 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this morning's ceremony. Today's ceremony will be an outdoor ceremony, so cover should be worn. Throughout the ceremony, you will be given cues to stand and be seated at the appropriate times. As an outdoor ceremony, saluting during honors and the national anthem is required for all military members. Our civilian guests are invited to place their right hand over their heart, and all veterans in attendance have the option to salute. Again, we request that you silence all electronic devices for the duration of today's event. Once again, thank you. On behalf of the Chief of Staff, the United States Air Force, welcome to the Headquarters Pacific Air Force's Change of Command. Thank you for joining us. Today you will witness a rare event in which multiple authorities and responsibilities are transferred through the Change of Command Ceremony. With eight simple words in the passing of the flag, the command of Pacific Air Forces, and the responsibility of commanding the Pacific Command Joint Air Force Component will transfer from General Kenneth S. Wilsbach to General Kevin B. Schneider. Simultaneously, Chief Master Sergeant Kathleen M. McCool will assume responsibilities from Chief Master Sergeant David R. Wolff as the Pacific Air Force's command chief, serving as senior enlisted leader to General Schneider. The presiding officials for today's ceremony are General David W. Alvin, Chief of Staff, United States Air Force and Admiral John C. Aquilino, Commander, United States Indo-Pacific Command. The ceremony you will witness today is a time-honored tradition dating back to the 18th century, during the reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia. At that time, organizational flags were developed with color arrangements and symbols unique to each particular unit. To this and its commanders, the soldiers of the unit would dedicate their loyalty and trust. When a change of command was to take place, the flag was passed to the individual assuming command. This gesture was accomplished in front of the entire unit so all could see and witness their new leader assuming this dutiful position. The leader who possessed the flag also held the soldier's allegiance. This symbolic tradition has survived throughout military history. At this time, we would like to recognize some of our distinguished guests. Please hold your applause till the end. With us today is Admiral Aquilino's wife, Laura, General Willsbox's wife, Cindy, General Schneider's wife, Lordy, Lori, apologies, General Schneider's daughters, Annalise and Abigail, General Schneider's parents, Mike and Maureen Schneider, General Schneider's sister, Megan, performing the duties of the Undersecretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Kristin Jones and her husband, Harry, the Commander, United States Pacific Fleet, Admiral Samuel Paparo, the Commander, United States Army, Pacific, General Charles Flynn and his wife, Kathleen, former Chief of Staff, Japan Air Self Defense Force and President of the Japan America Air Force Goodwill Association, General Marumo Yoshinari, Japan Air Self Defense Force, retired and his wife, Midori, former Chief of Staff, Japan Air Self Defense Force, General Izutsu Shunji, Japan Air Self Defense Force, retired and his wife, Yuko, former Commander, United States Army Forces Command, General David Bramlett, United States Army, retired and his wife, Nora, the Commander, United States Marine Corps, Air Force's Pacific Lieutenant General William Journey and his wife, Sue, representing the Air, representing the Japan Air Self Defense Force, the Commander, Air Defense Command, Lieutenant General Suzuki Yasuhiko, representing the Republic of Korea Air Force, the Air Combat Commander, Major General Kim Jun Ho, former Commander, Air Support Command, Lieutenant General Yamada Masashi, the Japan Air Self Defense Force retired and his wife, Mitsuhi. Pacific Air Forces also welcomes all general, flag officers, consul generals, community civic leaders, our military leaders, friends and family who have traveled here today to witness this memorable occasion. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the arrival of the official party, the playing of military honors, presentation of colors, singing of the national anthem and Hawaii Pono-i, the Command Chaplain, Colonel James Hamill. I invite you to join me in prayer. Gracious God, we ask your blessing upon us gathered here to witness the change of command between General Kenneth Wilsbach and General Kevin Schneider. The commander of Pacific Air Forces wields the bluntest instruments of peace. Billions of people in this region of the world are beneficiaries of their steady resolve. We thank General Wilsbach for his passion, his focus and his humanity. Be with him and Cindy as they move on to lead and care for the great airmen of Air Combat Command. Shower your wisdom upon General Schneider as he assumes the mantle of leadership here in the Pacific. May he and Lori continue the security of this command and the resiliency of our PAKAF airmen. Lord, bless our country, our elected leaders, and our military leaders. May we continue to be the peacemakers you call us to be. We ask this in your holy name. Amen. Please be seated. Thank you, Chaplain Hamel. Ladies and gentlemen, the commander of the United States, Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John C. Aquilino. Aloha. First, cruiser and Cindy, I'm honored to be able to be a part of this today. Thank you for letting us come. Thanks for letting Lori and Jess witness as well. This is really an amazing day for both Indo-Pacific Command, for the Wilsbach family, for the Schneider