Chairman of the joint chiefs visits Langley

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Steven Goetsch
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, visited Langley Air Force Base, Va., 8 Dec. and received several briefings, but his top priority was talking with Airmen and thanking them for their service.

Admiral Mullen held an "All Hands" call, and covered his key priorities before opening the floor for questions.

"Really, I've got three messages today," said Admiral Mullen. "My first message is one of thanks for what you're doing. Thanks to you, and thanks to your families."

He also emphasized that military service doesn't always get recognition, but that does not take away from anyone's service. "Thanks to you for raising your hand, serving our country at a very, very critical time in our history," the admiral said. "Sometimes that gets lost because we're doing it every day," he added.

Admiral Mullen has seen almost everything in his four decades of military service, but thinks that this is one of the most challenging times anyone can serve. "In the over forty years I've been doing this, to me, this is the most critical and most dangerous time that I've certainly experienced."

Before the admiral transitioned to his second topic, change, he mentioned how the support of families is key to Air Force success.
"Im here with my wife and she's meeting with spouses and she always reminds me about the criticality of the support of our families which has been extraordinary as well, in this very challenging time," the admiral said.

The admiral said one of the reasons that makes these times a challenge is change, and one way to compensate for change, is take care of the one constant, people. "The one thing that I know we can do really well on, is make sure we take care of our people, take care of our families, and we will be in pretty good shape."

Taking tours through the Distributed Ground System, and static hangars, the admiral got a first-hand look at how change has affected not only the Air Force, but also the Langley mission. Look at Langley ten years ago, and look what we were doing here, principally getting ready to deploy, training to deploy, and now compare that to how different today is, which is in the fight 24/7," said Admiral Mullen.

The admiral also talked about changing emphasis on priorities, and although focus will always be on Iraq and Afghanistan and the challenges they provide, the Air Force has additional priorities. "The one that has led, and the one that is the top priority as far as I'm concerned, has been the need to get our arms around the nuclear enterprise."

He realizes it is a long-term problem, but being a former nuclear officer himself, he knows how important that mission is. "We've got to bring that [nuclear] back to the zero defect standard that we must have in the area of nuclear weapons," said Admiral Mullen.


The admiral realizes that it will take time, but emphasis on standards is required not only for today, but well into the future. "So we've got to change, but not sort of get that back, but also poise it for the future, in terms of how that enterprise, that part of the U.S. military is handled again and again."

The admiral realizes the tough times the Air Force has recently gone through, but is confident because of the outstanding leadership, which was the last topic he wanted to share with the Airmen. "I'm encouraged by the leadership and the direction and the very clear vision and what the priorities are that should be clear to all of us as we move to the future," said Admiral Mullen.

Admiral Mullen believes everyone should be a leader in some capacity. "I don't care if you're an E-1, or an E-9, or O-1, or somebody as senior as me, everybody is expected to lead."

Taking care of Airmen was a theme that ran throughout the "All hands", and leadership is no exception.
"I have failed a couple of times in my professional life, big time, but fortunately, I had bosses who saw a little potential there," the admiral explained.

"They gave me a little training, gave me an opportunity to recover, and that taught me great lessons," he added.

Before fielding several questions from the audience, the admiral finished with some words of wisdom from the Airman's Creed.  He noted the Airman's Creed talks about never leaving an Airman behind, and that leadership is crucial in making that happen.