WEBVTT 00:00.200 --> 00:02.560 - Now it's time for our first presentation 00:02.560 --> 00:04.640 and I'd like to welcome Colonel Brian Laidlaw 00:04.640 --> 00:07.730 the 325th Fighter Wing Commander at Tyndall Air Force Base. 00:07.730 --> 00:10.080 Colonel Laidlaw actually rode out the hurricane 00:11.291 --> 00:13.580 at Tyndall Air Force Base that day in October 00:13.580 --> 00:16.170 and had been leading the massive recovery effort 00:16.170 --> 00:18.320 that began the next day. 00:18.320 --> 00:20.055 Colonel Laidlaw. 00:20.055 --> 00:22.305 (applause) 00:33.010 --> 00:34.430 - [Laidlaw] Good morning everybody. 00:34.430 --> 00:37.830 It really is great to stand up here and look out 00:37.830 --> 00:40.530 over this crowd I'm told 450 plus, 00:40.530 --> 00:43.270 maybe even pushing 500 today. 00:43.270 --> 00:45.180 I know your time is precious and the fact 00:45.180 --> 00:47.990 that you chose to spend some of your time with us today 00:47.990 --> 00:49.750 means a lot and we appreciate it. 00:49.750 --> 00:52.060 Sir, Mr. Henderson, thank you very much for coming 00:52.060 --> 00:54.110 to share with us your thoughts and your perspectives 00:54.110 --> 00:56.840 from the absolute highest levels of our Air Force. 00:56.840 --> 00:59.740 It really is great to hear from you about 00:59.740 --> 01:00.880 our base down here at Tyndall, 01:00.880 --> 01:03.640 so sir thanks for coming down with us today. 01:03.640 --> 01:07.130 So for nearly 80 years our base and our community 01:07.130 --> 01:09.670 have grown in near perfect harmony. 01:09.670 --> 01:14.530 Your endearing support is unquestionably second to none. 01:14.530 --> 01:17.660 We do not take you support for granted. 01:17.660 --> 01:18.563 We revere it. 01:19.590 --> 01:23.040 As we rebuild we are gonna need that help now 01:23.040 --> 01:24.410 more than ever. 01:24.410 --> 01:26.830 Thank you all for being here today and thank you 01:26.830 --> 01:29.793 for choosing to be a part of something special. 01:32.100 --> 01:33.780 So this is why we're here. 01:33.780 --> 01:36.290 I know most of you have seen this picture before. 01:36.290 --> 01:39.200 You saw in the video some of the impacts that we saw 01:39.200 --> 01:41.193 across the base due to the storm. 01:42.140 --> 01:44.990 As Mr. Henderson alluded to we sit on a beautiful 01:44.990 --> 01:47.370 peninsula of 29,000 acres. 01:47.370 --> 01:50.740 We're surrounded by 129 miles of coastline 01:50.740 --> 01:52.620 and in my opinion some of the most pristine 01:52.620 --> 01:55.000 beaches anywhere in the world. 01:55.000 --> 01:58.560 You can see those 29,000 acres on this picture 01:58.560 --> 02:00.060 that's back behind me. 02:00.060 --> 02:01.450 Up here is the picture of the storm 02:01.450 --> 02:03.950 covering most of the Gulf of Mexico. 02:03.950 --> 02:06.290 If you zoom in on the eye at about 12:30 02:06.290 --> 02:08.680 on the 10th of October there you 02:08.680 --> 02:11.510 see our 29,000 acres. 02:11.510 --> 02:14.603 For reference that eye is about 15 miles across. 02:15.640 --> 02:18.540 Nearly every structure on our base suffered 02:18.540 --> 02:20.230 some degree of damage. 02:20.230 --> 02:23.493 About a third of the structures were completely destroyed. 02:24.360 --> 02:27.010 Unlike our neighbors in Mexico Beach to the east 02:27.010 --> 02:29.130 and Parker up to the west, 02:29.130 --> 02:31.680 we did get a brief reprieve when the eye of the storm 02:31.680 --> 02:35.600 passed overhead as you can see in the picture right here. 02:35.600 --> 02:38.110 But even now six months later as I look at this picture 02:38.110 --> 02:40.400 I am certain of one thing, that without question 02:40.400 --> 02:44.690 the 10th of October 2018 has changed our community forever, 02:44.690 --> 02:47.390 and I like to think that it's given us an opportunity. 02:48.700 --> 02:52.480 And as the Installation Commander, it is truly my privilege, 02:52.480 --> 02:55.050 to introduce those of you who are not familiar 02:55.050 --> 02:57.340 with Tyndall Air Force Base some of the things 02:57.340 --> 03:00.080 that we do on the base and where we came from. 03:00.080 --> 03:02.360 Tyndall Air Force Base started as a gunnary school. 