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SAC Birthday Celebrated by Today's Airmen

  • Published
  • By AFGSC (P) Public Affairs
Bolling AFB, D.C. --  63 years after Strategic Air Command was formed on Bolling Air Force Base, Washington DC, the former command was honored by Airmen currently assigned just a few yards from where the SAC story began.

The Airmen tasked to build the new Air Force Global Strike Command celebrated the anniversary of the inactivated SAC with a cake cutting and ceremony. The official lineage for the new nuclear-accountability command flows through SAC, and to show respect for their heritage the AFGSC(Provisional) Airmen hosted the birthday remembrance.

Brigadier General James M. Kowalski, AFGSC(P) commander, began the festivities with a few words on the significance of the Cold-War era command.

"Today we're celebrating the anniversary of the stand-up of SAC here at Bolling, a mere block away. But we're also taking a few moments to focus on the professionalism, discipline, excellence and pride that we seek to emulate from SAC," said General Kowalski.

Tactical Air Command and Strategic Air Command were inactivated and their missions combined in 1992; the change led to the creation of Air Combat Command. But in 2008, Air Force leaders made the decision to bring back a major command that will be solely responsible for organizing, training and equipping Airmen for nuclear deterrence and global strike missions.

Though the majority of future Air Force Global Strike Command members entered the Air Force - or perhaps were even born - after SAC was inactivated, the culture of precision is a tradition the AFGSC leadership are serious about passing down.

"This ceremony is not mourning the loss of SAC, but a celebration of our history and our pride in the deterrent mission," said General Kowalski.

A short ceremony and a remembrance speech by Dr. Robert Oliver, AFGSC(P) Historian, provided a few moments of reflection on why the Air Force needed SAC then, and why it now calls for AFGSC.

"The doctrines of the Eisenhower administration, with their emphasis on air power and atomic deterrence... helped SAC find its clear place within American strategy and military organization," said Dr. Oliver.

"(SAC) was an organization that through the strength and professionalism, the courage and intelligence of its people, came to embody the needs and goals of an entire era of American military history. That was its glory," he said.

If yesterday's SAC Airmen were flies on the wall during this birthday remembrance, it seems they would be proud of the disciplined approach AFGSC leaders have emphasized in the establishment of the new command.

Dr. Oliver summed up the celebration in one line: "We respect SAC as creature of its time, and we will honorably bring forth a creature for ours."