family, and overall, for the PAKAF team. There's so many, and if I miss you to recognize you personally, you can beat me after the ceremony. But there are certainly a few that have to be recognized today. First of my brother-in-arms, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Dave, let me just start by saying thank you for sending the best of the best to Indo-Pacom. Madam Secretary, good to see you and your husband. Thanks for coming. It's really incredible. Where's General Suzuki? Raise your hand. Suzuki-san, it's good to see you. Thanks for coming out to recognize your brother-in-arms and our great team. There's a variety of ally and partner support who made it all the way to witness and recognize cruiser as well as Gumby. But also from Japan, General Azuzu. Sir, good to see you. General Murumo and spouses, by the way. So this is a family event. General Goku Yamada, thank you for coming. Major General Kim from the Republic of Korea Air Force, thank you for spending time today with us. And to the rest of the allies and partners that have arrived. General Bramlett and Nora, I know you're always at these events. So my welcome and thanks to you for coming today and recognizing it. Sir, good to see you both. The consular and diplomatic corps who are critical to our actions and activities here on Oahu, thank you for spending time with us. I also have the greatest fighting force of commanders that exists on the planet. My combatant command components are all here today supporting their brother. Thank you guys for coming today as well. To the Hawaii leadership and the community that always supports us and our sailors, service members, and families, thank you for coming today. And as I said, the most important group that's here today are the members and team of the Pacific Air Forces. Thank you for all you do each and every day. Okay, cruiser's interesting, but let's talk about Cindy for a minute. Cindy, thank you very much. I was honored to be able to surprise Cindy with a public service award yesterday for her tremendous effort in taking care of airmen around the Pacific. Half the globe, 33 nations. Your tireless effort, Cindy, and support for cruiser cannot go unmentioned. And in my note, somebody told me in a 40-year career, 23 moves around the globe. Cindy, I can't thank you enough for all you've done. That said, your job's not done either. You've got to go take care of ACC. So we're going to miss you. Thank you very much for your dedicated sacrifice and service to our nation. Please, a round of applause. Okay, I'll talk a little bit about cruiser just for a second. But when I said before that Dave sends the best of the best out here, boy, it hit me like a ton of prey. I was like, well, why could that be? Why does he keep sending the greatest airmen on the planet to the Pacific? And then I went back and I looked at it. Well, number one, we have the most challenging set of adversaries. Number two, we cover the largest span, half the globe. And as a theater joint force air component commander, he's responsible to provide combat air power across half the globe at an instant's call. And then I went back and I'm like, well, that was easy, except then I realized why they really are the greatest. They're both the sons of Navy families. Both of their dads were in the Navy. Madam Secretary, thank you very much. All kidding aside, service goes strong in both their families. For cruiser, I can't thank you enough for all you've done for the team. Three years ago, when I got here, we got here almost together. We worked to integrate the joint force. You drove air combat power to be able to be delivered anywhere, anytime. You've moved forward on the ace concept to be able to be successful in this theater. And for everyone who was here for the last, what seemed like 50 days, but was I guess about 10, we just completed the largest, most complex exercise called Keen Edge. And we did that with our partners from Japan and Australia. And I've been in this theater, I've been here six years straight, and I've been here for eight of the last nine years, or 10 years, in this theater doing this work. And it was the greatest demonstration of what a integrated, synchronized joint force can do, enabled by joint air power, integrating all domain operations, undersea, on the sea, above the sea, on the land in space and in cyberspace. It was incredible to watch. And the leadership of the component commanders, the leadership of my Japanese and Australian partners, and the leadership of the theater air component commander was flawless. I can't thank you enough. Now, cruiser's gonna leave us, but his job is not done, just like I said for Cindy. So the Air Force understands how important cruiser can be to this fighting formation, and he's gonna send them back to ACC to be able to continue to contribute to the joint air power that's needed, and for the next wave of leaders that will end up out here as well. Cruiser, we go back a long way. It's been fun. I'm gonna miss you. The fact that you're still gonna go fly makes me hate you, but I'm jealous, and I can't thank you enough for being a great partner. A round of applause for cruiser, please. Gumby, Laurie, welcome back. Again, the best of the best. Now, from when you were here last time, it is not the same. The adversary has changed, the environment has changed, our force has changed, and guess what? Nothing got easier. So I can't be more happy to have you both back out here. I do wanna recognize Megan, Gumby's sister. Thank you for coming out. Take care of mom and dad. Mike and Maureen, Gumby's parents. It's great to see you. Thanks for all you've done to develop that and give them back to me. Thank you very