Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
7/31/2015
On Tuesday, command of the Air Force Global Strike Command shifted from Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson to Gen. Robin Rand, according to an Air Force press release, marking the first time the unit has become a four-star command.
"Today is a great day to be an American airman and it’s a great day to be in Air Force Global Strike Command,” Rand said during Tuesday’s change of command ceremony at Barksdale AFB, La. "The thousands of Air Force Global Strike Command airmen who are doing job No. 1 for our nation—these airmen keep the wolves at bay in locations like Malmstrom, F.E. Warren, Minot, Whiteman, Barksdale, soon to be Kirtland, Dyess, and Ellsworth. Bad people with bad intentions don’t mess with the United States because of these amazing airmen."
The four-star designation will allow AFGSC to absorb more Air Force missions, including the B-1 and Long Range Strike Bomber programs, planned for Oct. 1, as well as Air Force Materiel Command’s 377th Air Base Wing stationed at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico, planned for sometime this fall.
Wilson had served as AFGSC commander since October 2013. He assumed his new assignment as deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command yesterday.
"I’m extremely proud of what you’ve accomplished over the past few years,” Wilson said during the ceremony. “You are our nation’s deterrent and global strike force. You provide safe, secure and effective deterrence, and should deterrence ever fail, you are America’s ability to swiftly and decisively strike anywhere on the globe. Because of you, we are the greatest Air Force on the planet. You are America’s global power, and much like the [Air Force] Chief [of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh] says about airpower, without global strike, you do lose."
Wilson told NS&D Monitor yesterday that following the ceremony he drove 15 hours from Barksdale to the Omaha, Neb., area, which houses STRATCOM headquarters, then attended the final day of the 2015 Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium.
“I’m really excited about being part of the STRATCOM family,” Wilson said after the conference. “I’m not unfamiliar with it. I was in a component of his,” Wilson said, referring to
STRATCOM Commander Adm. Cecil Haney, “so I look forward to joining his team, and every person I’ve met, I think they’re excited about what’s going on” at the command.
Wilson replaces Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, who served as STRATCOM deputy commander since October 2013. Kowalski is retiring from the military, effective Sept. 1.
Rand comes in highly touted by Air Force senior leaders. He had served as commander of the Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, since October 2013, has more than 470 combat hours and over 5,000 flying hours, which includes service on nuclear alert in the 1980s as an F-16 pilot in Europe.
"The appointment of a four-star sends a powerful message to our airmen, allies and any would-be enemy," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a statement. "It speaks to our commitment and promise to our airmen and nation to ensure a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and global strike capability with the right level of leadership emphasis. In a complex global environment, having a four-star general responsible for the world’s most powerful weapons is critically important. General Rand will continue to give voice to our airmen and continue to advance progress made in the nuclear enterprise."
Rand vowed to inspire airmen, and highlighted the history of hard work in the Air Force nuclear enterprise as a firm foundation to build upon.
"Air Force Global Strike will focus on ensuring our airmen have an unyielding commitment to our core values of integrity, service and excellence,” he said in a prepared statement. “And finally, we will ensure that our airmen have a keen awareness of our rich heritage and legacy that was forged in blood, sweat and tears by countless Americans and Airmen before us who were assigned to 8th Air Force and 20th Air Force. … While history makes us smarter, our heritage will make us prouder, and we will use that heritage to help inspire our airmen to great heights."
