Bring Back Project Warrior!!

[M2]

Back in the early 1980s, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lew Allen, Jr. started a program called Project Warrior which aimed to reinvigorate the warfighting spirit within the Air Force. The program sought to shift the mindset from a business-like approach to a more mission-oriented, warfighting perspective.

The objectives of Project Warrior were: 

1) Enhance Warfighting Spirit by encouraging Air Force personnel to think and plan in warfighting terms; and 

2) Improve Understanding of Airpower by fostering a deeper understanding of military strategy, tactics, and the role of airpower in modern warfare.

The program was designed to be flexible, allowing units to tailor it to their specific needs and interests. It included leadership initiatives, educational resources, and activities like warfighting conferences and heritage weeks.

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0882warrior/

It needs to return!

[M2]

Gen Jerome F. O’Malley was AF/XO when Project Warrior was started and later became the Commander of TAC.  

Sadly, I saw O'Malley's last speaking engagement at Mountain Home AFB on 19 April 1985 at a Snake River Air Force Association banquet after he spent the day visiting aircrew members, enlisted personnel and touring the Noncommissioned Officers’ Leadership School.

The next day, 20 April, while returning to speak at a Boy Scout banquet in Scranton on Sunday, 21 April, O’Malley and his wife Diane were killed when the CT-39 Sabreliner they were in experienced hydraulic failure caused by a malfunctioning valve at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport.  Also killed in the accident were Capt Harry L. Haugh, the pilot; TSgt Robert A. Eberflus, the crew chief and Lt Col Lester R. Newton, the co-pilot.  Newton had given his right seat in the cockpit to O’Malley (Haugh was in the left) and was seated in the cabin with Mrs. O’Malley.  Despite the crew’s efforts to manually apply the brakes, the aircraft overran the runway and went over a 110-foot embankment where it was quickly engulfed in flames.   There were no survivors.
 

https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AUPress/Books/B_0110_CASEY_VELOCITY_SPEED_DIRECTION.pdf

[HuggyU2]

Definitely bring it back.

I was a FAIP during Project Warrior's years, and at Laughlin, we used that to go pick up guest speakers in the T-38 to bring them out to talk to the Wing... usually done so they could go to the monthly Daedalians meeting that night. 
 

I flew to Oklahoma Cuty and picked up Bob Anderson, MiG killer and early Thunderbird. "Here's a helmet... unpin the ejection seat when I tell you. Questions?"

Also got to fly back from Phoenix with X-15 pilot Pete Knight on my wing. 
 

Another FAIP got to pick up Victor Belenko.  That was cool. After the Daedalian meeting, he wanted to hang out but most everyone left. So myself and 2 other FAIPs sat in the OClub bar and drank with him. Surreal. 
 

Project Warrior was a huge positive. But I seriously doubt our risk-averse culture would allow it to happen again like it did. 

[Vito]

 Huggy,

 Hanging out with Victor Belenko would have been such a cool experience. I remember reading MIG PILOT when I was a teenager.

[TreeA10]

Project Warrior with it's focus on history and why is important to maintain capability and skill to kill people and break their stuff would have to overcome the DEI programs focus saying history is bad and killing people and breaking their stuff doesn't rate in the Top 5 mission statements. But I agree, it was a great program.

I remember attending a Daedalians gathering at Columbus.  This 90 year old guy gets up and says he was the original FAIP in 1917( -ish) and was teaching guys to fly in France before moving into a combat squadron and going up against the Germans. Definitely inspiring.

[HuggyU2]

7 hours ago, Vito said:

I remember reading MIG PILOT when I was a teenager.

I bought MiG Pilot that night. 

[HeloDude]

On 10/26/2024 at 5:20 PM, TreeA10 said:

Project Warrior with it's focus on history and why is important to maintain capability and skill to kill people and break their stuff would have to overcome the DEI programs focus saying history is bad and killing people and breaking their stuff doesn't rate in the Top 5 mission statements. But I agree, it was a great program.

This…the priority in the AF and DoD is DEI stuff more so than “warrior spirit” stuff.  Just look at where more time and resources are spent outside of the basic day to day operations.