Schwartz raises the bar for commanders

[unhappycamper]

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, shown here speaking at the opening of the 2009 AFA Air & Space Conference, has overseen the sacking of top commanders who have not met standards. “We owe it to our airmen and to the American public to ensure we have the right people for the times in these key positions, and this is what our numbered air force and major command commanders have done,” Schwartz told Air Force Times on Oct. 30.


Schwartz raises the bar for commanders
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 23, 2009 11:20:01 EST

Five wing commanders dismissed in less than a year — two in October alone.

The Air Force hasn’t cleaned house like this since the mid-1990s, and its top uniformed officer promises more firings if his commanders don’t perform up to snuff.

The heads started to roll last November, about three months after Gen. Norton Schwartz took over as chief of staff; all the commanders were colonels and all lost their jobs because of what the Air Force described as a “loss of confidence” in their performance.

“We owe it to our airmen and to the American public to ensure we have the right people for the times in these key positions, and this is what our numbered air force and major command commanders have done,” Schwartz told Air Force Times in a telephone interview Oct. 30, the same afternoon that official word of the latest sacking came down.

Such a far-reaching drive for accountability last came in 1996 when 16 officers, including a major general, received disciplinary actions ranging from letters of admonishment to relief of command for errors that caused a CT-43 transport jet carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown to slam into a mountain in Croatia. All 35 people on board died.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/11/airforce_commanders_relieved_112309w/