[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S6836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RETIREMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL DONALD WETEKAM

 Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr President, today I pay tribute to a great 
military leader, officer, and good friend, LTG Donald Wetekam. After 34 
years of distinguished and honorable service, General Wetekam, the 
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Installations and Logistics, 
will retire from the U.S. Air Force.
  General Wetekam began his active duty service in 1973 after 
graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a career logistics 
officer, he commanded three maintenance squadrons, a logistics group 
and a logistics center, and has served staff tours at both the major 
command and air staff levels.
  General Wetekam's noteworthy service and responsibilities have been 
widely recognized. He received the Distinguished Service Medal, the 
Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Legion of 
Merit with an oak leaf cluster, and the Air Force Commendation Medal 
with an oak leaf cluster.
  Prior to serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and 
Logistics, General Wetekam served as Commander of the Warner Robins Air 
Logistics Center, at Robins Air Force Base, GA. He also served both as 
Director of Maintenance and Logistics and Deputy Director of Combat 
Weapon Systems at Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force 
Base, VA; and as Director of Logistics, Headquarters Pacific Air 
Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, HI. Prior to that he served as Vice 
Commander and Director, Aircraft Management Directorate at the Oklahoma 
City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, OK; and commanded the 
49th Logistics Group at Holloman Air Force Base, NM.
  General Wetekam has been a visionary leader, and among his most 
significant accomplishments, championed initiatives including Repair 
Enterprise 21, establishing a single enterprise-wide maintenance repair 
network. He was a driving force behind the Global Logistics Support 
Center moving from a base centric supply process to a centrally 
responsive approach to improving supply chain management. During 
General Wetekam's tenure, the Air Force saw the implementation of 
Centralized Asset Management, culminating in a $14 billion savings and 
the elimination of complex and redundant financial processes. General 
Wetekam worked extensively to increase the number of Security Forces 
available for deployment and through this effort provided much needed 
support to our warfighters. He was successful in reducing career field 
operations tempo, and forged a ground breaking path for both privatized 
housing and joint basing.
  General Wetekam's leadership was instrumental to air and space forces 
engaged across a breadth of support activities in Operation Iraqi 
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. As the prime architect of Lean 
implementation, his guidance enabled the Air Force to increase 
efficiency in a resource constrained, high operations tempo 
environment. His efforts provided the foundation for Air Force Smart 
Operations 21 and the ability to fund the recapitalization of an aging 
fleet and build the Air Force of tomorrow while fighting today's war.
  The Nation will miss General Wetekam's commitment to duty, ceaseless 
drive for improvement, and unwavering support to the U.S. Air Force. I 
will miss having him in the U.S. Air Force, although I know he will 
continue to serve his Nation wherever he goes. I know I speak on behalf 
of a grateful Nation in saying thank you to General Wetekam for his 
years of service and sacrifice. I hope my colleagues will join me in 
wishing him well in all his future endeavors and hope that those who 
follow in his footsteps will continue his legacy of unprecedented 
support to our great Nation. Good luck and Godspeed.

                          ____________________