much. Let me make sure that I recognize Annalise and Abby as well. I always say this every time. So Gumby raised his right hand and swore an oath. None of you did, but we've asked a lot of you. Thank you for your sacrifices. We talk about moving around 13 moves for Lori and 12 for the girls. That is a challenge that very few understand, but let there be no doubt. He would not be here today if it were not for you. So for the Schneider family, welcome. Thank you, and let's give them a round of applause, please. Lori, your deep service is also commendable, and we thank you. We will ask more of you to take care of airmen around Pacific Air Force AOR. So welcome. You're going to get a lot of miles under your belt. All right, Gumby. Welcome back. It's good to have you here. Your experience in this theater was critical for us, knowing what you're about to take on. And like I said, it is different from when you left, whether it be from USFJ or from the chief of staff position at Indo Paycom. But boy, it is on the right trajectory. So I'm ready for you to take us to new heights and synchronize and pull together. Continue to integrate the joint force. Link it with our allies and partners, and there's no one that can stop us. The guidance remains the same. Deliver air combat power to the joint force whenever needed. I know you're going to be relentless in the pursuit of this goal. You know what it looks like. You know how to do it. I'm happy to have you back on the team. Lastly, to the entire J-FAC team and PAC-AF team, thank you for everything you do each and every day for your nation and for our joint force. Again, I'm honored to serve amongst each and every one of you, and thank you very much for all you do. Congratulations to you both. Thanks. Thank you, Admiral Aquilino. The chief of staff, United States Air Force, General David W. Alvin. Well, good morning. I had the great honor earlier this morning of promoting for Gumby II, for Star General, and that was a very, very proud moment. But I really want to thank, first of all, Chaplain Hamill for the invitation for amongst other things. I've known Chaplain Hamill for a couple decades now, but in fact reminding everyone that Will's Box first name is Ken and Snyder's first name is Kevin because I'm afraid if we said we're going to pass the guide on from Ken to Kevin, people would know what we're doing. But we know Ms. Cruiser and Gumby, but they're both fine leaders and have been the best that our Air Force has to offer. I won't repeat, but I want to echo Admiral Aquilino's appreciation. This is family business and it starts with the personal family, extends to the Air Force family, extends to our joint family, extends to our inter-agency family, to our allies and partners and to the local community. This is family business. We're all here because we know what's at stake and we know we have to get this right. So I could not be more proud to stand here in front of you today and oversee this transition. Let's talk about transition for a minute. Transition is a movement from one to another and inherent in transition is a gap or a scene. You have to shift from one to another or at least that's the definition. My responsibility to the commander of Inter-Pecom Command is to make that transition as seamless as possible. Why? Because securing a free and open Indo-Pacific and advancing our national defense strategy and our national security interest is not seasonal business. This is not something you can do, take a break from and come back to and pick it up later. The stakes are too high. The challenges are too great. The opportunities may be too fleeting and if we miss that opportunity because we're adjusting because of our transition I believe we're failing our Air Force, we're failing our combat commands, we're failing our nation. But I can tell you right now I stand here today and say I feel very confident that transition is going to be as smooth as possible. It's going to be as smooth as one can imagine because of the caliber and the quality of the leadership that is currently in the position and the leadership that's going to take over that position. You know, Admiral Aquilino, if you don't know, is a demanding combat commander. Rightfully so. He puts his heart and soul and energy into making sure that people understand what's at stake. And so when he speaks so highly of cruiser Willis-Bottom you can believe it. And of course, as always, he mentions it correctly, it's not just cruiser, it's a team. It's a team. And what that team has done is really advanced this command in support of the combatant command at a critical time. You know, as we're adjusting to the national defense strategy and adjusting our air force and our joint force to meet the challenges, there are new concepts required, new schemes of maneuver that we need to investigate and mature and bring to the field. And one of those, as Admiral Aquilino mentioned, was as a combat employment. It's a new approach. It's the path to the future. It's just starting to be beyond the concept but not really implementable other than an idea with some good thought behind it. Well, that was on him. He had to advance that. He and his team need to move that forward and I will tell you they have done a remarkable job. For me, advocating for the resources and a building that's like blood out of a turnip to get extra money but advocating and showing the rationale behind the things needed to make the combat employment real, that was on his leadership and developing the concepts and maturing them in a way that we can now see it. Now we know we have more work to do but without his work we wouldn't secure the one-plus billion dollars that's going to support