03:02.360 --> 03:05.090 It started back in 1940. 03:05.090 --> 03:09.360 Our first two-thousand students came across a bridge 03:09.360 --> 03:11.790 and showed up at our gates on the morning 03:11.790 --> 03:14.360 of seven December 1941. 03:14.360 --> 03:16.410 Yes that is Pearl Harbor Day. 03:16.410 --> 03:20.670 To this day we continue every single month to graduate 03:20.670 --> 03:24.750 students across various specialties in our Air Force 03:24.750 --> 03:28.250 to go on to assignments to the combat Air Forces. 03:28.250 --> 03:30.830 During World War II we trained thousands of anti-aircraft 03:30.830 --> 03:33.403 artillery gunners, including Clark Gable. 03:34.380 --> 03:36.430 As Mr. Henderson alluded to we've been a 03:36.430 --> 03:37.990 long time fighter base. 03:37.990 --> 03:40.250 It's fitting that the base takes it's name 03:40.250 --> 03:42.220 from a World War I fighter pilot, 03:42.220 --> 03:44.690 Lieutenant Francis B. Tyndall. 03:44.690 --> 03:47.520 I had the privilege of meeting Lieutanant Tyndall's 03:47.520 --> 03:49.780 daughter and his three granddaughters who came 03:49.780 --> 03:51.573 to visit our base after the storm. 03:52.500 --> 03:55.950 In World War I Tyndall commanded the 22nd Arrow Squadron. 03:55.950 --> 03:58.350 He shot down four enemy aircraft. 03:58.350 --> 04:01.650 Some of his squadron may say he actually shot down five. 04:01.650 --> 04:06.650 One of those missions interestingly was on October 29, 1918. 04:06.980 --> 04:10.740 Nearly a hundred days, or a hundred years, to the day before 04:10.740 --> 04:13.440 Hurricane Michael hit the base. 04:13.440 --> 04:15.700 The Army gave Lieutenant Tyndall a silver star 04:15.700 --> 04:18.000 for gallantry that day. 04:18.000 --> 04:20.810 Like so many who have gone before me, I am proud 04:20.810 --> 04:23.340 of Lieutenant Tyndall and I'm proud of our long 04:23.340 --> 04:26.680 history of training both soldiers and airmen 04:26.680 --> 04:30.900 right here in Bay County and we hope for this to continue. 04:30.900 --> 04:33.630 This is Tyndall Air Force Base today. 04:33.630 --> 04:36.580 Tyndall Air Force Base is the home of the checkered tails. 04:36.580 --> 04:39.260 The checkered tails are the 325th Fighter Wing. 04:39.260 --> 04:42.430 The 325th Fighter Wing has two flying squadrons. 04:42.430 --> 04:44.270 Those are the pictures you see up here. 04:44.270 --> 04:47.100 We have a training F-22 squadron the Air Force's 04:47.100 --> 04:50.010 only training squadron for F-22s. 04:50.010 --> 04:52.870 We also have the T-38 Squadron, which is an adversary 04:52.870 --> 04:53.840 air squadron. 04:53.840 --> 04:57.330 Those squadrons are temporarily conducting their flying 04:57.330 --> 05:00.690 operations just down the road at Eglin Air Force Base. 05:00.690 --> 05:03.730 As you work clockwise around the picture 05:03.730 --> 05:06.630 I'll introduce you to some of our major mission partners 05:06.630 --> 05:09.160 and some of the important things and unique things 05:09.160 --> 05:11.960 in many cases that we do at Tyndall Air Force Base 05:11.960 --> 05:14.610 and provide to our Air Force. 05:14.610 --> 05:16.730 Starting at the top in the twelve o'clock position 05:16.730 --> 05:19.288 up there you've got 1st Air Force AfNorth 05:19.288 --> 05:21.310 in the 601st AOC. 05:21.310 --> 05:24.160 These men and women provide over-watch for homeland 05:24.160 --> 05:27.210 defense for the entire continental United States, 05:27.210 --> 05:29.900 U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. 05:29.900 --> 05:33.610 They stand the watch 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 05:33.610 --> 05:37.260 365 days a year, and they've been doing it since 05:37.260 --> 05:40.110 December 21st right after the storm. 05:40.110 --> 05:42.780 Next you have the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, 05:42.780 --> 05:45.070 or as we like the call them the WEG. 05:45.070 --> 05:48.210 At the WEG we conduct all air to air and air to grounds 05:48.210 --> 05:51.040 weapons testing for our United States Air Force 05:51.040 --> 05:53.260 as well as in many cases the Navy 05:53.260 --> 05:56.640 and joint partners and coalition partners who deploy 05:56.640 --> 05:58.400 in from all across the world. 