A Conversation with Gen. David Allvin, Chief of Staff of the Air Force
War on the Rocks
War on the Rocks
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
Should the tragedy of war with China occur, the Air Force will play a critical role in ensuring America is able to meet the challenges of conflict in the vast stretches of the Indo-Pacific. Gen. David W. Allvin, the 23rd chief of staff of the Air Force, joined the show to talk with Ryan about his priorities and how he is directing the Air Force to meet America's evolving national security needs by following through on the work of his predecessors. Listen to learn more about how Gen. Allvin views the future of training, logistics and refueling in contested airspace, the lessons from Ukraine, why he admires George C. Marshall, and more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Warren the rocks podcast on strategy, defense, and foreign affairs. |
| 0:14.2 | My name's Ryan Evans, I'm the founder of Warren the Rocks. |
| 0:16.8 | In this episode I sat down with General David Alvin. |
| 0:19.5 | General Alvin became the 23rd Chief of Staff of the Air Force in November of last year. I hope you enjoy |
| 0:24.4 | listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it. So what inspired you to |
| 0:29.1 | join the Air Force? First of all, let me say thanks very much for having me on the |
| 0:32.4 | podcast. I have been a pretty avid follower of specifically some of the Ukrainian content, but it is as it's described a great venue just to sit and listen to thought leader so I found myself a little bit |
| 0:44.8 | intimidated and impressed for being asked to be on here so thank you very much for |
| 0:48.7 | having me on. Well I'm the I'm the eighth of nine kids, and my dad was, he served in World War II in the Air Force, or in the Navy and then in Korea in the Air Force, |
| 0:59.8 | and but was not a career guy, but he was always a patriot patriot and he always took me to air shows and so I |
| 1:04.7 | I always enjoyed flying and the idea of those two things coming together that's what really directed me |
| 1:09.9 | towards applying to the Air Force Academy and wanting to come to the Air Force. |
| 1:13.0 | As most people in my position would say, I never imagine myself being here four decades later. |
| 1:18.0 | There is something magical about being a kid at an air show. |
| 1:21.0 | I think a lot of people have those memories and there's something |
| 1:24.7 | pretty awe-inspiring about it. |
| 1:27.5 | What's your, what's the most vivid memory you have of being at an air show when you were a kid? |
| 1:31.5 | Two really. The one was, I grew up very young age in Tucson, Arizona, and so the Pima Air Museum was nearby |
| 1:39.3 | there, but the air show out at Davis Monthing was impressive to me in two ways. One, the big airplane, getting to walk |
| 1:46.9 | inside of that thing and it's even bigger when you're a little kid. But looking at the size of that |
| 1:51.6 | and then trying to imagine that thing actually flying was it was almost incomprehensible and then just the raw |
| 1:58.3 | Power and sound and speed of watching the Thunderbirds. Those sort of things they do. |
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