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AETC leaders journey through aviation history

  • Published
  • By Daniel P. Elkins
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs

Against a backdrop steeped in rich aviation history, Air Education and Training Command staff directors and civic leaders, representing organizations from throughout AETC, culminated their visit here Oct. 24 with a staff ride at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, offering greater insight into the evolution of flying training and warfighting from World War I to the modern era.

The staff ride, hosted by Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, commander of AETC, and Chief Master Sgt. Chad Bickley, AETC command chief, gave AETC civic leaders and command leadership a glimpse into aviation history. The on-site visit to the museum, combined with discussions, gave participants a hands-on learning experience to reflect on developments in aviation and how historical lessons learned are still relevant to today’s technological training and aviation advances. The staff ride also illustrated the similarities between the early days of the Army Air Corps ushering in accelerated innovation and today’s focus to reoptimize how the Air Force trains for and executes the mission during the era of Great Power Competition.

“The character of war is changing, but the nature of war is not,” Robinson said. “Our history allows us the opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done and what we need to do. None of us want GPC to turn into an all-out conflict, but we certainly better be prepared if it does. In our nation’s history, we’ve been here before from a perspective of national security. Let’s not err on the side of ignoring our history and choose to learn from it instead.”

AETC historians Gary Boyd, Bill Manchester and Rudolph Purificato led the staff ride event at the national museum, which is the world’s largest military aviation museum. The museum houses multiple galleries of military aviation history, including more than 350 aerospace vehicles and missiles on display along with thousands of historical artifacts and powerful sensory exhibits connecting the Wright brothers' legacy with today's stealth and precision technology.

“A staff ride is not simply a guided tour, but rather an immersive learning experience that encourages participants to reflect on past events and consider how they might apply the lessons learned to modern situations,” Boyd said. “It is a tool used by militaries around the world to foster critical thinking and strategic analysis. This staff ride focused on great power competition using vignettes featured at the National Museum of the Air Force.  We were able to highlight events in history that depict how as a military, we have been here before multiple times in history.”

The staff ride focused on various eras of military aviation and Air Force history, to include World War I and World War II, as well as post-war advances in innovation and training during conflicts in Korea, Southeast Asia and the Cold War.

“We as the commanders, directors, and senior enlisted leaders of today, it is our job to make sure we set the conditions to determine what hand we have in a conflict,” Robinson said. “We need to offer our policymakers the best equipped, well-trained, critical thinking force of Airmen and Guardians we can possibly muster. Learn from where we’ve been and energize the tough decisions moving forward. In the end, it’s all about national security.”

The event followed two days of AETC civic leader engagements with Wright-Patterson mission partners, where the goal was to enhance the understanding, support and cooperation between the Air Force and the communities it serves. The 28 civic leaders spent time visiting organizations across the base, where members’ mission is worldwide logistics, world-class laboratory research and foremost acquisition and development.

“Participating in the civic leader immersion was an eye-opening experience that deepened my appreciation for the Air Force’s mission and the incredible talent within its ranks,” said Jerret Krouse, AETC civic leader attached to the 37th Training Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. “I was enlightened about how advanced research directly impacts our national security. One fascinating takeaway from Wright-Patterson was learning that nearly a third of the civilians at the Air Force Research Laboratory hold doctoral degrees—this expertise is driving innovation in ways I hadn’t fully realized before. Additionally, I now feel more prepared to be a better advocate for the 37th Training Wing and to engage in discussions about the critical role the wing plays in developing Airmen and Guardians for Great Power Competition.”

The civic leader engagement included visits to the Air Force Institute of Technology, Air Force Lifecycle Management Center and Air Force Research Laboratory. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to speak with senior leadership at each of these organizations to learn more about artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, human performance and Air Force Materiel Command’s mission to develop, test, evaluate and manage the lifecycle of all major Air Force weapon systems.