05:58.400 --> 06:00.680 These are the men and women who fly the QF-16s 06:00.680 --> 06:03.130 that you often see flying nowadays. 06:03.130 --> 06:04.260 These are the F-16s with the 06:04.260 --> 06:07.640 orange painted tails and wingtips. 06:07.640 --> 06:09.340 Next is the Red Horse Squadron, 06:09.340 --> 06:11.580 the 823rd Red Horse debt one. 06:11.580 --> 06:14.240 They run our silver flag exercise. 06:14.240 --> 06:16.530 The silver flag exercise gives our Air Force's 06:16.530 --> 06:20.000 civil engineers and many other Air Force specialty codes 06:20.000 --> 06:23.410 the opportunity to deploy into a remote location, 06:23.410 --> 06:25.240 figure out how to stand up a base 06:25.240 --> 06:27.000 from a bare bones condition. 06:27.000 --> 06:29.610 How to conduct Air Force missions no matter what their 06:29.610 --> 06:32.680 circumstances are, and how to break that base down, 06:32.680 --> 06:35.290 and turn the land back over to the host nation. 06:35.290 --> 06:37.310 All the men and women who are deploying over seas 06:37.310 --> 06:39.680 fighting in our nation's wars and that type of a scenario 06:39.680 --> 06:41.500 are coming through our silver flag site 06:41.500 --> 06:44.240 located down on the east side outside of our 06:44.240 --> 06:46.143 property down close to Mexico Beach. 06:47.210 --> 06:49.100 We're also home to a portion of the Air Force 06:49.100 --> 06:50.300 Civil Engineering Center. 06:50.300 --> 06:51.570 You're gonna hear a lot more 06:51.570 --> 06:53.210 from Air Force Civil Engineering Center, 06:53.210 --> 06:56.100 or as we like to say AFCAC later today. 06:56.100 --> 06:58.300 Among the many things that they do for our nation, 06:58.300 --> 07:01.210 here at Tyndall they do extensive research and development, 07:01.210 --> 07:03.410 including how to make our bases more 07:03.410 --> 07:04.913 resilient in the future. 07:06.140 --> 07:09.760 Next you have the 337th Air Control Squadron. 07:09.760 --> 07:12.570 These are our air battle manager's school house. 07:12.570 --> 07:15.680 All the men and women who do that mission set, 07:15.680 --> 07:18.010 whether it's in AWACs, the aircraft with the radar 07:18.010 --> 07:20.700 over the top, or our control reporting centers 07:20.700 --> 07:22.160 all across the globe, 07:22.160 --> 07:24.130 all those men and women come through the gates 07:24.130 --> 07:27.163 at Tyndall Air Force base to get their initial training. 07:28.660 --> 07:31.550 As Mr. Henderson alluded to Tyndall Air Force Base 07:31.550 --> 07:35.680 also gives us access to some of the best tests 07:35.680 --> 07:38.670 and training ranges anywhere in the world. 07:38.670 --> 07:41.490 This is a picture of what Mr. Henderson was referring 07:41.490 --> 07:43.540 to in his remarks. 07:43.540 --> 07:46.230 The military air space in the Gulf of Mexico 07:46.230 --> 07:48.750 stretches from New Orleans all the way 07:48.750 --> 07:51.090 to Key West if needed. 07:51.090 --> 07:53.620 In the picture that your looking at back here behind me 07:53.620 --> 07:56.290 to give you a frame of reference, the top left hand 07:56.290 --> 07:58.460 corner is Pensacola. 07:58.460 --> 08:01.933 The bottom right hand corner is MacDill down by Tampa. 08:02.940 --> 08:06.300 In addition to the vast over water air space 08:06.300 --> 08:10.360 we've got tremendous over land air space up to the north 08:10.360 --> 08:12.490 and to the east up in the top portion 08:12.490 --> 08:13.790 of the picture right here. 08:14.820 --> 08:17.950 Multiple times a year out of Tyndall Air Force Base 08:17.950 --> 08:21.140 we host an exercise called Checkered Flag. 08:21.140 --> 08:24.300 Checkered Flag is the most advanced air to air 08:24.300 --> 08:26.920 integration exercise, or one of the most advanced 08:26.920 --> 08:29.770 air to air integration exercises that we do 08:29.770 --> 08:31.690 in the United States Air Force. 