Maj. Gen. Carl Schaefer, Air Force Materiel Command Deputy Commander, is promoted to lieutenant general at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, August 7, 2020. This accomplishment is significant, as it restores a three-star deputy commander to AFMC, in alignment with other Air Force major commands. (U.S. Air Force video by Austin Smith)
Transcript
Chaplain Frankie, will you please offer the invocation? I invite you to join me in prayer or God, we live in trying times. So with all the stress in our lives and in our world, it’s good to gather here today for many of us in person, not just virtually for a happy occasion. Scripture tells us not only to mourn with those who mourn, but also originalists with those who rejoice. So we’re glad to take some time today to rejoice away from the taskers, the computers, the phones, the CVR teams. Meetings depend yet another star on Major General Karl Schaefer. General Schaeffer can rejoice today not just because of 1/3 star and the opportunity to continue to serve, but because he understands this is yet another of the many gifts that come from your good and gracious hand. Making 09 is a big deal, a milestone reached by few. Yet he knows that it pales in comparison to as many other blessings the blessings of his faith, his loving wife, Pauline, his sons Caleb and Colin Daughter release and Eric and those grandkids, Eliana and Edwards. He is a blessed man who has many reasons to rejoice today, and all of us who joined him today can also rejoice in the promotion, knowing that because he’s met the challenges of the past, he’s better prepared to meet the challenges of the future. Hall was raised in a military family and has now devoted three decades of his life as an Air Force officer. So we’ve all benefited not only from Carl Service but from generations of the Schaefer family service to our air force in our nation. So we pray that you would continue to bless General Schaeffer’s. Labour’s is once again dedicates his talents and his energies to supporting the men and the women of our air force and our nation and enable each of us here today to rejoice in your many blessings. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. We would like to recognize the family members and special guests of General Schieffer in attendance today. His wife, Pauline Shaffer, and their sons, Colin and Caleb, his father, Colonel Charles Schaeffer, United States Air Force retired, and his mother, Arlene, his brother, Mr John Schaefer, former Air Force flight test center commander Major General Doug Pearson, United States Air Force retired and his wife, Teresa, the aerospace and defense adviser. Office of the governor of Ohio. Colonel Josie’s United States Air Force retired. His wife, Susan, and their daughter, Caitlin. Major Ron Mitchell, United States Air Force retired chief master Sergeant Butch Brian, United States Air Force. Retired Distinguished visitors with us today include the spouse of the commander, Air Force Material Command, Miss Caroline Bunch, the executive director in Force Material Command. Mistress Young, the command chief. Air Force Material Command chief Master Sergeant Stan Cadel and his wife, Wanda. The director of staff. Air Force Material Command. Colonel Lyle Drew. The commander. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center Lieutenant General Robert McNally and his wife, D. The incoming commander. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center Major General Sean Morris and his wife, Jean. The commander. Air Force Research Laboratory Brigadier General Heather Pringle and her husband, J. T. Harris. The Commander, 88 Air Base wing Colonel Patrick Miller and his wife, Beth. And from the Date and Development Coalition, Mrs Elaine Bryant, a special thanks to all directors, commanders, friends, family and colleagues in attendance. Ladies and general in General Bunch. So good afternoon, everybody and thanks for taking the opportunity to be here with the shapers on this big day. They’re really happy that you’re here to celebrate with them and to share in this momentous moment for them and for a FMC and for our Air Force. Because today is a really big day shape. Pauline, thanks for letting Caroline and I’ll be a part of this. It is a real honor as a senior leader, if you get the opportunity presided a ceremony like this and we’re just thankful that we get to be a part of it and be a part of today. The father leaders that around here for taking the time out. I actually know how busy almost all of you all are, but thank you for taking the time to be here. And I share this with the shapers and for all the other guests that are here and all those that wanted to be here that couldn’t be here, who are probably watching a video of this much later on. Thank you for being a key part of the shapers lives. I know they wish Moore could be here, but the rules of the rules and we gotta follow what we’re doing here. And so just thanks, everybody, for being here on this big day. I really want to the first off, Jeff Brinker. Thank you very much to the band back here. Thank you very much. Means a lot when you’re here taking care of the extra special time. And the day Tillotson and the team here. What have been you? You can’t get a better place to do a ceremony like this or anything. It just makes it that much more special. So the Dave and his team of volunteers thank you for making it happen. And for the protocol team, that shape will think later. I’m sure I do want to do a couple of special Thank you’s in this area here because I’m glad all of you here. I’m really glad some of these folks up here in this air here. Joe, Susan, Caitlin, thank you all for being here. Represent the governor in this state. You’re plowed a lot of ground together over the years. Really glad you could be here. K. Lyman senior in years, Your