[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 187 (Wednesday, December 7, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8411-S8412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL LOREN M. RENO
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to an
exceptional leader, superb officer, and friend, LTG Loren M. Reno, the
deputy chief of staff, logistics, installations and mission support for
the Air Force, as he prepares to retire after more than 38 years of
dedicated and distinguished service to our Nation.
General Reno is a consummate professional and, truly, the most
humble, genuine general officer whom I have had the pleasure of working
with during my years in the Senate. Thankfully, I have had the
opportunity to get to know him very well. We worked closely together
during his two tours at the Air Logistics Center in Oklahoma City, and
that relationship continued during his time back on the Air Force
staff.
General Reno accomplishments over his 38-year career have been
remarkable. He is a senior navigator with more than 2,500 flying hours
in the C-9, C-130, T-29, and T-43 aircraft, a master maintainer with
over 24 years experience keeping the Air Force flying, and an
accomplished leader of airmen. General Reno commanded two aircraft
maintenance squadrons, a technical training group, and the Defense Fuel
Supply and Defense Energy Support Centers, and, of course, the Oklahoma
City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, OK.
A native of Port Jefferson, NY, General Reno graduated from
Cedarville University in Ohio in 1970 and spent 4 years teaching middle
school science before attending Officer Training School. After earning
his commission from OTS as the distinguished graduate and his initial
training where he was also the distinguished graduate, he was assigned
to the 21st Tactical Airlift Squadron in the Philippines. It was from
there that he flew missions into Saigon, Vietnam, at the close of the
war in 1975. His prowess as a navigator earned him selection to attend
instructor training at Mather Air Force Base, CA, in 1978, where he
once again graduated as a distinguished graduate. His subsequent
performance as an instructor earned him the award as the Instructor
Navigator of the Year in 1979.
Next, General Reno worked in legislative affairs on the Air Staff in
the Pentagon and then for Air Mobility Command from 1981 to 1985.
Following his staff tour, General Reno moved to Dyess Air Force Base,
TX, in 1985 where he continued to shine on the ground and in the air as
the chief navigator for the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron. It was
during this assignment that he left the navigator career field and
cross-trained as an aircraft maintenance officer. In 1987, General Reno
took command of the 463rd Avionics Maintenance Squadron and then the
463rd Field Maintenance Squadron there at Dyess. After Air War College,
he moved back to the Air Staff from 1990 to 1992, working as a program
manager and as the chief of maintenance policy for the Air Force.
After two years in the Pentagon, General Reno moved back to Texas,
this time to Sheppard Air Force Base, where he commanded the 396th
Technical Training Group and the 82nd Training Group before moving to
Fort Belvoir, VA, to work in the Defense Logistics Agency from 1994 to
1998 in positions of increasing responsibility, working on joint
logistics for contingency operations and strategic programming, before
being selected as the commander of the Defense Fuel Supply Center and
Defense Energy Support Center.
Upon the completion of his command at the DLA in 1998, General Reno
moved to my home State of Oklahoma to work at the Oklahoma City Air
Logistics Center. While there, he was promoted to brigadier general and
appointed as the center's deputy commander. After his first Oklahoma
tour, General Reno returned to Scott Air Force Base in 2002 as the
director of logistics for air mobility command. In this capacity, he
was responsible for developing policy logistics plans for 14 major
active air installations in the United States and 17 locations
throughout the world. It was also in this position that General Reno
was selected for his second star.
After this, General Reno returned to the DLA, where he served as the
vice director and was responsible for providing logistics to the
various military departments and combatant commands. We were able to
get him back to Oklahoma in 2007 when he returned to command the
Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, where he provided maintenance for
the Air Force's KC-135s, B-1, and B-52s, as well as numerous types of
aircraft engines while also commanding Tinker Air Force Base. He also
helped shepherd through one of the biggest growth opportunities for the
base by working with the local community to acquire an abandoned
automotive plant that was located adjacent to the base. The new
facility vastly increased the base's ability to accomplish the Air
Force's depot maintenance mission and ushered in an era of new
possibilities for Oklahoma City and the Air Force. It is this kind of
performance that characterized General Reno's whole career.
Based on this performance, he was promoted to lieutenant general and
sent back to the Pentagon in 2009 to be the Air Force's deputy chief of
staff for logistics, installations and mission support. During that
time Lieutenant General Reno's demonstrated a mastery of complex
issues, decisive leadership, and dedication to both mission and people.
He advocated and defended over $30 billion annually in logistics and
installation programs and developed long-range strategic guidance for
Air Force weapons systems, facility sustainment, military construction,
and contingency support to achieve national security objectives. He led
the Air Force's first-ever worldwide inventory of all nuclear
components at 581 sites. This epic venture allowed the Air Force to
reestablish control of more than 34,000 items valued at $1.3 billion
and was the first of many crucial logistics milestones needed to
reinvigorate the nuclear enterprise, the Air Force's No. 1 priority.
His leadership was invaluable to the success of the $1 billion
Expeditionary Combat Support System Program, the culmination of a
decade-long effort in developing and modernizing Air Force business
operations that will ultimately save the Air Force $9 billion in supply
chain costs.
Finally, as a hands-on leader and champion of airmen resiliency
initiatives, he was instrumental in the creation of the Air Force's
Deployment Transition Center providing a critical, strategic, physical,
emotional, and spiritual respite for thousands of airmen. He provided
the leadership and support to ensure outside-the-wire airmen are
provided an opportunity to decompress before they return to their home
station and families.
What I appreciate most about Loren is his dedication to others. He
doesn't have hobbies because he works for the benefit of everyone else.
He set aside hobbies like golf and instead made spending time with his
children and wife his hobby. As a man of deep faith in Jesus, he
sacrificed personally so he could give extravagantly to missions and to
ministry. Although General Reno's service in the Air Force will come to
an end, his service to God, his family, and his country continues. I
can't wait to see what's next.
On behalf of Congress and the United States of America, I thank
Lieutenant General Reno, his wife Karen, and their entire family for
their extraordinary commitment, sacrifice, contribution, and dedication
to this great Nation during his distinguished career in the U.S. Air
Force. I congratulate him on the completion of an exemplary career and
wish him, his wife Karen, and their family God's speed and continued
success and happiness in the future.
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