[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     IN HONOR OF THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE RESERVE 65TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TIMOTHY J. WALZ

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 11, 2013

  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 65th anniversary of the 
Air Force Reserve, created by President Harry S Truman on April 14, 
1948.
  Since the founding of the United States, citizens have answered the 
call to arms, accomplished their mission with professionalism and 
honor, and returned to their civilian lives to await the next call.
  Truman envisioned a new Reserve Component to continue this tradition 
of service--``being ready when called upon''--that was founded by the 
Army Air Service reservists of the First World War who flew wood and 
canvas biplanes. The forerunner of our modern Air Force Reserve was 
authorized by Congress and the National Defense Act of 1916.
  Today, Air Force reservists, known as Citizen Airmen, perform leading 
roles in military operations, humanitarian crisis and disaster relief 
around the globe. The Air Force Reserve consists of officers, enlisted 
and civil servants who are tasked by law to fill the needs of the armed 
forces whenever more units and people are required than are in the 
Regular Air Force.
  More than 860,000 people make up the Ready, Standby, Retired and 
Active Duty Retired Reserve. This includes 70,000 Selected Reservists 
who are ready-now and participate in every job specialty and on the 
front lines of daily military operations around the globe.
  The creation of the Air Force Reserve followed the birth of the Air 
Force itself about seven months earlier on Sept. 18, 1947. The newly 
created Air Force had gained its independence from the Army, tracing 
its roots back to the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army's Office 
of the Chief Signal Officer which took charge of military balloons and 
air machines in 1907.
  Ten years later, the first two air reserve units were mobilized, and 
one of them, the First Aero Reserve Squadron from Mineola, N.Y., 
deployed to France as the United States entered World War I in 1917. 
The new ``Air Service'' reserve program provided the war effort about 
10,000 pilots who had graduated from civilian and military flying 
schools.
  Later, reservists played a critical role in World War II when 1,500 
reserve pilots along with 1,300 non-rated officers and 400 enlisted 
Airmen augmented the Army Air Corps in the war's early days. This 
included the legendary Jimmy Doolittle who was ordered to active duty 
to work in Detroit to convert automobile manufacturing plants into 
aircraft factories and later went on to lead ``Doolittle's Raiders,'' 
the first American bombing attack on the Japanese mainland.
  After World War II ended, the young Air Force Reserve was barely two 
years old when it mobilized nearly 147,000 reservists for the Korean 
War from 1950 to 1953.
  In the 1960s, five Air Force Reserve C-124 aircraft units along with 
5,613 reservists were mobilized for a year to support the Berlin 
Crisis. By 1962, an additional mobilization of 14,220 reservists and 
422 aircraft were supporting operations during the Cuban Missile 
Crisis.
  During the Vietnam War, the Air Force Reserve provided strategic 
airlift as well as counterinsurgency, close air support, tactical 
mobility, interdiction, rescue and recovery, intelligence, medical, 
maintenance, aerial port and air superiority until U.S. involvement 
ended in 1973.
  For the most part, the nation was at peace for the next few years 
with the Air Force Reserve periodically engaged in emergency-response 
missions. This included the rescue and return of American students from 
Grenada in 1983, aerial refuelings of F-111 bombers during the El 
Dorado Canyon raid on Libyan-sponsored terrorists in 1986, and 
Operation Just Cause which ousted Panama's General Noriega in 1989-
1990.
  Also, Air Force Reservists supported humanitarian and disaster relief 
efforts, including resupply and evacuation missions in the aftermath of 
Hurricane Hugo.
  More than twenty years of continual combat operations began with 
Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in response to Saddam 
Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
  In the aftermath of coalition victory, Air Force reservists continued 
to serve and were heavily involved in enforcing the no-fly zones over 
northern and southern Iraq as well as in humanitarian relief missions 
to assist the uprooted Iraqi Kurds.
  In 1993, Air Force Reserve tanker, mobility and fighter units began 
operations in Bosnia and in 1999 were also supporting Operation Allied 
Force over Serbia and Kosovo.
  When terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Air 
Force reservists responded in full measure. Air Force Reserve F-16 
fighter aircraft flew combat air patrols to protect American cities 
while KC-135 tankers and AWACS aircraft supported security efforts.
  In October 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom began as U.S. military 
forces entered Afghanistan to combat the Taliban and terrorist 
sanctuaries. In March 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom began in order to 
end Saddam Hussein's regime. Air Force Reserve units and reservists 
played key roles in all combat operations as Air Force Reserve MC-130 
Combat Talon aircraft became the first fixed-wing aircraft to penetrate 
Afghan airspace while Air Force Reserve F-16 crews performed the first 
combat missions.
  In recent years, Citizen Airmen have supported every Air Force core 
function and every Combatant Commander around the world. Air Force 
reservists were engaged in surge operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
They supported combat and humanitarian missions in Haiti, Libya, Japan, 
Mali and the Horn of Africa. Also, they've provided national disaster 
relief at home in the U.S. after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the gulf 
oil spill and the wildfires in the western states.
  Throughout their history, Citizen Airmen have volunteered 
continually, allaying concerns that reservists would not be available 
when really needed.
  Since its inception in 1948, the Air Force Reserve has evolved from a 
unit-mobilization-only force into an operational reserve that 
participates daily in missions around the globe. Today, Air Force 
reservists safeguard nuclear weapons and guide Global Positioning 
Satellites. From bases in the United States, reservists fly remotely 
piloted aircraft in combat half a world away. They track hurricanes out 
at sea and bring medical supplies and food into disaster areas to save 
lives around the world.
  Spanning six and a half decades--with the last two decades of 
continuous combat--the Air Force Reserve has fulfilled the legacy of 
early air pioneers and exceeded the potential seen by the visionaries 
who created it in 1948.
  Congratulations to all Citizen Airmen, past and present, on the 65th 
Anniversary of the Air Force Reserve on April 14, 2013.

                          ____________________