dramatically grown up from the last time I saw you. So it’s good to see you here, Chief. It’s great to See you. Thanks for being here, Major Mitchell. We mentioned the name. You may not even know who it is, Major Mitchell. For those that didn’t go to the Colorado school for wayward boys and girls like Shaff. And I did, uh, we have one officer that sets over the squadron and tries to keep the herd moving in the right direction. There, there, you see. And they’re the first real influence that a lot of us have. On what, being a real air force officers really all about mentor. They give you a taste of what it will be like when you leave the academy bubble and go out into the rest of the room. And this is shapes. Air Officer commanding. He lives in Prattville now. He was here. It is to start pin on, and I’m glad. So you’re able to make it back here for the three star one as well. Thank you for your service, Joan. Mrs. Pearson, Uh, we both worked for and with you and plowed ground with you. We’re really glad you’re able to be here to share in today with everything going on. So thank you all for making the trip up. It makes it extra special, their tax and everything flying in from a bunch. Other general officers that have worked with shape in the past that wanted to be here but just couldn’t because of the pandemic and everything else. So they’re here in their thoughts and prayers are with you and Pauline as you take this next step in this great Air Force journey. So now I get turned to the real inner circle that the real fan damningly here. So I’m gonna start with John. John is a facility engineer at Yale and just drove in today and upstairs. We’re talking about the freshman, and these people are coming back at this time and got the world changed. So, John, thanks. He’s shapes little brother. You’ll see him later on. Where you when you see him stand up, you’ll notice that he’s his little brother along the way here, um, unable to be here today is Anna, who is the sister. She is 1/5 grade teacher down in Tennessee. Tennessee started back at school. I personally believe if you’re teaching fifth grade anywhere in the United States, you ought to be getting combat, Paige. So I’m sure and and her family wish they were here, but they weren’t able to be here, so I’m sorry about that. I had one other one I needed to hit for going too far in. And that is Pauline’s mother Nova and no bill. Because of the pandemic and everything else unable to travel, she’s been a key factor in a player in their entire lives. Schaff actually told me as we dialogued about this. She liked him better than Pauline did and while they were dating said, Please be nice to this guy and allow him to pay for dinner every now and then. And don’t upset him because he’s really a good guy and you need to give this to try so thank you know, breath for looking out for him and trying to get going down that way. Mom and Dad Cole retired Charles Schaeffer and Arlene Ah Carney’s Schaefer, retired, is the J six at NORAD, so the shape could finish school there high school in the area. That was when he decided to separate from the Air Force, and they are an amazing family. He’s going to come up later and do the oath. He’s done that at at least the last three promotions. I think that all of this promotion’s he’s been the one that’s done that, so I make That’s remarkable and I’m glad you’re able to do it again today, sir. I would love to say they’re retired in Maine, but I would be lying if I said that because during Cove it they have continued all their volunteer work in the church and doing the food pantry and everything else. Now they have done the right things, and we’re mass and done the right things. But the way it was described to me is we’re going to do the right things. We’ve lived a great life. If Kobe gets us, we’re going to be serving, so thank you for your continued service and outreach to people. You’ve set a great example for your son and your family and your grandchildren on what it means to get back and take care of other people. So thank you all for doing all that. Thank you for setting the foundation and and pouring those core values into shape growing up because we didn’t have to hold do a whole lot of polish it some of us needed a lot of polishing along the way. Some people came in with the core values and still Lindholm and ingrained. He did that. And that’s because the foundation that you all set OK, so thanks for doing that. You need to be really proud. You should be, because this is a big deal and you should be very proud. Okay, now I get to talk about the immediate immediate family. OK, so we’ll start with Kayla. Caleb is going to go next week to go be a war chicken, and, uh, and then he graduated. He never had to be. So he’s going to go to one of those schools in Alabama, and he’s going to study computer science and computer engineering and good choice. We’re gonna do well in that area, so I think that’s gonna work out really well. Colin is a graduate of some Gator school down in Florida or something like that. I don’t know if we’ll get to have Gator Hater week this year or not. It’s been or where they play football, but that’s one. We celebrate with the shapers all the time when Tennessee and then play football. It’s Gator hater week. So already graduated with a degree in biology, working on his master’s degree in human systems communication. Close enough. Sorry that that’s what I had on the piece of paper. These Reuters Masters, Division One athletes at Florida running. Now I have run with shape before and he has run me into the ground, which really in saying a whole lot. But he’s pretty fast. I asked his son, Do you run with him? Any morning goes, Yeah, I do ever. Now nobody’s really too slow. So I really need to pick up the pace so I don’t run with him much anymore. So but a remarkable athlete