having them come into the meetings with me, and we spend time talking about what choices we’re going to make as an Air Force so we can ensure that we have air superiority in the future,” Brown continued. “It means we’re going to have to let some things go.”
Another Airman asked if increasing manpower for cyber specialties was on the horizon.
“We as an Air Force are not going to get bigger, which means we have to reshape ourselves,” Brown answered. “As cyber becomes more and more important to us, we have to think about how we change ourselves. When I think about the Air Force in 2035, we’re going to look different.”
While Brown acknowledges that accelerating change requires a reshaping of the Air Force, he emphasized his commitment to supporting Airmen in meaningful ways and strengthening the total force.
“I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with you,” Brown told Airmen. “One thing I want you to know is that you don’t work for me. I work for you. My job is to make your job easier, and that’s what I focus on.”