that scheme of maneuver. That is critical for the air component to support IndoPaycom in this theater. That was Cruiser. That was his team. That was his leadership. But Cruiser and Cindy also know this is, again, its family business. You can have all the stuff in the world but if you don't have the team that feels this team, the families, all of them behind you and able to live in a manner befitting them then you've missed the boat. At the end it's people who do the business and their advocacy for uncomfortable things like additional attention to mental health understanding pediatric psychology and those are the things that keep a family together in a challenging time. They champion that in a way that has been best practiced throughout our Air Force. We actually stole a couple of the ideas that they piloted here in PAC-AF and are accepting to be the standard practice in our United States Air Force. This is family business. The people we see in front of them and the families who make them successful that was championed by the United States Air Force. The United States Air Force could not be more proud. The also knows it's about joint teamwork, assembling the component commanders together to develop a battle rhythm to enable us to understand things as a joint team and not get disconnected in a manner that is underfitting what the combatant commander requires from the service components. That's the leadership of cruiser Wilbur. Allies and partners, Pacific Air Chiefs have an appreciation and understanding of the strengths and opportunities that exist in the allies and partners in this theater towards a common goal. To bring that out, to elevate that is something that cruiser did with aplomb. It was amazing. All those things have advanced this command in support of into PAC-AF. They've made PAC-AF a leading command in understanding the future of warfare and how the air component fits into that. That's a remarkable feat, cruiser. That is amazing. And you and Cindy have done a fantastic job at that. And that's why we're not done with you yet. They got more gas than a tank. So does that mean we're bringing them back to command air combat command? Who better? If this is the theater in which the pacing challenge exists, who better to come back and understand what readiness needs to be? Where? How much? When? When you're in the theater and someone who's just come from the theater. Our air force is going to greatly benefit from your experience and your energy and your capacity to continue leading. I thank you so much for that. So transition in a relay race, a 4x100 relay race, sometimes it's measured in tenths of seconds who wins and who loses. Sometimes maybe hundreds. Which means you can have the fastest runners and we cannot afford to miss any opportunities to maintain momentum in this theater with the challenges here and the primacy that we have in the end of the Pacific. So Team Schneider is perfect. As Admiral Acklinger said, they have experience here. To put a finer point on it, out of every three years that Kevin Gumby Schneider has served in our air force, out of every three years over one of them has been in this theater. There's several installations about several commands throughout. He gets the theater. He understands the value of the partnerships that need to be sustained and enhanced. He understands air power in the Pacific. He also understands the building. He understands the Pentagon the challenges and sometimes the frustrations but he also he also understands that there is a way that one can work with the Pentagon to ensure that we continue to have momentum to provide what this theater needs. He and lawyer are going to do that in fine fashion, I have no doubt. If not, we would have looked elsewhere but we need not look elsewhere because this is the transition team. The baton will be passed smoothly. Admiral Aquilino, we will not slow down. We will not have disruption. Momentum is key and this is the team to do it. So again, I could not be more proud to stand here today at this place in this time of consequence to be able to pass the baton from one fantastic leader to another as we continue the journey to help defend our nation. Thank you very much. Congratulations to both of you. Let's get on with the changing plan. Thank you, General Alvin. Please stand as General Alvin presents the distinguished service medal to General Wilsbach. The President of the United States of America authorized by an act of Congress July 9, 1918 awards the Distinguished Service Medal to General Kenneth S. Wilsbach for exceptionally meritorious service in duties of great responsibility. General Wilsbach distinguished himself as Commander, Pacific Air Forces and Joint Forces Air Component Commander for United States Indo-Pacific Command Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii from 8 July 2020 to 9 February 2024. During this period, General Wilsbach led 44,000 Airmen across three numbered Air Forces 10 wings and 15 locations in support of the Department of Defense's largest geographic combatant command. In response to growing coercion from the Indo-Pacific, General Wilsbach redefined the command's contribution to the Indo-Pacific theory of victory which substantially changed the Air Force narrative, its resourcing strategy and its operational exercise focus as well as further the integration of allies into an operationally relevant force. His actions and leadership reinforced deterrence and identified the criticality of killwebs, anti-ship warfare and agile combat employment. General Wilsbach's constant and consistent advocacy energizes United States Air Force Enterprise, compelling substantial investment, changes to munitions, air