and two great young men unable to be here today. Alise, who is their daughter, Eric All Yana and Edward. And they are in the D C area living in Pentagon Row. Both of them are working on their master’s degree. I would actually say all for them, because if you listen to Pauline talk, you would actually believe that Eliana and Edward were working on their masters degree at three and less than right around one. They’re not quite there yet, but they’re really good kids, but they’re living there, and they’re working in the in the Pentagon in the five sided building, most likely as a sport contractors. But the grandkids are the real light of the life dude and honey, that’s their go buys. And there’s nothing that they like being called more than a dude and honey to get a good break in this whole covert deal. This is a really close family. So when Kobe hit and we all went into isolation, the Schaefer’s decided, whispering everybody to Ohio and all live in the same house. So they had all the kids and everybody there and is Pauline described it. It was ground hog Thanksgiving Day because of all the food, the birds reading and trying to put on weight and everybody being in the house. But it’s a really tight knit family. Your mom and dad are really, really proud of you all. And they’re amazed at what you all are becoming and the men and the ladies that you all are going up to and start in your lives. And so thank you for your service. A lot of moves, a lot of sacrifice, thank you for everything and being a part of this today. Now I get to talk about the key figure in the Shaffer home Sink house as I refer to Mrs Bunch palling. So Paulina chaff started dating in high school. They dated for five years. They got engaged on a ski lift. I gotta give you credit, dude. Much braver than I would be trying to pass ring on a ski lift. I’d be worried about losing that ring and all kinds of things, but that’s where they got engaged. They got married after he completed Pilot Train 29 years together as a fame as a couple. No military background had no idea what she’s getting into. Unbelievable military spouse. A shining light for others toe watch and look at how to serve as a military spouse to take care of others to create the right environment to make sure that all airmen and their families were looked out after and taking care of. She is a remarkable lady. She is good people. She is a volunteer in this great place as well. Um, falling. Thank you for your service. Every time I do one of these, I talk about spouse. We pay them nothing. We get to do cool things like go fly new airplanes or go be commanders or go be Pio’s And do all those things go back with Airman that we’ve worked with for many many years while returned to the spouse and say police, find a doctor. Police find a place of worship. Police find a dentist. Police find a sports team. Oh, yeah? By the way, put your career on hold. It’s appalling. Thank you for being willing to continue to serve and thank you very much. So shaped. Only keep this short, sweet and move on. Most of you know me. That’s really kind of hard for me to do, because I frequently can exercise my right to remain silent so we could talk a little bit about Shafe. I won’t go in that all 15 or so of the assignments. Uh, I’m not planning on doing that, but if you read the by the hand out, you get a general idea. Pilot instructor, pilot for T 38 fighter pilot, Test pilot five Cited Crazy building Managing money, commander. Multiple times over. Exact multiple times over. Special assistant to the Chief and now working as the D Come. I think I got pretty much Most of it kind of covered there at the top level, but I do want to spend a little bit time talk about what shapes done on his journey here. She was born in D. C. Moved, grew up in an Air Force family, decided he wanted to fly. You applied for the Air Force Academy and applied for ROTC. He got both, he decided. Well, let me rephrase that. He got both and was trying to decide what he wanted to do. He believes Dad was playing reverse psychology owning because that said, Go for the RTC, go to Colorado University, be a Buffalo B B a the OTC guy and go do this. So he went on his trip to do his visit. And while he was there doing his visit, he ran into the captain that was in charge of the RTC area or one of the ones that was there working on the at Colorado, and he s shaped a simple question. What do you want to do? He said, I want fly airplanes. He goes, Why are you considering coming to Colorado? Because if you go to the Air Force Academy, you are guaranteed you’re going to get a powertrain slot of your pilot qualified. I cannot guarantee you that a Colorado, you young man, need to go to the Air Force Academy. And that is how shape started his journey off to the Air Force Academy. They end up coming out as a lieutenant and starting to do the work that he’s done over the last years. I’m not going to talk again about everything. We’ll talk about excellence I’m gonna talk about were fighter. I’m gonna talk about Team Builder. I’m going to talk about Leader and talk about character, those of the areas that I’m gonna try to quickly touch on excellence. Distinguished Graduate out of the Air Force Academy. Distinguished Graduate out of instructor pilot training to go flat T 38 distinguished Graduate out of fighter, leading number one in that class and air air to ground and academics. Okay, that’s kind of the TriBeCa can’t do any better than that in the class. 