When someone starts talking about ways to streamline operations, you might think old-timers would want to hit the snooze button. Not so for at least one 26-year employee at Ogden Air Logistics Center in Utah, who, according to Gen. Bruce Carlson, head of Air Force Materiel Command, said he has “never enjoyed coming to work as much as I do now.” That comment set the tone for Utah’s Annual Focus on Defense Symposium, which took a look at the Air Force’s new Smart Ops 21—the latest in lean and continuous process improvement initiatives. Speaking at the symposium, the Air Staff’s top loggie, Lt. Gen. Donald Wetekam, admitted that in the beginning he “wasn’t completely sold on the idea of Lean.” Wetekam continued, “Within six months, I was committed.”
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.