Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
3/20/2015
Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson has been nominated to serve as the next deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command. Wilson has commanded Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) since October 2013, during which he advocated for an across-the-board portfolio of nuclear modernization for the air- and ground-based legs of the nuclear triad and helped spearhead a batch of equipment and personnel initiatives known as the Force Improvement Program (FIP), and pledged to improve airmen’s quality of life. “You’ve heard him speak about AFGSC and answer about the Force Improvement Program,” AFGSC spokesperson Lt. Col. John Sheets wrote in an email this week to NS&D Monitor. “No doubt, you’ve seen that he’s been dedicated to ensuring our Airmen in the field have the training, equipment, professional development, and support they need to perform the deter & assure mission day in and day out.”
The announcement comes two weeks after President Obama nominated Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, as the next AFGSC commander. It is unclear when the Senate will hold the two men’s confirmation votes. Lt. Gen. James Kowalski currently serves as STRATCOM deputy commander.
Looking Back
Wilson is part of the Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group (NDERG) that former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stood up in November after two Nuclear Enterprise Reviews uncovered morale and equipment flaws across nuclear forces. The reviews were initiated after it was discovered in January 2014 that missileers were cheating on monthly proficiency tests. The NDERG meets once monthly with Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and quarterly with the Defense Secretary. Wilson oversees 23,000 professionals around the world in his capacity, and his more than 4,600 flight hours and 680 combat hours include piloting the B-1 and B-52. He worked at STRATCOM from June 2011 to October 2013, when he served a dual assignment as STRATCOM Joint Functional Component Commander for Global Strike and commander of the Eighth Air Force.
Viewpoints on Wilson
Wilson created momentum for Rand to step in, retired Maj. Gen. Don Alston, former commander of the 20th Air Force, told NS&D Monitor this week. “The thing that distinguishes the last year in Global Strike Command, particularly in the ICBM business, is the resourcing that flowed down to the troops,” Alston said. Prior to the past year, airmen didn’t realize Air Force resource commitments because they didn’t see direct benefits, Alston said. “Of course, over the last year, I think … if you ask a troop in the field, I think they would say, ‘I know how committed my Air Force is to me,’ because they can hold up some resourcing thing that’s been manifested right there at the unit level where now the rhetoric is being matched by the equipment and the upgrades that have been on the books for a long time, and now they’re seeing it.”
FIP upgrades have included deep cleaning of launch control centers, new mattresses and new ICBM repair equipment. “I think that General Wilson deserves a lot of the credit for bringing that resource picture down to the troops in the field in a way that you could see. It’s one thing to tell a guy so much you appreciate them, how important their work is and how much their dedicated service means to our national security. But it also means something special when the things that they need, they’re getting,” Alston said. “It cements the bond between the senior leader commitment and the young troops in the field, and I think that General Wilson deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Minot Task Force 21 Chair Mark Jantzer said Wilson brought solid leadership to AFGSC. “I have great respect for him,” Jantzer said. “He is a very thoughtful general officer. He has seen a lot of different situations in terms of through the Gulf wars and other places that he’s served and the work that he’s done and so I think he understands the day-to-day mechanics and the things that take place on the ground with the airmen that are doing these jobs, and that has really helped him to assist the secretary and guide the command through the recent times that we’ve had.”