3.94 g p. A. At affect. I would love to tell you I had a 3.94 in kindergarten in Tennessee, but we didn’t have kindergarten mandatory in Tennessee when I went there so amazing that he is able to pull that off and be that excellent in doing all those things. He has been the F 15 demo pilot for Air Force Material Command. That is something that many people think they want to do. But that is something that is hazardous. That is something that only a very select you get selected to because you’re trying to push yourself and make it look good. But you’ve got to hit it exactly right all the time because your margin for error is not that great. That’s another one. That’s a distinguish er as to what he’s done to show how distinguished Waas he has basically been number one everywhere he’s ever gone. Number one. Pilot number one, a third number one of five. Number 106 All those things. He’s been selected to be an exact twice. I have told me any of you before, I have never even been push forward as a candidate to be an exact. That’s a testament to his ability to do work, work with people and the professionalism in the performance that he has in doing his day to day job. He was hand selected as a special assistant to general wealth, a unique position where you get to go in and work directly for the chief because something is so important that he wants that level of detail and that level attention put on it. So that, to me, is a good example of excellence. Warfighter, four year medals, three aerial achievement medals I will give not all the details but to quicks. Little snippets on two of the air medals the largest surface to air missile attack. While we were going into Serbia with 11 different Sam systems trying to take him in his formation out struck the target, made his way out safely, executed the mission on another one of them in the face of an aircraft fire, evaded, rolled in on the target. And at the last minute, when everybody’s juices are flowing in, adrenaline’s really high and you’re getting ready to pickle out. Bombs decides there’s a false target. A fake target to drop bombs, runs off his team, re attacks, comes back in, and it’s the real target and destroys it. Those are some examples of really in that area. What I would tell you is unique about shape is it doesn’t stop with that. He has continued to have a warfighter mind as he has been a test pilot, identifying problems that we’re going to go to the field that are Airman would have to deal with and causing those and identifying so that could be fixed so that our airman that we’re going into harm’s way would have systems that function properly and they were able to get their mission. Ah, Warfighter Focus aware Fighter Focus Working inside the five sided crazy building when you’re trying to defend money for key programs and you’re trying to make sure that Congress and everybody understands the importance of what you’re doing Toe Airman who are in the field and you were going to be making life and death decisions with the equipment you’re putting in the field. That’s another example. And as a commander, making sure that his airman and those airman of this commander ready to go down range when they call upon and they’re prepared that is a war fighting team builder. Every organization that Pauline and shape have gone to, they have made better. They are true team builders baked, collaborate. They communicate, They build a stronger bond. They build a sense of purpose. They make him and understand why. What they’re doing is so important, and they make those families feel valued. He is an unbelievable communicator, and he is an awesome individual doing those kind of things. For those of us who went to test pilot school, there’s an award that’s given called the Ana Zuko Award For those that didn’t go to the school. Donna Zuker rule. It is named after the S Theron Onizuka, who died in one of our shuttle mishaps. And it is the award given to the individual in the class who builds the most camaraderie and gets at the don’t let the turkeys get us down meant TPS quite honestly is a pretty stressful time for some of us who are not as well educated as others. It is a pretty stressful time. It’s almost like getting a master’s degree and going through pilot training at same time Onley. In this pilot training, you’re probably flying two or three different airplanes a week, and in many of those you’ve only had a day to get ready to go fly those airplanes TPS is highly competitive to get into, and everybody there is pretty hard charging and driven. And to build the camaraderie for that team to make him work together is a unique skill set. That shape is demonstrated. That’s an example of what he and Pauling have done everywhere they go later. Let’s be honest. We use an air Force kind of look at ourselves and we grade. How do you do when you’re a commander? And how do you do when you’re in a leadership role? That’s kind of where you cut your teeth and where you kind of get graded all shapes. Everyone to do is be a commander. I mean, as many of us have said, happiness is to see prefix, and he has been a nun. Believable Leader is commander at squadron level, the group level and the wing rubble Twice. He was on his way to go be the Air Force Test center commander, and to my benefit General Pawlikowski and Roberts benefit. He got vectored in to be the deputy commander for this command. What’s really important also not just getting into those positions is how do you perform number one squadron commander number one group commander, number one wing commander twice when I would almost say, though is his greatest attributes as a leader is being able to serve as a deputy and the deputy commander. Many of you have heard me speak. I am a crappy dipping. I have never I always want to be that commander. One of the hardest things to do is be the deputy because you have to do a lot of the things that the boss doesn’t want to go do. Thank you very much each and every day, Shape and Trish. Um, but you got to do it in a way to get people to work with you. You got to do it in a way. So today they have the idea and their sport where the organization wants to go. When he served as a deputy commander at Edwards, he was the