‘Fly, fight and win’ Lt. Gen. John Healy assumes command of Air Force Reserve Command

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Air Force Reserve Command took on new command leadership Wednesday morning as the position previously held by Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee was handed off to Lt. Gen. John Healy. The occasion was held at the Museum of Aviation’s Century of Flight Hangar, and a promotion ceremony took place before the command change ceremony in honor of Healy’s advancement from a two-star to three-star general.

The Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. presided over the ceremony, commenting on Healy’s new position.

“I look forward to watching Air Force Reserve Command continue to fly under your steady hand and ensure we can fly, fight and win, and provide our nation, our allies and partners, airpower anytime, anywhere,” Brown said.

Brown then presented Scobee with a Distinguished Service Medal First Oak Cluster. Scobee’s wife, Janis, was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Award.

“Today is a pretty good day for me — it might be a good day for John, I don’t know — but it is a great day for Rick Scobee because I get to say ‘thank you’ to an incredible group of over 74,000 reserve citizen airmen that I’ve had the honor to work for for the last four years — and I got to do it with my best friend and spouse, Janis, which is great,” Scobee said. “I also got to do it with an incredible leader for our non-commissioned officers; Command Chief Tim White has just been phenomenal.

“Nobody can get to these jobs by themselves, and I’ve had an incredible team that has helped me along the way. And not to mention, was what the Chief [of Staff] alluded to, without the incredible deputies, nothing else would get done because you can’t be everywhere. Between Gen. Burger and Gen. Healey, this Command has run extremely well.”

Lt. Gen. Healy took the stage to offer his first comments as commander of the Air Force Reserve Command.

“If you’ve worked with me in the past, you’ve probably realized that I’m inclined to a sense of urgency,” Healy said. “‘Accelerate, change or lose’ was music to my ears when I heard it. Through active and effective communication, high level of collaboration, accountability at all levels — and above all — acting with a sense of urgency, we’ll continue to provide the experience, the professional need and capacity and capability to defend this nation.”

In a post-ceremony press conference, Healy offered more insight into some of his leadership goals and priorities. He began the conference by describing some of his feelings and emotions following the ceremony.

“First off, I couldn’t be more excited to step into these huge shoes that Gen. Scobee has left behind for me,” he said. “The things that he’s done to ensure that our airmen are as effective and as capable as possible, to care about the airmen, what his wife has done — it’s a tremendous challenge to fill those shoes.

“But like I said in my speech, I’m eager to jump into it, I’m eager to take that first step to try to continue to move us forward. I’m so excited about what we have to offer the active component in the defense of this nation, and I’m looking forward to coming to work quite honestly.”

He spoke on what he may bring to the table that is different from the leadership before him, what has worked in the past and what he plans to continue.

“Readiness is one of the things that I’m going to continue that Gen. Scobee had; he was talking mission readiness and strategic depth,” Healy said. “I’m more fundamental, more straight-forward.

“I want readiness now. I’ve always got that sense of urgency. I’m going to make sure that our folks, our airmen, are taken care of so they’re always poised to be as effective as they can.”

He continued on some more of his goals, some characteristics he expects out of his airmen as well as what is in the works for the Reserve Command.

“Resiliency is part that [process], so that’s a critical enabler to making sure everyone is ready,” he added. “But also, we’ve got some great movement in transforming our organization — data, reform, process reform, system reform — again, to ensure that all of our airmen have the training requirements they need and the building blocks to be as effective as they can.”

The Journal asked about what he planned to tackle first in his new role as commander.

“First on my agenda is, with all my commanders present, I’m going to get in a room in about two hours, and I’m going to go over — there’s some of them that don’t know — so I want them to understand who John Healy is,” he explained. “I want to give them the left and right limits of my expectations [because] I like providing the leaders the opportunity to lead, so they need to know what those limits are.

“I’m also going to give them a task order, a doctrinally-developed order that directs how they conduct their business, from first airman all the way up to the second highest ranking general in the Reserves. So we’re going to lay out a very clear, transparent, repeatable and defendable position so that there’s no ambiguity, so we know the direction we’re going and how we’re going to make it.”

He mentioned implementing aggressive strategic communication, a focus on individual success and breaking down barriers, empowering airmen to speak up on issues that trouble them as well as diversity inclusion.

Healy also said that no matter one’s commitment level to the Air Force — some days or some weeks out of the year and even up to full-time airmen — he wants to leverage people’s talents in a way that builds them up as people.

The Headquarters Air Force Reserve Command is located at Robins Air Force Base and stations around 1,420 people. This staff is a mix of civilian employees (51%), Active Guard Reserve members (19%), active-duty personnel (10%), traditional reservists (8%), air reserve technicians (8%) as well as individual mobilization augments (4%).

According to a press release from the Air Force Reserve Command, Healy will have full responsibility of 74,000 airmen and civilians at three numbered air forces, one space wing, 33 flying wings and 12 flying groups among others. Serving as Chief of Air Force Reserve, he will be the principal adviser on reserve matters to the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

Lt. Gen. Healy joined the Air Force in 1989, participating in the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Connecticut. He has commanded at the squadron, group, wing and numbered Air Force levels as well some high-level positions, such as Deputy to the Chief of Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon.

As a command pilot, he holds more than 5,000 military hours and 402 combat hours in the T-37, T-38, C-141B, C-17A, C-5A/B. Flying for the airline industry, he has logged time on the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320.

Read the biography of Lt. Gen. John Healy at https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/713582/john-p-healy/.

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