Squaring the long and proud circle of blacks who have served in the U.S. Air Force, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Monday nominated Gen. Charles Brown to serve as the next Air Force chief of staff.
Yet, as with the Tuskegee Army Air Forces airmen who so nobly served in the Second World War, what matters most here is not Brown’s skin color but his relevant skill.
Fortunately, unlike some recent service chiefs who have tended to be increasingly political in outlook, Brown has a resume near pitch-perfect for commanding the Air Force in the years ahead. Again, that suitability to high command matters much more than the history he will make as the nation’s first African American service chief.
Because the Air Force needs a leader ready to lead the force in an aggressive fight to win.
Facing rising challenges from China and Russia in air and space, the Air Force is returning to its roots. That means preparing to win air dominance in a major war. The recent era, in which the Air Force was focused on supporting troops against insurgents, is passing. A new era of highly competitive contests over and above vast areas of the Earth is the norm.
As I say, Brown is well matched to that mission.
As his Air Force biography notes, Brown is a “command pilot with more than 2,900 flying hours primarily in the F-16 [fighter jet], including 130 combat hours. Brown held key roles in operations against Libya and in the air war against the Islamic State. Across his career, Brown has commanded a fighter squadron, two fighter wings, and U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command.”
It gets better. Brown is a former commander of the Air Force’s sort-of variant of the Navy’s “Top Gun” school, Air Force Weapons School, and has a reputation for aggressive initiative. The general has also led at high levels within the Air Force’s European Command, which adopts a necessarily aggressive training focus, and currently serves as the commander of Pacific Air Forces, Pacific.
That Pacific duty is especially important.
After all, the Air Force’s most important challenge in the years ahead will be its ability to deter and destroy Chinese forces in the increasingly likely event of a conflict. That means fighter and bomber wings can get close to Chinese air, ground, and sea forces and destroy them. And the Navy needs all the help it can get, here. As a combat pilot who has led the Air Force’s effort to support this deterrence-defeat strategy, Brown has the experience the nation needs from its 22nd Air Force chief of staff.
The media will focus on the color of his skin. But the real focus should be on the command character Brown brings to his service.