number one lieutenant colonel in the in the wing. That’s just another testament of being a leader, which is what many of us have grown to love about working for and working with shape. Last thing. I’m gonna talk for a minute about his character characters, one of those that if everything’s going really smooth. It’s pretty easy when you go into an organization that may have some cultural issues that you need to clean up and you have problems in the organization. Well, you have things that are going on that aren’t always doing the greatest light. It’s that character that you have to exhibit to be able to step in and fix those things and keep the organization moving forward. And shape has done that. One of his former commanders once told him that what we’re doing in this organization can’t continue. We gotta clean this up. We do not have our core values being emanated in this organization, and we’re not living up to the measure that we need is you, my wing commander, Have you got to get this on a different path? And he stepped in and did that. How you handle suicides, how you handle people that are getting ill. And when you take him food and you take care of men, you check up on them. That’s character. That’s what we need. Our leaders and what we need are those folks that are gonna be senior within our air force. You realize you have an individual that’s got character, and it’s highly respected when you’re walking alongside the chief of staff of the Air Force and he bluntly turns to you and says, Arnie, what are you doing to take care of Schaff? That is a conversation that I have with your Mark Welch when I figured out that I knew shape was really good and I want to take care of him. But I didn’t quite understand just exactly how much John loved them until that very moment, and I figured out that I needed to do a whole lot more. But that is the kind of character that shape it demonstrated. The other one that I will give you is an example of his character is when you are at a commander’s conference and you’re the match com commander sitting there and one of your officers comes up with all the match com commanders to talk about them and you start to hit the button to say something. And there are other match com commanders. Go, chief. He’s knocking it all apart. He is a fantastic deputy commander. He is collaborating with us better than anybody else. He is doing fantastic things. He is a rock star and you as the commander that that gets the privilege of working with him. That name has that work that is character that’s recognized by the highest levels of our efforts our corporate board of directors at the match. Com commander level and a testament to his demonstrated performance and ability to continue to serve. So what are we doing today? It’s really cool. We’re getting to promote Schaff and polling. It’s a really big deal we don’t promote. Based on all those things that have happened in the past. We promote on the potential serving the next time great. And today we get to do that. Who’s the which one of you two is the best at math here? I’ll let you guys figure that out. OK, quickly. All fingers went that way. So how big of a deal is this? We have almost 64,000 officers in our Air Force 65,000. We have 42 Lieutenant general, in our force 42 percentages. Really small. That’s good enough. Answer. A really small percentage of our officers make it to this level couple. Three of em are sitting in the room here. It’s a true testament. The professionalism. And it is a really big deal. When you’re pinning on 1/3 star. It is a true mark. Schaff, you and Pauline have demonstrated clearly all of our core values. Thank you for your willingness to continue to serve. Thank you for your professionalism. Thank you for around Caroline and I to be a part of this with you. Today is a great day for the Schaefer family, but it’s actually even a greater day for our Air Force Material Command and for our air Force. So that probably shortened suite is you wanted. But let’s do the ceremony. Let’s get this on. Thank you, General Bunch. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the publishing of the promotion orders. Published the order. Attention to orders. The President of the United States, acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Air Force, has placed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, integrity and abilities of Major General Karl E Schaefer. In view of these special qualities and his demonstrated potential to serve in the next higher grade, Major General Karl Schaefer is promoted to the grade of Lieutenant General United States Air Force effective the 20th day of July 2000 and 20. Who? Please be seated. At this time, I would like to invite Mrs Pauling Shaffer and Mrs Arlene Schafer to come forward to pin on the new rank. Done it. You could do the left. The star is the oldest continually used rank in the United States military. The use of the star to signify the rank of a general officer can be traced to a June 17 80 decree by General George Washington during the War of American Independence. It is believed that General Washington chose the star as the symbol of general officer rank in honor of its use in the Allied French armed forces. It is customary for family members or close friends to participate in the pinning ceremony to recognize the contributions to the promoting success and achieving the higher rank. