THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280028
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Unlike Billy Mitchell 70 years before him, Merrill McPeak wasn't courtmartialed for insisting that the Air Force could carry out certain military tasks better than the Navy. The Air Force chief of staff retired this week, acknowledged on his own watch for innovative leadership.
But while interservice rivalries may have ebbed somewhat since the '20s, they remain intense. Says naval operations chief Jeremy Boorda: ``I give good military advice. I talk about what it is that we do and do well. . . . When you talk about what you are willing to give up, that sounds like a bazaar, and we're not a bazaar. We're in the national defense business.
``We're not big war winners. We're there early with a lot of combat power and our bigger brothers show up as soon as they can.''
Adm. Boorda was responding to Gen. McPeak's contention that the Air Force's long-range stealth bombers and precision-guided weapons indeed can deliver that early punch quicker, safer and cheaper.
But the four controversial McPeak years at the Air Force controls embraced more than challenges to other services. He challenged his own to adapt not only to redesigned - and generally unpopular - uniforms but also to leaner defense funding and the altered priorities of the post-Cold War world. Reorganizing and downsizing, he accomplished what many thought undoable: merger of the Strategic and Tactical Air commands and combining of combat and support aircraft into deployable units, among other moves.
``In any large organization,'' wrote Philip Gold, director of the Aerospace 2010 project at the Discovery Institute, ``it's easy to identify leaders who bring about fundamental change. Just count the smiles when they leave.''
If Gen. McPeak's leave-taking did produce such smiles, the concepts he espoused and the changes he made should have the American people smiling for more vital reasons. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
GEN. McPEAK
by CNB