[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1300-E1301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      TRIBUTE FOR GEN. JOHN M. LOH

                                 ______


                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 20, 1995
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, today I want to recognize Gen. John Michael 
Loh who is retiring after 35 years of faithful and distinguished 
military service to our Nation.
  As one of our Air Force's most senior leaders, General Loh directly 
contributed to the revolutionary changes in the application of 
aerospace power that have resulted in dramatic improvements in our 
Nation's ability to achieve our security goals. General Loh's dedicated 
service and exceptional leadership helped ensure the U.S. Air Force 
excelled in the technologically demanding latter half of the cold war, 
in the crucible of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and in 
the economic turbulence and changing geopolitical landscape of the 
1990's.
  General Loh's drive, vision, and extraordinary leadership skills set 
him apart from his peers and brought him varied, demanding assignments 
in which he always excelled. He was graduated eighth in the second 
class produced by the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a young pilot, he flew 
over 200 combat missions in the F-4 as a member of the 389th and 366th 
Tactical Fighter Squadrons at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of South 
Vietnam. On returning, he served as an engineer and test pilot, helping 
to usher in many of the technological innovations in today's fighter 
aircraft. He accumulated more than 5,000 hours as a command pilot in 
the F-4, F-104, A-7, F-16, and dozens of other aircraft. He capped his 
career by becoming one of the first to fly the Nation's most 
sophisticated combat aircraft--the B-2 bomber.
  The general's contributions to the acquisition community began very 
early in his career. As a junior officer, he worked on the prototype of 
a highly capable yet low-cost fighter. It became the F-16. He won the 
Air Force Association's Daedalian Fellowship for his work and applied 
it to a graduate engineering program at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. Upon completion of the degree, he continued his work in 
fighter aircraft acquisition. His technical expertise and leadership 
resulted in the F-16 exceeding its program goals and going on to become 
one of the Nation's most successful fighter programs. Today, the F-16 
comprises 53 percent of the Air Force's fighter and ground attack 
force, and it is the most successful foreign military sales program. 
General Loh also helped lay the groundwork for the F-22 fighter, B-2 
bomber, and, as a former commander of the Air Force's agency for 
aircraft acquisition, he influenced every substantive program within 
the service.
  Shortly after he became the Air Force's Vice Chief of Staff, Iraq 
invaded Kuwait. General Loh served as the acting Chief of Staff for the 
majority of Operation Desert Storm and played a key role in preparing 
the plan for the air campaign. His ability to work quietly behind the 
scenes to guide the implementation of innovative policies and 
lightning-quick acquisition and deployment of weapons played a 
significant part in the success of the Nation's war effort.
  As the Soviet Union began to collapse, Air Force leadership decided 
to radically restructure the entire service. As the first commander of 
Air Combat Command, General Loh became the linchpin of this effort. He 
restructured the Air Force's combat forces, using the remnants of the 
inactivated Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command, and Military 
Airlift Command to
 build a more dynamic, fleet-footed, conventionally-oriented combat 
force. Within this new entity of more than 30 wings, 3,400 aircraft, 
and 250,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve, and civil service people, he 
engendered a new leadership style. He replaced the authoritarian style 
of ACC's predecessors with a people-oriented style based on trust, 
teamwork, and a mutual quest for continuous improvement. His success in 
bringing this leadership style into use resulted in the implementation 
of better practices and processes in every facet of the command's 
operations, leading to an outstanding response to contingencies in 
Southwest Asia, the former Yugoslavia, and Haiti to name just a few. 
His leadership style also saved the Air Force millions [[Page E 
1301]] of dollars and raised morale across the command despite the 
turbulence of the dramatic defense draw down. This success led to high 
praise from Vice President Gore during the National Performance Review 
and an invitation for General Loh to join him at the Reinventing 
Government Summit in Philadelphia in June of 1993.

  As fiscal pressure and geopolitical necessities drove American forces 
to become increasingly expeditionary, General Loh became the leading 
advocate for the immediacy and flexibility of air power. Throughout his 
career, he has worked closely with local governments to foster 
technology transfer to private, non-defense businesses. The governors 
of Ohio and Virginia each chose him to co-chair their State's 
technology transfer and defense reutilization commissions. He has also 
been one of the Nation's most effective advocates for maintaining the 
unique portions of the Nation's industrial base that have allowed us to 
field weapons with stealth and other sophisticated, force-multiplying 
characteristics.
  General Loh's ability to master diverse challenges and draw on his 
own experience to interweave the efforts of combat forces and the 
industries that support them has given the nation the world's 
preeminent combat air force. His vision of what this fighting force can 
and should be has made it a national model for the people-centered, 
intellectually nimble work horse of the future. None of these things 
would have been accomplished without General Loh's conviction, courage, 
and leadership. He set a new standard for air power and gave our Nation 
the world's most effective combat air force.
  General John Michael Loh, on behalf of the Congress of the United 
States and the Americans we represent, I offer our sincere thanks for 
your dedicated and selfless service to our Nation.


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