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand Colonel. Retired child shaper will now administer the oath of office. Go for it. All right. I, Karl Schaefer, have been appointed a lieutenant general in United States Air Force. You saw all this? Where? Well, little support defend the Constitution of United States against all enemies foreign domestic. But I bear true faith and allegiance to the same. Really? I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So you got right. Please be seated. At this time, General Shaper will be presented with this big personal colors on a guard post Throughout the history of warfare, a general officers personal flag symbolized leadership on the battlefield. The Air Force has incorporated the use of flags to signify the presence of a general officer. This flag will be present at all official military functions and will also be visibly displayed in General Schaeffer’s office. And now it is my honor to present to you, Lieutenant General Karl Shaper. You. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all so much for being here. I tell you, this is one of those days that, um you frankly never expect. It feels like you’re a little bit of a dream. It’s it’s surreal. Um, like little bunch mentioned I came into the Air Force because I wanted to fly. But like many leaders, we stay because of the people And so it’s just such an honor and so humbling for this promotion. I’m gonna stand up here and say some thank you’s. Normally I don’t use note cards, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anybody. And so please bear with me as I go through the litany of thank you’s Today and if I forget you, it’s it’s not. It’s not on purpose on this, right off the bat again. Thank you all for taking time out of your busy day to come here and celebrate this with us in our family. If you’re in this in this room, then you made a huge effort to be here and you’re part of the inner circle. The less than 50 that got to show up on your special to me and Pauline. So thank you very much for being here. My first, thank you always is to God the source of my strength and my resilience, the bedrock of my foundation and character and the one who I looked to every day when I when I get up. And so I just want to thank God publicly for what he’s done in my life personally, in our family’s life. The second thank you, is everyone who had a hand in this ceremony. So from the museum step museum staff and Dave Tillerson, Thank you very much. It’s a huge efforts. Um, we’ve been doing this multiple times here in the in the last week or so, and they continue to continue to set up this this venue, and it’s a wonderful venue to get to celebrate. So thank you to the museum. Two protocol, specifically Gen Hellwig. Chief, Thanks for running the ceremony. You’ve run a bunch of them here in the last week or so, But thanks for making a special for me and my family. But it’s the whole protocol team to help set these up to the band of flight. Thank you all very much. Like General Bunch mentioned for making this special. Thank you so much for your service and what you do toe honor us in these ceremonies, Chaplain. Frankly, Matthew, thank you. And Martha, thanks for being here. Thanks for the indication to my execs, Michelle Manning, who is near rating today. Michelle, thank you for the great narration and thanks for all you do to take care of me and my family. You represent a a long line of execs that have taken good care of me. Thank you for public affairs. Who’s filming this? This is going to be published on Facebook or something later, I promise. But the public affairs Thanks for all your support and work in this and capturing this this event for my family, to my enlisted aid. A Sergeant Miller. I don’t know if he made it. He’s off getting ready for the reception, but he and massive search, like Vincent, get a lot of support to this ceremony in and the celebration of following to the leadership that’s represented here. Teoh center commanders with gentle McMurray and Shauna Jean coming in. And Heather and J T Center commanders here representing all the center commanders. Huge appreciation for you being here to Miss Young. So this is my wingman. This is my day to day women. You know, General Bunch gets to do all the fantastic things he gets to hug the babies and and go out and be out in front to be in the spotlight, which is exactly where we need him to be. For the most important command in the air force to enable the national fence strategy right when we need him. And so me and this younger are taking care of the the home fires and doing execution. Um, during the day and during the week. And I could not think of a better leader to be with Trish than you. So thank you. It’s an honor to serve with you. I want to thank Mr Lane Bryant. Thanks for being here and and representing the Community Date Development Coalition. We get fantastic community support across all of our FNC basis. So thank you for representative Community Teoh, Colonel Pat and Beth Miller. Thanks for representing all the wing commanders. It’s a huge, huge deal to be a wing commander. It’s even lived it more of a headache. Man. Attendant on your base is a four star command and you as do a fantastic job. So thanks for all your support of the FMC and us as a family. I wanted the next kind of move my thank you’s to my bosses and I’ll start with who you already heard about my air officer commanding when I was a cadet in my senior year Captain Ron Mitchell at the time who came in and and really showed me what leadership is all about, what mentorship was all about. So, Ron, thank you so much for being here. You’ve been in many of our celebrations. He was also, um when my daughter for sophomore year. When I went to war College, he was the president. Pregnant Christian Academy. Still is the President Preval Kids, Christian Academy integrate care or family water War college. Ron, Thanks for being here. The next boss that’s in the room that I happen to encounter was Josie’s. Who? What? I went to test pilot school was my deputy commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Josie’s, and Susan, who was also just a model and a mentor for Pauline and I what it meant to take care of people and what it meant to be a good deputy. So, Joe, thanks