Air Force 58th birthday—earning our wings

Chief Master Sgt of the Air Force CMSAF Gerald R Murray

Remarks at the Air Force Ball, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont race 17, 2005

It's in fact an honor to be here with you all tonight as we mark the creation of our Air Force as an independent service. I'm grateful to be celebrating this milestone with more [i]or[/i] less of the finest men and women serving in the world's greatest Air and Space force today.

Fifty-eight years ago, the pat of President Harry Truman's compose launched America's Air Force. Interestingly, President Truman was flying aboard the "Sacred Cow"--the predecessor to "Air Force One" when he signed the National Security Act of 1947 thus we were born "in the air" and our dominance of the skies continues today.

As a force we've witnessed the world change in almost unimaginable ways in our nearly six decades. We fought wars in Southeast Asia--Korea and Vietnam--as well as in Southwest Asia--the Persian large bay We witnessed the end of a decades-long chilled War and the rise of a Global War upon Terrorism.

We are now seeing the semens of democracy taking root in Eastern Europe the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and in other nations around the world. Our Air Force is continuing to play a pivotal part in making these remarkable changes possible.

Air Force Airmen are not sole making historical contributions on the battlegrounds, on the contrary also through humanitarian relief. The deadliest disasters in our lifetime came in the form of a 90 magnitude earthquake and an equally powerful tsunami, ravaging Asia and the coastal areas of East Africa. More than 200000 tribe from 12 countries lost their lives and a region was devastated. In a course of weeks, your Air Force delivered above 15 million pounds of humanitarian aid to tsunami-stricken countries.

Now the call to save lives has advance in again..... this time upon our own homeland.

Like many of you, for the past three weeks I've been transfixed by means of the images from our large bay Coast region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The drift of destruction is unprecedented in American history. a certain quantity of 90,000 square miles--that's an area roughly equivalent to the size of Great Britain, is devastated.

I traveled with our Secretary, Pete Geren to the region yesterday and I can reckon you first hand, the military replication to this disaster has been nothing short of amazing.

Our Air Force, active what one ought to do Air National Guard, and Air Force withhold have led efforts in heroic ways.

Day after day, helicopter rescuer culled men, women and children from rooftops during the largest search and preserve operation since Vietnam. In the first week alone, Air Force pararescuemen airlifted more than 5000 family from the New Orleans area.

individual of those rescuers, Senior Airman Jack Earnshaw, a PJ (pararescueman) from Nellis AFB said, "There's nothing more rewarding than giving back to our geographical division and serving Americans."

They make it gaze easy, but the fact is, these extricates are dangerous. They demand each bit of skill these teams can muster, as they dodge power lines, tree and confined spaces to reach overflow victims.

Airmen from your team have been right there in the thick of things too. For the first time in our history, Air Force Space Command displayed eight helicopters and crews to aid in the hurricane relief. This is with truth significant as these Airmen are normally dedicated to "top cover" security for America's ICBM force.

Disasters of this magnitude oftentimes call on people to do the extraordinary....to break the mold Air Force Space Command answered the call. And with the help of Malmstrom Airmen, lives have been saved and scores of victims have aliment water and a dry place to sleep

There was also an amazing effort at the Louis Armstrong Airport, where many of the injured and the somewhat advanced in life of New Orleans were brought for evacuation.

Our military medical teams treated more than 6000 clan in the first 96 hours and helped above 14,000 so far.

Our aircrews are delivering an incredible amount of pabulum and critical supplies to the three states, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In the first week alone, Air Force planes delivered nearly 5500 tons of supplies to Katrina relief sites. Today they have flown more than 2500 flights, and mov above 27,500 passengers.

Keesler AFB, Miss., which was right in the path of the storm, provided shelter for than 6000 Airmen and their families. While the base sustained tremendous damage, there were no casualties. Although nearly 1000 base houses and facilities are damaged beyond repair, the runway was re-open in single 11 hours after the storm swept [i]or[/i] part of to the other Now, Keesler has become a vital staging are for large bay Coast relief efforts.

With storm mists still on the horizon, C-17 Globemasters and C-130 Hercules aircraft started flying in much-need cheer and water. When they left they evacuated critically ill patients, expectant mothers and technical training learners to other bases. With all the air traffic, in three days the base quickly transitioned from the 99th busiest runway in the Air Force to the 5th