superiority and killweb portfolios. His advocacy also drove the Air Force Warfare Center to develop essential tactics, techniques and procedures in support of the theory of victory. General Wilsbach also underpinned the service's agile combat employment concept, delivering initial operational capability, improving an array of airfields and securing substantial war material, investments in support of operations plans. Just as critically, General Wilsbach led a substantial growth in allies and partners' integration into the command exercises and activities, forging a more cohesive coalition air component. Together, his extraordinary accomplishments and vision for the future postured Air Forces will be ready to deter or prevail in major conflict and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of General Wilsbach reflect the highest credit upon himself, the United States Air Force and the Department of the Air Force. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. The Commander, Pacific Air Forces General Wilsbach. Aloha. Well, before I get started, Gumby, better late than never. I know you've been anxious for this day and why you've been anxious, we've been enjoying what you see in front of you. And so, it's all about perspective, isn't it? But what a beautiful morning. It's so good to be here with everybody. Thanks for all of you attending. Madam Secretary, Chief, I wish Gina was here with you. Glad that Skip is here and Amor Aucalino, glad you brought Laura and Jess over to the ceremony. To my fellow component commanders over here, which I'm going to talk about here in a bit, as well as other flagging general officers and we have some flagging general officers from several other countries here and your presence here means a lot to General Snyder and I. And so, thank you for being here, both active duty and retired. And then, of course, the men and women in formation representing all the men and especially the senior enlisted chiefs that are here as well. I want to recognize, but thank you. It's been the honor of my life and a huge blessing for Cindy to be able to serve here for the past three and a half years and if you would just indulge me a bit, I have a few thank yous to get through. And so, first of all, to our Secretary of the Air Force, as well as the three of the current chief and the two previous chiefs, thank you for letting me serve here and just giving me such a privilege to be able to lead the men and women of PACAF. And to Amorakuelino, same. Thanks for letting me lead here, but more importantly, thank you for your bold leadership. You're right when we first started this thing, it was different and now it's not. And the reason it's not is because of your leadership and we're in a much better place to address the challenges in this theater than we were before and that's all, that's all on you. And we thank you for your leadership and we thank you for you and Laura's service all these years and it's been a pleasure serving with you in the Pacific and taking on a big challenge. I do want to start off with one other thanks. Early in my thank yous is to thank Cindy and the team has something if you could bring that forward for Cindy, but I just wanted to thank you for all the service that you've exhibited the whole time we've been married because I've been in the Air Force the whole time and I just wanted to just acknowledge your service while we've been here and the number of events that we've had at our house you've been to our house, you know it's a hospitality fair and you know that you may not know but Cindy's behind all of that so the menu, the decorations, the theme everything about the event is all in her mind and she does that because she wants to honor our guests it's her way of honoring you when you come to our house there's hundreds of those types of events and and then the traveling and as you might know all of us as a part of our jobs travel and she's representing our country now she gets a huge salary for that right so she's doing that all via Gratis and you're serving your country because you love me you love our service and you just did that with such grace and elegance and I just want to thank you and I know we applauded you earlier and would like to do that again thank you I would also like to thank the team that put this together the mainest guys that towed all the jets over they look fantastic to Lieutenant Colonel Ours who is the project officer in your team I don't know where you got off to me and putting it together these are always hard to do and then our protocol team no offense you guys over here but the PACAP protocol is the best best protocol team on the planet and unfortunately Robin our chief of protocol is out today and we wish her well but she leaves an amazing amazing team and they've done a great job I'd also like to thank the numbered Air Force commanders that are here today Rup and Sharla what a great team leading our Air Forces in Japan and he's also the US Forces Japan commander and they're just the right team at the right time in Japan for us they're doing a great job and then also Poison Iverson Jenny's still back in Korea but he's been leading there for just over a week and so he's already got everything fixed but doing a great job and also the right guy in Korea and then also Abu Nahom, Lieutenant General Abu Nahom and his wife Kim up in Alaska but really commanding all of our forces in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam just an innovative bold leader doing a lot of the things that we talked about with Ace that came out of 11th Air Force a lot of it and so he and Kim are doing a great job up there and then all the wing commanders that are