also for being here and representing the governor and thank you for your friendship and came Thanks for being drug into this this ceremony. So thanks for being here. Um, next, after test pilot school, I went got to fly a little bit, and and, um, they were soliciting names to be an exact to a two star and I said, No, I don’t want to do that. And then they came back again, like, six months later and they say, We want to be you, to be exact and I said, Hell, no, I’m flying. This is what I want to do it. Last thing I want to do is be an executive. And then Pearson said, Turns out you don’t have a choice. You’re gonna come be my exact So I don’t know, It’s no interview. There was nothing. It was just got snatched off the flight line. Um, but gentle Pearson, as a as a two star allowed me to fly and really should be for the first time. But his executive leadership look like and really, what does it mean? Teoh to suit to support an entire organization. And Teoh liaise with higher levels of command and just took great care of falling. And I sort of the year that were working for for you and Theresa and so mentor over the years, it’s hard for me to call him Doug. It’s really sir. And But he has been at these events multiple times over the years and has been a great mentor for Pauline I So, Doug and Teresa, thank you so much for being here. Um, after leaving Edwards going on to school, and then I got to the Pentagon, There’s another boss in the audience that showed up. Um, Colonel Sean Whammo. Frisbee. So whammo. And I happen to be in the F 22 of all together. He was my boss working in Saffet que when I was in F 22 Pam, I just come out of being in 15 Pam and again, a very, very high speed leader. Well, no thanks for your friendship and your mentorship of 80 years. Thanks for thanks for being here. And then, Ah, another fantastic leader in the room I wanted to recognize was Lieutenant General McMurray in D. So when I got hired in here to this decomposition went right to work for General McMurray, who was standing in the Gap as a three star running really a five star command. Frankly, I mean, it’s just it’s just a beast. And not only was he running a FMC, but he continued to do his job in L C M C and then also stand up a new program executive office with a new rapid sustainment office underneath him as the as the PDO. So he was triple headed in this job. And so it was an honor to leave with you. I learned a lot. It was when this guy speaks, you need to listen because there’s a lot of brilliance that’s coming out of his mouth. And I learned a lot from you, sir. Andy, thank you so much for you all also standing in that gap and supporting polling tonight and then finally, leader that has been in my life a long time has been journal Bunch and Mrs Bunch. So I first met Journal Bunch. Actually, when I was executive for journal Pearson he was a squatter commander of bombers, the 4 19 flight test squadron, and I got to see him interact with the center commander and the other the other squatter commanders. And then I got to work from again when he was a wing commander, enough to squander commander. And then when he was a center commander and I was a wing commander, I got to work for him. Now, in my third time as his deputy, he has done by promotion ceremony’s for one star, two star and three star perfect fit for today because he really didn’t have to do anything. He’s like, you guys know he is the most amazing memory. So this had to wake up this morning and and and and do this thing for memory. But, sir Thank you. Thank you for those words. I know Pauline was sitting there. She were talking, going on who you’re talking about. Um, I know a lot of people showed up today because this really gonna happen. They’re gonna They’re really gonna make schaefer the restore. But, sir, thank you for your words. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your mentorship. There’ll be no way that I be on the stage without all of your support And Mrs Bunch everything that that Pauline learned as, ah, a senior spouse we really gleaned from from you. So thank you for all of your support for Airman for take care of families, for loving on people and making organizations. Great. Thank you for all your service. All right. The next group I want to thank are the chiefs, So I have just gotten a pleasure to work with amazing chiefs and one to travel all the way from Utah’s my first command chief Butcher Brian. And, uh, I will tell you that from my Chiefs is where I learned how to be a good commander and they were doing things, you know, under underneath, below the radar that I would I will never know about and also say thank you so much. But there you all are the reason why I’m stand on the stage. So thank you for your leadership. Thanks for what you’ve done for Airman. All the Chiefs that that I’ve gotten work with. So I list them out for you and my other more command chiefs other than Butch, Rob Boyer, Dave Smith, Todd Simmons and R. J. Jones and RJ’s up as the A one chief for for General Kelly. Thank you to all those command chiefs. Another special chief from Edwards is here is Chief Carling weapons guy and Chief again. Thank you for your leadership and thanks for your support and friendship. So I just wanted just a huge round of applause for our chiefs. Thank you. Last but not least, we get to work with fantastic command Chief withstand and Rana. Thank you so much. Chief Goodell, for all of your leadership and support and your friendship, just the honor to serve you. All right. Um, some friends, I’ll do some shot out some Facebook shoutouts. So to Ralph Cantrell that to Tom Ben, guard, Teoh, Charles Carrots and friends that want to travel here But but couldn’t because of coded coach G. Who is Collins coach when he was in high school for running, Um, the Nasser’s market Jodi Nasser and market Kim