Gen. Bill Creech: A lasting legacy

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LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) --   In late 1950, the Chinese entered the Korean War and quickly surrounded elements of the famed 27th Infantry Regiment. A young Air Force lieutenant, working as a forward air controller, along with his enlisted driver managed to sneak through the battle lines and evade the enemy.

After eluding Chinese forces for three days and nights, the two Airmen reached friendly forces, but the brutally harsh Korean winter had exacted its toll. Suffering from severe frostbite to his extremities, the lieutenant spent almost a month in the hospital, his Air Force career in jeopardy.

Fortunately for the Air Force, the young officer survived his injuries and went on to an illustrious and productive future.

The lieutenants name was Wilbur Creech, but everyone called him Bill. He started out as an enlisted man in the Army Air Force and earned his wings and commission in 1949, eventually attaining the rank of general.

His first operational assignment with the 51st Fighter Wing ultimately led to that cold winter night in Korea. After his agonizing ordeal, he went on to fly 103 combat missions over North Korea undaunted by the dangerous challenges he continued to face. Returning to the United States, General Creech found himself at Luke AFB Ariz.

After teaching advanced gunnery to students from around the world, he became a member of the legendary Thunderbirds, the United States Air Force Aerial Demonstration Team. It was a dream assignment for an Air Force officer and his love for the squadron and its esprit never waned throughout the generals career. Later, his efforts to save the team from congressional cuts earned Bill Creech the nickname, Father of the Thunderbirds.

As a man of great personal integrity, the generals actions always spoke louder than his words. Leadership to him meant cutting away unnecessary rules and regulations, listening to the front line troops, and supporting the efforts of the enlisted men and their ideas. He often stated, It is the we and our mindset, not the I and my mindset that leaders must build.

In 1978, when General Creech was brought in to fix the Tactical Air Command, it was this principal that he brought with him. He came into a situation where, according to David Osbornes book Reinvention at the Organizational Level, only 58 percent of TACs planes were mission capable on any given day; its pilots receiving only 60 percent of the training they needed; and seven planes were crashing for every 100,000 hours flown.

By tearing down highly centralized systems, General Creech placed responsibility for achieving TACs goals in the hands of the people who flew and fixed the commands planes.

As Mr. Osborne wrote, (The general) started building cross-functional teams that were responsible for achieving specific goals he tore down the functional walls, put all flightline maintenance people into teams, cross trained them, and assigned each team to a squadron. Creech also took the aircraft out of the central pool and gave them to the squadrons. Each squadronnow made up of pilots and mechanicsowned 24 planes.

He did this with every specialty including the supply system which was buried in red tape. To paraphrase General Creech, organizations need to think big about what to achieve and to think small about how to achieve it. In other words, goals should be set high, but it is the worker who achieves those goals.

With the conclusion of the Gulf War, the Tactical Air Command racked up startling statistics. Ninety Five percent of its aircraft flown during the battle were mission capable, far exceeding the requirements set during practice at home bases. Although Iraqi forces had almost 15,000 surface-to-air missiles and more than 6,000 antiaircraft guns, TAC lost only 13 fighters, one lost for every 3,200 combat sorties flown.

Credit for these astounding numbers has been attributed to the flying tactics promoted by General Creech. General John P. Jumper, Air Force chief of staff, said,

He transformed the way the Air Force conducts warfare, said General John P. Jumper, Air Force chief of staff. He was a hero of Korea and Vietnam who improved the tactics that have led to our successes in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq. Through his efforts we have made great strides in electronic warfare and, in battle, we have won back the night.

General Wilbur L. Bill Creech has left a lasting legacy to the Air Force. Having flown more than 275 combat missions in two wars and earning numerous medals and citations for valor, his resume speaks for itself. Every Airman has an example to emulate, but General Creechs legacy goes beyond the heroics accomplished in battle. He has instilled in the members of the Air Force a strong sense of pride in their individual units. His belief that enlisted personnel determined the eventual success or failure of military missions empowered all service members to be all they could be.

His leadership qualities were based on his integrity. In that light his actions always matched his words.

Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogelman said, The more a leaders behavior matches his or her words, the more loyal people will become, both to the leader and to the organization. And thats what made General Creech a person of integrity and a great leader.

In light of all the generals contributions to Tactical Air Command and Air Combat Command, the Air Combat Command Conference Center will be dedicated to General Creech March 30 at 2 p.m. The building will be officially named the Gen. Bill Creech Conference Center.