Colonel A . Have L . G . Brown Jr .
And I am the current commander of the 4
12 maintenance group here . There was
Air Force Base .
When you think of testing all of the
dynamic aircraft as well as weapons
that the Air Force uses . It takes
individuals who have the creativity
innovation as well as a mind towards
compliance to get all of those tests
done so that when the end item user
actually employs the aircraft or
munition that it works the first time
every time our country depends on the
test that at which performs to ensure
that our nation is ready and safe . We
have a no fail mission and it takes
individuals just like you to ensure
that this mission gets done and we're
always looking for people who want to
be a part of our team . I have seen
some very interesting and creative
things done with pickup trucks
as well as automobiles . I have
seen technicians who have devised
innovative ways to communicate And
many of them are individuals who are
under the age of 25 and they had a very
unique way of handling things . One
example I will give you is while on a
military assignment uh in a foreign
country , there's an individual who
came up with a plan for us to
communicate with another ford operating
agency . He utilized an existing Air
Force platform that was in the area
called a few folks and gained the
authorization that we needed and
executed . That brought me the
completed plan and I briefed it to my
06 commander Colonel Commander at that
time who then briefed it to the two
star huge win , huge success for the
Air Force as well as joint partners ,
all from a young , innovative person ,
just like the folks watching the video ,
you know , I tell you what , I will
never downplay flying an aircraft . It
is one of the most exhilarating
experiences that you can have . I will
never downplay that . But I would also
add fixing and repairing
something that was broken ,
knowing that you are trusted to comply
with existing rules and regulations and
understanding them . And yet still
maintaining the creative brilliance to
understand how to do a job , better a
mind towards innovation where there
could be a better part , maybe a better
process . So that the folks who
are climbing into these aircraft , who
are people just like you and me arrived
safely . Remember the job here at
Edwards is to ensure that the end item
user gets a product that works right
the first time , there are a lot of
people depending on us . And again , it
takes creative folks , just like the
people watching this video .
There is no end to how science
is involved with the things we do . Uh ,
let me first say from a standpoint of
understanding what it takes
aerodynamically to actually fly an
airplane is huge . And that's something
that each person must understand ,
especially the individual who is
designing maybe a box that has to be
wired to the airplane . You may sit
back and say , well , what's so unique
about a box ? What's scientific about a
box ? Well , this box doesn't exist
except for on a blueprint . An airplane
flies based off of aerodynamics . There
is a weight to fuel to thrust ratio .
And when you put extra things on the
aircraft , you send that into an
imbalance . So I have a cadre of folks
who do just that . They ensure that
weight and balance is correct . They
take the pictures and have all of this
technical expertise put together and
they are skilled communicators . You
may not think that that's part of stem ,
but it is , there's no other way to
get some of the things that are between
our earlobes flowing through our minds
out of our mouths and a coherent
fashion . That makes sense .
Notwithstanding , there's an
engineering piece to this that makes it
all go together . The math behind some
of the things are very unique . You may
think that math would be something that
you could do without . Well , I say
that's not necessarily so because the
math behind what it takes to ensure
that the pilots who fly the planes are
safe . It's very important because we
need to know how much fuel we need to
put on the aircraft , we need to know
where it has to go and where it has to
land because there's certain test
parameters that must be met . The end
product that we have is the data .
That's what folks are interested in ?
Did it work ? Did it not work ? What
can I do to fix it ? And what's the
best way to go about improving it
because as many of you know , a lot of
our assets , they hang around for a
long time and that's because we take
good care of them and we test them
properly , stem plays a part in every
aspect of that .
Well , my career spans 36 years in the
United States Air Force . I came in the
air force when I was 17 years old and
it has been an amazing experience
transitioning from the noncommissioned
officer corps into the commission
Officer corps was absolutely exciting .
Had many opportunities to lead as a non
commissioned officer and when I had the
opportunity to lead as a commission
officer , it was a very humbling
experience . I found that I had
multiple ways that I could assist and
help not just from a stem standpoint
but also from a leadership standpoint .
I could correlate as well as relate
to a lot of the challenges that some of
my enlisted as well as young civilian
teammates had and have . So those are
the things that I bring to the
forefront . The amazing aspect of it is
even though technology changes
situations where people seldom do , we
all want to be encouraged , we all need
correction . We all have an
opportunity to be humble and helpful .
So I really do thank the Air Force for
giving me the opportunity to do this .
I pray let me stay around a little bit
longer because I think I still have a
lot of gas left in the tank .
Well the first thing I will say is I
definitely have to thank my Lord and
Savior , jesus christ for blessing me
with an amazing family and amazing
mentors who are not ashamed to
encourage me and correct me . I can't
say that I always knew I wanted to be
here , but I always wanted to be a part
of something bigger than myself . My
dad was a former army ranger and he
would tell me how his team rallied
together to do great things for our
country . My mom , She was a
schoolteacher for 39 years and
she chose to teach inner city public
schools for special education students
because she wanted to be a leader to
them . For some she was the mom that
they didn't have and they instill that
sense of pride , sense of ownership and
sense of belonging and to my brother
and I when the Air Force opened the
door and gave me the opportunity to do
all of these amazing things , I really
didn't understand it all , but I've
been excited about it all and now
as I am a senior leader now my job is
not just to inspire others , but I want
to translate the things that I've
experienced to them to let them know
that number one there is an opportunity
for everybody to achieve number two .
That if you have a dream , you gotta
follow it , you gotta go for it and
give it all you got . Don't hold back
and at the same time don't be afraid to
be corrected . You don't all get things
right the first time , maybe some of
you have made a mistake . Maybe two
mistakes , but I'm here to tell you you
can still do it . Don't let anybody
tell you that you can so buckle
down , stand up tall and let's go after
it . Got a cheerleader in me .