Leonard. There’s I won’t list off. There’s a whole bunch of folks that wanted to be here, and we just told you told him, Please don’t travel a stable you’re at and then finally, I’ll just I’ll hit family. So Pauline’s mom Nova, like journal Bunch said, Can’t travel. Um, she’s in Arizona, so no, but thank you. Polly’s dad passed away about a year ago, but to Paul and Nova, huge support over our entire career. Thank you so much for all your love and support calling Sister a Janine who’s in Texas. Thank you, Janine, for your love and support brother Bruce and Robin, Thank you for your support. Um, on my side of the family, John my little Braille. Thanks for being here. Thanks. Representing that. It to be here. Drove in from He’s a very compliant guy. Drove in from Yale. He the governor of Connecticut, can only have you be 24 hours in Ohio. And so he literally camped out on the border of Ohio last night to be able to drive in here. And then he’s leaving early tomorrow morning to not break the 24 hours and get back to Connecticut without being quarantined for his job. So, John, thank you. Thanks for all your love and support of the years, brother. And to my sister, Anna and Chip and being you. Sorry you couldn’t be here. My sister started school this week and she was afraid of Kid Cove it because all of her kids were coming back in the classroom for fifth grade. I know they wanted to be here all right, too, to my kids. Um, actually, let me let me hit my mom and dad first. Um really, really special. I don’t know how many people have gotten the honor to have, you know, your dad swear you in the academy is a selected second lieutenant and then to be it every single pin on my entire career and give me my oath of office. So, Mom and Dad Thank you. We love you. This is a team sport serving in the Air Force. Thank you for your service. You’re 26 years. Thank you for continuing to love and support and and serve. When I had to be gone and you had to support family or watch kids, thank you for always being here for us in our family. They’re in their eighties. I said, Hey, you’re not coming here. I’m sorry. It’s too dangerous. There’s this thing called Covert were in a pandemic and they said We’re coming no matter what. So our choice was did not have anything or have them come and were happier here. We’re praying for safety and health, but but really, really happy that you came here. So thank you to my boys. Teoh Colin to Caleb. First of all, calling super proud of you. I graduated a division one. Athletes running three seasons cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, graduated with his full degree in 3.5 years and then stayed Teoh start cranking on his grad school. Super proud of you, man. So thank you for your for your love and support for Caleb. Um, both of these guys had to high schools, and we’re just fortunate to be here. That cable didn’t have to move in the in the middle. I school, but super proud of you. Like General Bunch mentioned a 4.0, at the top of his class going to Auburn War Eagle. And, um, you know, for both of these young men, way had a choice of, you know, we continue. Just keep him in the house and online school, which they had those options. Or do we do we kick him out of the nest and make them go back to school, especially for Caleb to start school. And they’re just ready. They’re ready. Thio Thio, get out and be with peers and launching the neck next phase of their life. So thank you for your love and support. There’s no way that we could do what we dio without our military kids. Thank you for your service To my daughter release and Eric, her husband and those two grand babies, Eliana and Edward. I know they wanted to be here. They’re pretty maxed out. I mean, they’re so maxed out that they wanted to downsize, move out of a house, move close to work in Crystal City, get like a 900 square feet apartment in Pentagon Road and it’s get his chaos. Two kids under the age of two, Um, and full time working in full time grad school. So we’re like, Please, just stay. But But thank you for your service and they’re continuing to service support contractors for duty. And then finally, I just want I wanna thank my four star. It’s not General Bunch, it’s Pauline. Honey, this is my high school sweetheart, my best friend. We have been married for 29 years. We’ve been together for 35 years. Love of my life, The person who makes me smile every day when I get up and is the complete reason beyond God that I’m standing up here and having this opportunity to continue to serve 19 moves like like many of you have done and countless meals taking care of people loving on families. I mean these things that I know that all of you understand is spouses that are sitting here you’ve done the exact same thing. But this is my publicly time just to say, honey, thank you for all of that. I said, Hey, sweetie, you know, um I can’t believe we’re getting another star. And are you Are you good to continue to serve? And she said I’m all in and still part of this adventure, and I’m like, What do you What can I get you? What kind of gift can I possibly get to say thank you? Diamonds? You know what? What do you want? And, um and I couldn’t think that I could love her, even mawr. But she said I want a truck. So So Yeah, we get the guy who I love you. That’s awesome. We don’t get to thank our spouses enough for their service to our country. And so to all the spouses in here and and I’ll wrap it up to Pauline to say thank you for your service for all that you do for Airman and allow allowing us to serve. So with that? Yes. Thank you with that. Thanks to everybody who took time out of your busy day to come and be here, it’s very special for me and my family. I look forward Toa toasting with you at the at the reception. Extremely casual or come as you are right now, but thanks for everything.