Joint Chiefs chairman Caine tells U.S. Air Force reserve tacticians: solve problems fast, “instead of just admiring them”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve tacticians in Tucson, Arizona, that they must move “with speed and intent to solve problems – instead of just admiring them”, as the character of war changes faster than at any time in history.

Caine spoke on 27 October at the Air Reserve Component Weapons and Tactics and Domestic Capability Priorities Conference, known as WEPTAC/DCP, hosted by the Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center. The Air National Guard published an account of the appearance on 30 October. Caine served at the same test center as an Air National Guardsman more than 20 years ago, and he opened by recalling that time. “When I was a young captain trying to figure out which direction was north and not go blind, it was here where I learned how to be a class act,” he said.

A call for speed and for industry in the room

WEPTAC/DCP brings together Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve warfighters to identify capability shortfalls in reserve-component weapons systems, missions and training priorities. Caine described such gatherings as a way to bring about significant change and said the military needs to “get as creative and innovative and inspired as we can” to work out what warfighting will look like, building on the bottom-up requirements these airmen put forward to the Joint Force.

He stressed closer coordination among military leaders, warfighters and private industry, whose representatives attended the conference. His advice was blunt: “If you see an issue, get people together and get in the same room. Period.” He added that technology alone is not enough without solid leadership.

“The character of war is changing exponentially faster than it ever has before in history,” Caine said.

Technology without losing the basics

Caine urged younger officers to become proficient in emerging technologies without losing mastery of fundamental warfighting skills, and called the WEPTAC community the “tribe” that will help the Joint Force do that. He also praised enlisted personnel, calling America’s enlisted force “the envy of the world” and saying he had learned from enlisted leaders who were not afraid to tell him “what you need to hear”. To the younger officers present he said: “I was you, so don’t think that you may not end up someday sitting up here on this stage.”

The remarks follow Caine’s earlier comments on the Joint Staff’s priorities, which Geopolitiki reported in Caine names “super intelligence” one of his three strategic priorities, behind only the budget. The conference account does not announce any new programme or decision; it records the chairman’s message to the reserve-component force on innovation, speed and leadership.

Source: Air National Guard account of the WEPTAC/DCP conference, published via DVIDS.