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only five percent would finish twenty-five missions --Doolittle, Chenault, and so many other names that made great history of us.
    We think of that day in 1947 -- September 18 -- when the Air Force came of age. We became the newest of the independent military services, and Stuart Symington became the very first Secretary of the Air Force. Eight days later, Carl "Tooey" Spaatz became the first Chief of Staff.
    Our memory next takes us over the path to Korea, the first conflict where America was content to settle for a tie and where negotiations still go on, year after year, in the demilitarized zone -- a cancer on America, which has been arrested but which has not yet been removed. We think Edwards AFB, Calif., where men have given their lives pushing the frontiers of science so that we could fly ever faster and higher -- men like Chuck Yeager and Joseph McConnell.
    We recall Vietnam, where America was willing to sacrifice its youth, but nothing else, on the field of battle. The irony is that as you look around the tables at the rows of ribbons on the chests of those across from you, the Vietnam ribbon, green and white with its scroll, due to the manner in which we assemble foreign decorations, is the most junior ribbon anyone wears.
    When we think of the present, we come, of course, to space and the Shuttle. This is the high ground -- the last frontier. Before us lies a challenge as big as space itself. However, we must not let the glories of our past lull us into a state of complacency with respect to the present. Need I remind you that the Roman Empire had a rich tradition and history, as well? Rome had its victories, and today people sit in comfortable chairs in front of comfortable fires and read about the [decline] and fall of the Roman Empire. General Gabriel and I did not sign aboard to have any part in the [decline] and fall of the United States or of its Air Force.
    As we live today and dream of tomorrow, we should not only be grateful for the courage and the wisdom of those who went ahead of us, but also careful not to drop the baton they have passed to us. I don't intend to go into the threat in any great detail. It has been adequately discussed already. However, I want to point out that since I was here a year ago, the Soviets have built approximately 1,300 fighters and fighter-bombers. With attrition, that is enough to equip thirteen new wings. In the United States Air Force, we are hoping to add four wings over the next five years! They have launched 100 satellites while we have launched thirteen. They have produced 200 new ICBMs, and we currently are in a fight on the Hill to see whether we can get the money to produce any new ICBM over the next four years. They have added 400 transports, 750 helicopters, and 2,000 tanks in the past year.

Where Are We Now?
    This brings me to the second point. Where are we now? What have we done with the traditions that have been left to us?
    As we look at the lessons of Lebanon, in which there was approximately a ninety-to-two victory for American-built machined manned

[[image of men in front of aircraft]]

76              AIR FORCE Magazine / November 1982