[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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