associated with all those numbered Air Forces those wing commanders and their senior enlisted leaders they're the ones who are doing all the hard work so those operations that you have us doing Admiral they're the ones executing and they're doing it with such amazing professionalism and then our staff at the headquarters I tell them all the time that people come to me and they tell me that the Alaska staff is really a good staff and I tell them I know I work with them every day and that kind of a reputation when other people travel to your staff or when they interact with them from somewhere else and they get the sense that they're about getting the job done but they're about collaborating and cooperation that's really healthy for the staff and I'm appreciative of them to and Air Vice Marshall Newman the two HACAF deputy commanders thank you guys amazing deputies and I was TDY a fair amount and they had to stick and they were flying the jet while I was gone and there was never a question you guys are that good and you might have noticed the maybe unfamiliar rank Air Vice Marshall Newman and that's the first time that HACAF has ever had a deputy commander from another country and just stating that you have a deputy commander is the easiest part incorporating somebody from another country and allowing them to have access to the information that was the hard part and we tackled a lot of that during the time that Air Vice Marshall Newman was here and I'm greatly thankful that you're here like I said last night on this first day we proved out the reason why we wanted to do this and he continued to do that every single day so Billy thanks for being here well I'd also like to thank my fellow component commanders and I'm going to talk a little bit about the challenges in this theater here in a bit but if you've heard of inter-service rivalries they don't happen here they're not existing in this theater and the Pact Fleet commander Admiral Papparo the USARPAC commander General Flynn the MARFORPAC commander General Journey and the Space Force commander General Mastelier we're tight so let me just give a message to anybody that would ever think about challenging us we're tight, don't mess with us and I just want to thank you guys for the collaboration and for the cooperation and getting along and executing what the boss had us to do and I tell people often that I've been in this theater for more than 20 years of my career and we've never been more joint that's a good thing and we used to do things that were maybe on the same day and we'd say yeah it was a joint operation when it really wasn't integrated well it's 100% integrated now and there's massive strength in that and it's because of those guys that are sitting over there and their dedication to their own component but also the dedication to us as a team so fellas it's been an honor to serve with you and thank you for your cooperation well a little bit about the theater and really if you just think about the theater you only have part of the story because in the last year and a half or so the world has become a very dangerous place and we all know the headlines between Russian and Ukraine Israel and Hamas it's now boiled over to Yemen and other places and in the meantime we have significant challenges in this theater you can start with North Korea of course Russia is a Pacific nation as well there's issues in the Arctic there's even forces in Antarctica you might not know that but we have airmen that are on the ice today and then of course we have China and China's been very clear about their intent their writings and their rhetoric are such that they want to control Taiwan they'd love to do it peacefully but they'll do it by force if they have to and if you watch what they've been doing with their military they've been preparing to do it by force and our job is to convince them that that's not a good idea it's called deterrence and I'm very proud to say that in the differences that you talked about Admiral Acolino I believe that we're offering that deterrence and I know that General Snyder under his leadership will continue to take PAKF in that direction but it's not just us I've talked about our joint team here but our allies and partners and some of them are represented here they make a huge difference and they're like minded with us I think you all know that they want to free and open Indo-Pacific just like we do and they're with us on that and we see that in exercises we see that in conferences they're sending their best here to participate they're sending their top line troops and units to exercise with us they want to be interoperable with us and in most cases they are and we've been working on that for the last three years and I know Gumby you're going to continue and in the last aspect and it's been mentioned before but this notion of agile combat employment and all of the components have a version of this the Air Force one is called agile combat employment but when I first got here right after we declared initial operating capability and we didn't quit there and we're not going to stop we're going to continue to expand that envelope and it's the men and women of PAKF and their innovation and their leadership at very low levels and we've pushed down that authority to captains and tech sergeants and kicked them out to islands and said lead it make it happen and they're doing it and it's extremely impressive and so it's been really fun to watch and I've been so impressed with that innovation and leadership well as I close I told General Snyder earlier you may or may not know this but the PAKF commander doesn't get to decide who their successor is you know that's the chief and