08:31.690 --> 08:34.270 Because of this air space that you see back behind 08:34.270 --> 08:38.200 me here aircraft will fly in from all over the south east. 08:38.200 --> 08:41.070 They'll fly in from Eglin, from Tyndall, they'll come 08:41.070 --> 08:43.150 down from Montgomery up in Georgia. 08:43.150 --> 08:45.830 Occasionally they'll come down from Shaw in South Carolina. 08:45.830 --> 08:47.350 They'll come over from Jacksonville 08:47.350 --> 08:49.040 and occasionally New Orleans. 08:49.040 --> 08:52.760 The tankers will fly up from MacDill and they'll all meet 08:52.760 --> 08:55.680 just south of Tyndall Air Force Base and provide 08:55.680 --> 08:59.140 our airmen some of the best training that we have to offer. 08:59.140 --> 09:01.640 Tyndall sits right in the middle 09:01.640 --> 09:03.390 and that's what makes us strategic. 09:05.220 --> 09:07.750 Tyndall does not have, as Mr. Henderson alluded to, 09:07.750 --> 09:11.450 Tyndall does not have some of the encroachment challenges 09:11.450 --> 09:13.500 that face some of our other bases. 09:13.500 --> 09:17.460 Because of those 29,000 acres and our runway infrastructure 09:17.460 --> 09:19.350 we're able to keep those runways 09:19.350 --> 09:21.440 in relatively isolated locations. 09:21.440 --> 09:26.090 They're not in close proximity to heavily populated areas, 09:26.090 --> 09:29.320 and this base loves to hear, or this community 09:29.320 --> 09:31.650 loves to hear the sound of freedom. 09:31.650 --> 09:33.053 I hear that all the time. 09:35.080 --> 09:38.040 Lastly our base boundary, the base property itself 09:38.040 --> 09:40.460 bumps right up against these warning areas 09:40.460 --> 09:41.750 that you see behind us. 09:41.750 --> 09:46.350 That enables us to launch drones, aircraft without pilots, 09:46.350 --> 09:49.510 often with explosives connected to them, 09:49.510 --> 09:54.510 directly off our runways out into warning areas. 09:54.930 --> 09:59.280 Those aircraft never leave military controlled air space. 09:59.280 --> 10:03.233 That is unique capability that we have at Tyndall. 10:04.660 --> 10:07.160 I don't think it's a stretch to say that these ranges 10:07.160 --> 10:10.140 are truly a national treasure. 10:10.140 --> 10:13.700 Tyndall is the star right in the middle of this picture. 10:13.700 --> 10:16.560 That is where we sit and that is one of the many 10:16.560 --> 10:18.623 things that we offer to our country. 10:20.180 --> 10:23.550 So as you saw in the video airmen are a resilient bunch. 10:23.550 --> 10:26.030 We're pretty proud of the fact we get the mission done 10:26.030 --> 10:28.440 despite the circumstances. 10:28.440 --> 10:30.790 Despite all that damage and the setbacks the mission 10:30.790 --> 10:34.470 does go on at Tyndall as we alluded to earlier. 10:34.470 --> 10:36.860 On this side here are just a few examples 10:36.860 --> 10:39.930 of the things that we continue to do every day 10:39.930 --> 10:43.470 because that's what our secretary expects out of us. 10:43.470 --> 10:46.470 So early next week you may see, or you will see, 10:46.470 --> 10:49.240 if you come out to Tyndall an additional forty seven 10:49.240 --> 10:51.150 fighters on our ramp. 10:51.150 --> 10:53.860 These fighters are coming from bases in England, 10:53.860 --> 10:57.940 Japan, and up in Virginia to do our air to air 10:57.940 --> 10:58.841 weapons testing and also to conduct one 10:58.841 --> 11:01.740 of those checkered flag exercises 11:01.740 --> 11:03.520 that I talked about before. 11:03.520 --> 11:07.420 QF-16s like the picture you see up here in the top left, 11:07.420 --> 11:10.720 they fly out off our runways nearly every day. 11:10.720 --> 11:12.670 They remained stationed at Tyndall 11:12.670 --> 11:14.490 and they are amongst some of the first aircraft 11:14.490 --> 11:17.310 to restore our flying operations. 11:17.310 --> 11:20.210 Yes, up in the top right, that is an F-16 11:20.210 --> 11:22.690 that is flying and no there is not a pilot 11:22.690 --> 11:24.890 in the seat of that aircraft. 