Building re-dedications honor famous Air Force Reserve people

Published Oct. 26, 2010
By Jason Huddleston
Air Force Reserve Command Directorate of Historical Services

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- In keeping with the tradition of dedicating facilities after influential people, the commander of Air Force Reserve Command held a re-dedication ceremony Oct. 25 in the main headquarters building.

Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr., who is also the chief of Air Force Reserve, re-dedicated the main headquarters building to one of his predecessors, retired Maj. Gen.Homer I. Lewis; the headquarters annex to retired Chief Master Sgt. Robert I. Boyle; and the Professional Development Center to Lee C. Lingelbach.

All three men helped lay the foundation for the development of today's Air Force Reserve. Each honoree now has a plaque in the Headquarters AFRC campus complex. All of the buildings are collocated within a few hundred feet of each other.

Chief Boyle attended the re-dedication ceremony and was "overwhelmed" by the attention. He contrasted the occasion with being the Air Force Reserve's first top enlisted advisor, the only enlisted reservist at the headquarters at the time.

"Today we are an operational Air Force Reserve," he said. "Before, we were all about training."

In his opening remarks, General Stenner told the gathering about the respect and admiration he has for General Lewis, who is 90-plus years old.

"The issues and challenges that he faced haven't changed," General Stenner said. "It's amazing how current he keeps with what's going on in the Air Force Reserve."

After serving in World War II, General Lewis took on a variety of command roles before becoming the Reserve deputy to the commander of Headquarters Command at Bolling AFB in Washington, D.C. As the deputy, he was instrumental in carrying out Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird's Total Force Concept, which gave reserve components a greater role in national defense.

On April 19, 1971, General Lewis became chief of Air Force Reserve. On March 16, 1972, he assumed command of the Air Force Reserve. He was the first general to serve in this dual-hat role.

As chief and commander, General Lewis played a key role in working issues concerning Air Force reservists associating with Regular Air Force units. These associations gave reservists the opportunity to fly and maintain newer C-9, C-141 and C-5 aircraft. His sound leadership and guidance led to a stronger and more integrated operation with the active-duty airlift community as well as reorganization of the Reserve from a mobilization-only force to one that could augment the Regular Air Force when needed. His work ensured that the Individual Mobilization Augmentee Program was viable and would provide practical augmentee capabilities to active-duty organizations.

Furthermore, General Lewis guided the conversion from C-119 Boxcar and C-124 Globemaster II transport aircraft to the more modern C-141 Starlifter and the C-5 Galaxy. He also increased and modernized the Reserve's C-130 Hercules fleet and welcomed the first F-105 Thunderchief fighters.

General Lewis supervised the Air Force Reserve's airlift participation in a variety of operations, including Operation Nickel Grass, the 1973 Israeli airlift. About 630 Reserve aircrews participated in this mission while another 1,590 reservists performed missions elsewhere in the world. By flying C-130 missions to Europe, C-7 missions to Puerto Rico and C-123 missions to Panama, active- duty crews and support personnel were able to devote their attention to Operation Nickel Grass missions. Reservists also took part in Operation Homecoming, the repatriation of U.S. prisoners of war from North Vietnam, and Operation Babylift, the humanitarian airlift of infants from South Vietnam.

Chief Boyle was the command's first senior airman advisor, a role that soon evolved to become known as the senior enlisted advisor and now the command chief master sergeant.

Chief Boyle enlisted in the Regular Air Force in 1952 as an aircraft maintenance technician. Four years later, he joined the Reserve's 81st Troop Carrier Squadron at Grenier AFB, N.H., where he served as a maintenance technician and a C-119 flight mechanic.

In 1958, he joined the newly created Air Reserve Technician Program, working as a civilian during the week at the same location he served militarily as a reservist on drill weekends.

The Air Force activated him for duty in support of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Chief Boyle returned to ART status and by 1965 was reassigned to the 305th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Selfridge AFB, Mich.

The Air Force activated him again after the USS Pueblo incident off the coast of North Korea in 1968. In August 1970, he joined the Eastern Air Force Reserve Region and served as NCO in charge of the region's maintenance standardization and evaluation team at Dobbins AFB, Ga.

From 1973 to 1975, he served as the Air Force Reserve's first top enlisted person advising the commander on the needs and well-being of the enlisted force in the Air Force Reserve.

Chief Boyle was part of the PALACE RING study group that put forth initiatives for the future enlisted force. No less than 60 of the 89 initiatives have been implemented to the benefit of today's reservists.

His personal philosophy for life is to satisfy the "man in the mirror."

"As you go through your day, you need to ask yourself: 'Am I being truthful to myself? Am I being truthful to the person I'm working with? Am I being truthful to the job?'"

Mr. Linglebach was the director of civilian personnel for the Continental Air Command but more importantly championed the Air Force Reserve's Air Reserve Technician Program.

As late as the early 1950s, the Air Staff routinely disapproved a variety of recommendations to provide Air Force Reserve units with full-time people. Despite these setbacks, Mr. Lingelbach and his staff moved forward with plans to employ ARTs at Reserve units.