that's the secretary but if I could have picked my successor I would have picked General Snyder and he and Laurie have so much experience here in the theater he's served in Japan he's served in Korea he's served here on the island in various commands and he has the experience to be able today to start taking this command to higher heights and I know you'll do that and I'm so thankful for your service and I'm glad that we're passing the flag today to somebody who's ready who's ready and so we're so happy for you well listen everybody thanks again for coming out thanks to the men and women of PAKF for supporting me their commander it has been the honor of my life I wish everyone the best and I say God bless America and God bless you thank you the Pacific Air Force's command would like to say Mahalo Nui Loa to Mrs. Wilsbach for her dedication and many contributions to PAKF Airmen spouses and their families she will now be presented a token of appreciation and for the change of command ceremony and the command chief assumption of responsibilities attention to order according to special order number GK-160 General Kevin B. Snyder assumes command of a Pacific Air Force effective 9th February 2024 by order of General David W. Alvin Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and the Department of the Air Force headquarters Washington D.C. Snyder will receive his first salute from the command Ladies and Gentlemen General Kevin B. Snyder Commander Pacific Air Forces Hey Jacks I'm going to violate the manual on drill and ceremony just have the team shake it out for about 30 seconds reset to your current positions if you would I know it's not an easy thing but yeah just take 30 seconds and I will start talking again and like an awesome commander of troops he actually just checked his watch thank you for doing that you look really sharp I just want to start by saying thank you to Secretary Kendall to General Brown and General Alvin for your faith and trust in me and for selecting me to be the commander of Pacific Air Forces it is an honor and it is an awesome privilege to take the reins of this command to the airmen that do so much across the expanse of this theater and the responsibilities and the critical importance of PAC-AAS mission are not lost on me I also want to express my thanks to Admiral Harris Admiral Davidson, Admiral Aquilino the three commanders during my tenure at Paycom and Indo Paycom your leadership, your counsel and your access afforded me an unmatched education about war fighting about deterrence and the importance of allies and partners and I still take lessons from that education to this day I thank you for all the doors that you opened for me in my career and I recognize it without the time both up on the hill at Camp Smith and at US Forces Japan I probably would not be standing here today so thank you very much I also want to offer my sincere thanks to the PAC-AF commanders that I worked with directly for and with in recent years General Lori Robinson, General TJ O'Shaughnessy General CQ Brown Jr. General Ken Wilsbach you have all evolved this command the capabilities of our incredible airmen in the face of growing challenges throughout the Indo-Pacific region and I have been tremendously fortunate to watch you lead and to learn from your collective successes and I will always appreciate the time you have spent teaching me but more so than that I will always value the friendship General Wilsbach, I am in awe of all you have done in your tenure and words really cannot do justice to the impact that he has had on the region three and a half years as a commander and then four years as numbered Air Force commanders both in Alaska and Korea before that obviously my biggest challenge is to keep up with the pace that you have set and living up to your standard of excellence you leave very large shoes to fill but thank you for that I wish you and Cindy all the best as you head east to Langley Air Force Base and I look forward to working with you as you assume combat command later this month and to the many other friends who I have worked with and learned from over the years I am truly honored by your attendance today you make a special day even more so special I also want to thank our wonderful hosts in our local communities here on Oahu and we recognize the efforts that you make for us and it is appreciated being good guest requires us to do right by those who offer up their homes on our behalf I want you to know that your concerns are our concerns and your successes are our cause for celebration thank you for your continued support and the last on my list of thank-yous is actually first on the list of importance and that's my dad Mike my mom Maureen my sister Meg thank you for all that you have done to love and support me over the years I would not be here today without the countless sacrifices you have made for me since the day I was born you set amazing examples with work ethic, character, faith, compassion to my wife Lori and our girls Anna-Lise and Abby you are great enough you are the ones who have born the burden of PCS moves TDYs, combat deployments, remote tours countless missed family events Lori has given up her professional career multiple times to take care of me and to raise two additional children along the way my dad recently reminded that it's easy for me to google or someone can google me up on the on the internet look at my bio look at things that I have done that clearly isn't true for Lori Lori's work, her impacts her sacrifices will not show up on an internet search but they are far more consequential than mine so to my lovely wife and amazing children your love and ending support has kept me