11:24.890 --> 11:27.700 The fact that we can fly airplanes like this 11:28.550 --> 11:31.640 without pilots in them, without the encroachment problems 11:31.640 --> 11:35.203 we have is a unique capability to Tyndall Air Force Base. 11:36.560 --> 11:37.495 Okay, down here in the bottom left that's 11:37.495 --> 11:40.180 our silver flag site. 11:40.180 --> 11:41.970 That's an Air Force Civil Engineer. 11:41.970 --> 11:44.400 He's standing next to a runway that we just 11:44.400 --> 11:48.600 intentionally blew up to draw, create a large hole 11:48.600 --> 11:51.810 in the runway to see how he and this fellow airmen 11:51.810 --> 11:54.720 how quickly they can repair that hole in the runway. 11:54.720 --> 11:56.900 You can't do these like that in close proximity 11:56.900 --> 12:00.060 to other populated areas. 12:00.060 --> 12:01.890 Now this section here that's the floor 12:01.890 --> 12:04.110 of the 601st Air Operations Center. 12:04.110 --> 12:07.010 They resumed their air sovereignty mission very quickly 12:07.010 --> 12:09.740 after the storm in early December. 12:09.740 --> 12:11.230 Right in the middle you have a student 12:11.230 --> 12:12.610 from our air control squadron. 12:12.610 --> 12:14.330 This lieutenants gonna go on to an assignment 12:14.330 --> 12:17.130 in an AWACs or a ground control station 12:17.130 --> 12:19.490 somewhere around the world very soon. 12:19.490 --> 12:23.130 We've already graduated our first three classes post-storm. 12:23.130 --> 12:25.610 We're on pace with our Air Control Squadron this year 12:25.610 --> 12:27.850 to graduate more students than we did last year. 12:27.850 --> 12:31.510 And next year the Air Force wants us to graduate even more. 12:31.510 --> 12:33.770 So the Air Force depends on Tyndall to train the next 12:33.770 --> 12:38.030 generation of air warriors from controllers, to pilots, 12:38.030 --> 12:42.010 to maintainers, to engineers, and to airmen from many 12:42.010 --> 12:44.540 other career fields as well. 12:44.540 --> 12:48.633 As we rebuild our facilities these missions must continue. 12:49.570 --> 12:50.970 So I'll end with this slide. 12:52.100 --> 12:55.770 This is the Tyndall Air Force Base of tomorrow. 12:55.770 --> 12:58.200 You're going to hear multiple times today 12:58.200 --> 13:01.140 that we intend to rebuild Tyndall as the Air Force 13:01.140 --> 13:02.880 base of the future. 13:02.880 --> 13:04.810 Part of that future is the potential 13:04.810 --> 13:07.070 for exciting new missions like 13:07.070 --> 13:08.803 the two you see pictured up above. 13:10.070 --> 13:13.030 Secretary Wilson recommended to Congress in December 13:13.030 --> 13:15.950 that we use supplemental funding to rebuild Tyndall 13:15.950 --> 13:20.180 as the future home of up to three F-35 squadrons. 13:20.180 --> 13:23.370 That's the airplane to your left my right. 13:23.370 --> 13:27.620 The aircraft on the right is an MQ-9 unmanned aircraft. 13:27.620 --> 13:30.820 Tyndall Air Force Base remains the preferred alternative 13:30.820 --> 13:33.923 to host twenty-four of these aircraft and as many 13:33.923 --> 13:37.823 as 1,600 airmen that will come along with them. 13:38.800 --> 13:40.500 So a lot has changed since we welcomed our first 13:40.500 --> 13:45.500 gunnary class to Tyndall back on the 7th of December 1941, 13:45.850 --> 13:48.260 and admittedly it would be much easier to rebuild 13:48.260 --> 13:51.570 the base that we had six months ago, but that's not 13:51.570 --> 13:53.730 why any of you are here today. 13:53.730 --> 13:57.930 We need your help to rebuild, not the base that we had, 13:57.930 --> 14:00.223 but to rebuild the base that we need. 14:01.910 --> 14:03.770 Today we are getting missions done 14:03.770 --> 14:08.300 with short-term temporary fixes all across the base. 14:08.300 --> 14:11.270 We look forward to partnering with many of you 14:11.270 --> 14:14.550 as we look to transition from those short-term fixes 14:14.550 --> 14:18.640 to more long-term sustainable solutions. 14:18.640 --> 14:21.470 On Tyndall, we're ready to get started. 14:21.470 --> 14:23.047 Thank all of you for being here today 14:23.047 --> 14:24.800 and we look forward to your questions later. 14:24.800 --> 14:26.098 Thank you! 14:26.098 --> 14:28.348 (applause) 14:33.580 --> 14:34.880 Thank you Colonel LaidLaw.