The 23rd Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin held an all call during a visit to Joint Base Langley-Eustis Feb. 29, to officiate the Air Combat Command change of command.
During the all call, Allvin spoke to ACC and Langley AFB Airmen about Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition and what the force can expect.
"We need to make the force that we have right now as ready as possible," Allvin said. "Then make sure the way we're developing our people and developing the force in the future can keep us ahead."
Allvin referenced and recommended all Airmen read, "The Case for Change," a document published by the Department of the Air Force that helps define the path forward and outlines four focus areas for reoptimization: develop people, generate readiness, project power and develop capabilities.
Throughout the all call, Allvin provided insight into each focus area, to include his expectations for the pace of change as Langley AFB Airmen prepare to meet the challenges of the current strategic environment. He said the Air Force cannot afford to waste time, emphasizing that leaders must focus on developing a force that is ready for deployment now.
"We need to be able to take the force we have, and make sure it can most effectively fight and win today, if asked," he said.
He said the Air Force is moving away from the term "multi-capable Airmen" to "mission-ready Airmen," which more accurately describes how Airmen must think in the future.
"We have to be able to move beyond just our technical specialties," Allvin said. "We have to be able to say, 'what's the mission? It might be outside of what I normally do, but I know that's what the mission requires.' If we want to execute [Agile Combat Employment], we have to minimize our footprint. So, how do we adapt that to the mission? That's what we mean by mission ready."
Allvin also explained the DAF is analyzing the way the force optimizes between readiness and modernization.
"What we're doing is taking the expertise that is resident here at [Air Mobility Command] and looking at what the requirements are to build up the future force design," he said. "That dialogue will happen in one command, the Integrated Capabilities Command. We have to make sure we retain the deep mission expertise that resides in each of the major commands right now and bring those together to make a single force. And we [must] make sure that every modernization dollar we spend is going to be effective. We're optimizing for one Air Force."
According to Allvin, ACC-led, mission-ready representative exercises like Red Flag and Bamboo Eagle demonstrate Agile Combat Employment concepts; however, as the Air Force moves toward conducting more large-scale exercises in preparation for GPC, ACC will play an increased role in ensuring the combat readiness of the entire Air Force.
As the DAF redesigns the way the force cultivates mission-ready Airmen, Allvin encourages leadership to deliberately guide and empower their Airmen for an operationally changing strategic environment, and to "sustain a workforce equipped with deep expertise and the skills essential for maintaining competitiveness."
Following the GPC discussion, Allvin answered questions from the audience and presented coins to Airmen from the 192nd Maintenance Group, 71st Fighter Squadron, 36th Intelligence Squadron, 45th Intelligence Squadron and 633rd Security Forces Squadron in recognition of various recent accomplishments.
