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Five, four, three, two, one.. .abort, abort, abort!

SPACER
Letter's To The Editor
General Lance W. Lord
Commander Peterson AFB
Peterson - Sep 10, 2003
Five, four, three, two, one.. .abort, abort, abort! Instead of a successful lift off, the 'Publius Rex's" opinion piece, "Is the Air Force the Enemy of Space?" Never gets off the ground. The anonymous Mr. Rex is just flat wrong. Moreover, he impugns our Chief of Staff as an "enemy of space." Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Publius Rex" uses a faulty "Billy Mitchell argument" to attack General Jumper and current Air Force leadership--attempting to make the case that we are neglecting our responsibility as stewards of the nation's military space program. Quite the opposite� the Air Force, led by General Jumper, is an aggressive and forceful steward of the military space program. Rex's argument misses this point.

In 1924, a year before he was court-martialed, Brig Gen Mitchell said, "There are those in Washington who should be severely taken to task and court-martialed for their deliberate neglect of aviation." This single sentence is where many quit reading and understanding and fail to capture the real thrust of Billy Mitchell. As a result, Brig Gen Mitchell's deeper concerns are often overlooked. In fact, in his very next sentence that day he stated, "Today we haven't a single airplane in service capable of engaging in war with a first class enemy."

Fortunately, that is not the case today. The United States has the greatest air and space force in the world--and we have learned the correct lessons from the past. General Jumper is working to make sure our Service cannot only effectively "engage in war with a first class enemy," but also dominate potential adversaries for the foreseeable future. He is pushing a visionary, all encompassing agenda in which he demands we demonstrate those capabilities that will have the most dramatic effect in warfare. Let me assure you and your readers, when we "space guys" show General Jumperthe value of our current and future space programs, he is one of our most ardent supporters. It is an enormous challenge for a single service to support forces that operate in two distinct operational mediums, but his vision is really quite simple.

General Jumper wants our Air Force to develop and apply the most effective capabilities, given the resources we have, to create the most powerful effect on the battlefield--wherever that battlefield may be.

I truly believe the Air Force has been and will continue to be a responsible steward of our nation's military space forces. We take our new role as the DoD Executive Agent for Space and support for Mr. Peter Teets as the Under Secretary of the Air Force very seriously--and also with great pride.

In closing, I'd like to point out something else Billy Mitchell said in 1930, both visionary and insightful, years after he'd been forced to leave the service.

"In their lifetime my Children will see aviation become the greatest means of national defense and transportation all over the world--and possibly beyond the world into interstellar space."

The United States Air Force, under the visionary leadership of people like General John Jumper, is helping make this a reality. Our job is national defense--we provide highly trained and focused warriors with the finest capabilities to protect and defend our nation and her interests. As Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. James Roche stated, space is "an equal partner" of our force structure. The Air Force understands its everincreasing importance. With several launches coming up in the days and months ahead, perhaps "Mr. Rex" ought to join us to see how the real pros operate!

sincerely,
LANCE W. LORD
General, USAF

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Grumpy Old Men: The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Scottsdale - Sep 17, 2003
This gripe began as ironic nostalgia when 21st Century reality paled in comparison to the projections of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lately that claim has devolved into a favored lament of grumpy old men in the space community, whose stubborn refusal to acknowledge society's priorities threatens any real effort to advance our presence in space, writes John Carter McKnight



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