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 GENERAL WILLIAM L. SHELTON
 MAJOR GENERAL SUZANNE M. "ZAN" VAUTRINOT
 MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD E. WEBBER
24th AF officials conduct first change of command

Posted 5/4/2011 Email story   Print story

    


by Tech. Sgt. Scott McNabb
24th Air Force Public Affairs


5/4/2011 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Maj. Gen. Suzanne M. Vautrinot assumed command of 24th Air Forces during a change-of-command ceremony here April 29.

General Vautrinot replaced Maj. Gen. Richard E. Webber, who retired after 36 years of service.

General William L. Shelton, the Air Force Space Command commander, presided over the ceremony and began by recognized General Webber for standing up 24th Air Force less than two years ago.

"Under his steadfast leadership, the 24th (Air Force) went from activation to declaration of full up capability in an amazingly short 14 months," said the AFSPC commander. "Twenty-fourth Air Force was also formally designated as the Air Force operational component to U.S. Cyber Command. Clearly these are historic achievements and it's a testament to Dick Webber's leadership skills to harness the talents of this outstanding group of professionals and by any measure he has built an incredible team."

General Shelton said while the commander has changed, the newest numbered air force remains in the right hands because General Vautrinot has the right blend of leadership skills, technical savvy, operational and policy expertise and strategic outlook.

"The bottom line for (General Vautrinot) here is that 24th Air Force is gaining a commander who understands the joint warfighter's cyber needs," said General Shelton. "And as commander of the Air Force operational component to U.S. Cyber Command, she will be in a position to make sure the Air Force delivers on its promises.

General Vautrinot took her first salute as commander of 24th Air Force then ordered the formation commander to put the troops at ease. She explained the action was not for a frivolous reason.

"I know you can stand tall, and you have stood tall in the service of this nation, in your service to our Air Force and to our combatant commands," she said to the Airmen in formation. "I put you at ease so you could look around."

General Vautrinot then asked the formation to look around and see all the agencies and men and women who were there in support of the Airmen of 24th Air Force.

"You work in a largely virtual world, yet here is a physical representation of the support you have from across the military, across the community and our nation, and it starts at the very top," she said.

General Vautrinot previously served as a special assistant to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force in Washington.



tabComments
5/10/2011 12:55:00 AM ET
The justification for 24 AF and the overhead costs doesn't cut the mustard. In AF terminology it wouldn't make the cut line if taxpayers really understood the hierarchy. Give the AF credit for justifying 2 more general officer billets and several CMSgt positions. The DoD should continue to cut funding for all services, especially the AF, until they understand they must play nice with their counterparts. Each service has their own cyber geek organization that operates in their own world. USCYBERCOM was supposed to fix that but instead added another layer of red tape and justified more funding for the services. Get rid of 24 AF, 10th Fleet, and 2nd Army. Match people to billets for USCYBERCOM without the overhead costs.
QF, Germany
 
5/5/2011 8:18:38 PM ET
Wow. A simple article celebrating a historial moment in AF history, and the only comments are negative. Get over it, people. Cyber is the airplane of the early days. It's here and it will stay. Command or not, things change. I've been at the heart of this cyber transformation for almost 5 years now, before the AFCYBER provisional days when it was nothing but a small detachment part of a different NAF presented to a joint task force. Now there is a cyber NAF presented to a subunified command. DoD is taking it serious; I would expect the AF to do the same.
MSgt in 24th, Lackland AFB
 
5/5/2011 11:09:00 AM ET
Jerry - you are spot on. And in this case 2 of its 3 wings are very iffy in terms of size and function. His is part of the cyber Oklahoma land rush to be first normalize the domain. Let's take your argument further beyond NAF proliferation and ask why we still have nearly as many MAJCOMs as we did 20 years ago when end strength was 200K more? Why not streamline the number of NAFs and Commands and hold them to stricter accountability to their missions and jobs, thereby cutting significant overhead? All it takes is leadership courage to do so.
ROF, COS CO
 
5/4/2011 4:57:26 PM ET
Why is the Air Force still operating as if this is still WWII? Why a Numbered Air Force with so few Wings? This is unnecessary just for the sake of tradition. How many General Officers are sitting in Numbered Air Force positions whose work could be done at the Major Commands by O-6s?
Jerry , Oklahoma
 
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