going and allowed me to pursue this course thank you for letting me wear the uniform thank you for letting me serve the nation and thank you for putting up with me so in November of 1990 1st Lieutenant Schneider arrived at Osan Air Base first operational assignment while the mission of my squadron was laser focused on the DPRK we still paid attention to the region's issues and the security challenges and that squadron deployed we went to the Philippines, Singapore Malaysia, Alaska, Japan and we worked hard with the ROC app at home station but we also flew and trained with Air Forces from around the western pacific in events like Cope Thunder Red Flag, Alaska while finding every opportunity for bilateral deployments, buddy wing exchanges cross servicing engagements to develop our skills and since that first tour in 1990 I have served in the Indo pacific many times and over the decades I have watched the security situation in the region change it has become more interconnected it has become more challenging it has become more severe and it now carries a far higher potential for volatility and that is because we face actors today who work to undermine that rules based international order they do it through economic coercion, political bullying and military aggression and the costs and impacts of those malign actions can be significant for those around the region it comes with loss of sovereignty it comes with loss of transparency and government, loss of economic freedoms and encroachment on human rights I am no economist my grades from the academy will prove that but I am aware enough to see the positive impacts of this open Indo pacific that rules based order underwritten by the presence and the actions of the United States military and those of our allies and partners have been in place for 80 years enabling an unprecedented amount of peace and global prosperity as general Alvin talks about back in the Pentagon this is a time of great consequence and it is not just for PACAF not just for the United States Air Force it is a time of consequence for this region and the world and our stability and deter aggression in the face of multiple growing challenges will have far reaching and long lasting impacts but we do not do this work alone the allied and partner air forces we team with in the Indo pacific go stronger and more capable each day a former PACOM commander used to remind visitors to the headquarters of a camp Smith that our number one asymmetric advantage in the United States military is the network of allies and partners of which we are a part those who seek to challenge us or match it, they can only envy it our ability to work together has evolved from basic coordination to high end interoperability and complex scenarios and I've been fortunate enough to participate in that mutual learning curve since that first assignment in Korea and the following one in Japan and our collective work together as airmen makes a difference far beyond what we could do as individual air forces and I look forward to working with Air Force leaders who call the Indo pacific home as well as those from abroad in this region and I would be remiss if I did not make a comment to the joint force teammates here in Hawaii and around the region I am grateful and honored to be part of this outstanding formation once again the second asymmetric advantage we enjoy in the military is our ability to overcome any challenge to the strength of the joint force something that we have done successfully time and time again across the spectrum of conflict and to Admiral Aquilino and the team at Camp Smith I look forward to building on that already strong teamwork that makes Indo pacom a pillar of stability and then finally to the men and women of Pacific Air Forces the officers, the enlisted civilians active duty guard and reserve is the honor of a lifetime to be part of this team once again having spent a third of my career and over a third of my life I look forward to building on that already strong teamwork that makes Indo pacom a pillar of stability and then finally the third of my career and over a third of my life in the Indo pacific this feels like coming home because it is PACAF is where I learned to be a mission ready fighter pilot developing the war fighting skills and deep appreciation for tactical teamwork that carried me throughout my career PACAF is where I learned to command as a fighter squad and commander where we all lived and breathed war fighting readiness 24-7-365 PACAF is where I learned about operational integration with joint teammates and the rest of the US government through other command opportunities and PACAF is where I learned the value of strategic partnership and the strength of alliances this is the time of consequence for the air force and for our nation and much of that rests on the shoulders of PACAF airmen but I have absolute faith in the abilities of our airmen to do the hard work to solve the tough issues and to continue to deter those who attempt to undermine peace and stability my commitment to you PACAF is that I will give you the direction right after the mission that makes us part of the greatest air force in the world and that I will run as hard and as fast as I ask you to thank you very much thank you General Schneider to extend a warm aloha to Mrs. Schneider the men and women of PACAF will now present her with a token of welcome ladies and gentlemen please stand for the playing of the air force song and the departure of the official party and our distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen this concludes on behalf of the men and women of the pacific air forces thank you for joining us and have a glorious day