Developing warfighters to win

Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind ’91

By Bryan Grossman

Setting the tone for his tenure as the 22nd superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind ’91 shared this guiding philosophy during his Aug. 2 Assumption of Command ceremony on the Academy’s Terrazzo.

The superintendent, who was commander of Air Force Special Operations Command before assuming his new duties at USAFA this summer, laid out his priorities for the Academy. Foremost among them: developing warfighters to win, leaders of character and quality, and critical thinkers to adapt.

Lt. Gen. Bauernfeind succeeds Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Richard Clark ’86 and is the 10th USAFA graduate to lead the military service academy. He is a command pilot with more than 3,500 hours in 11 aircraft and has commanded special operations forces at the squadron, group, wing, theater special operations command and major command levels.

The Academy’s newest superintendent sat down recently with Checkpoints to discuss his time as a cadet, his military career, and his vision and priorities for the Academy. We thank Gen. Bauernfeind for his time.

Tell us what led you to the Air Force Academy as a cadet.

As I look back on what brought me to the Air Force Academy, I was intrigued by being a part of an institution with a reputation for excellence. My father served in the Air Force — he retired in 1974 as an NCO in communications. Even though I did not have a fulsome appreciation of the Air Force, I knew the Air Force Academy was a wonderful institution. While my parents encouraged me, he [my father] never pressured me. Once I accepted my nomination and selection to go to the Air Force Academy, he was exceptionally proud and he was also a little relieved, since some of the other colleges I was looking at were a little more financially challenging.

What do you feel were the most important lessons you learned as a cadet?

I learned the power of teamwork and the power of a leadership laboratory where you could learn the skills of being a good teammate and supervisor as you moved through the Academy experience. And it gave me an opportunity to learn new leadership styles — things that worked and didn't work — with the support of other cadets and permanent party to help develop me.

What has the Long Blue Line meant to you since your graduation in 1991?

The Long Blue Line is a demonstration of the power of this military service academy. This institution develops and produces excellent leaders with a career of service — leaders that serve their nation, leaders that serve in the military, in their communities, and in industry, as they move forward. The Long Blue Line highlights the excellence and leadership qualities developed at the Air Force Academy, which have produced impressive results for our nation.

Talk about how your time as a cadet prepared you to lead Air Force Special Operations as commander, and now the Academy as superintendent.

My time as a cadet prepared me to lead as a young officer and as a field grade officer. I've been blessed to be part of nine different organizations as a commander. USAFA gave me the skills and the opportunity to understand what our airmen are looking for in their leaders.

I firmly believe leaders do three things: provide a vision for the organization, that North Star of where we're going; fight hard for the resources our organization and team needs to be successful; and, most importantly, knock down those barriers that prevent our teammates from giving their all to the mission or to the team. The Air Force Academy prepared me for my entire 33-year journey.

Are there aspects from your previous position as commander of AFSOC that you'll bring to USAFA?

I am thankful Secretary [of the Air Force Frank] Kendall, [Chief of Staff of the Air Force] Gen. [David] Allvin and [Chief of Space Operations] Gen. [B. Chance] Saltzman have the confidence in me to be a part of the Air Force Academy team. My operational background from many years in AFSOC and the joint force will underpin how I approach implementing our vision, priorities and strategy for this incredible service academy.

As we transform our Air Force and our Space Force to be ready for future conflicts, I believe the Air Force Academy will also transform, and if we do it right, we will path-find much of the leadership development required to ensure our Air Force’s and Space Force’s success in the future. And as we develop our future leaders, it will be through the lens of three priorities: developing warfighters to win, leaders of character and quality and critical thinkers to adapt. Those are the qualities our future leaders will require in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment.

Did you ever think that you would return to the Academy as superintendent?

Honestly, no. As I look back, my career is very operationally focused. While I am thankful to Secretary Kendall, Gen. Allvin and Gen. Saltzman for having the confidence to bring my operational perspective to the Air Force Academy, I know I must learn in other areas as part of this talented team. I have standout teammates inside the Air Force Academy, like our great commandant, our top-notch dean, and our excellent director of athletics to help establish our priorities and execute our strategy to transform the Air Force Academy.

Has it been surreal coming back to the Academy, but in charge this time?

It's a little bit surreal, but I will tell you, I'm excited because of this institution. We have world-class permanent party. As I have engaged with hundreds of our cadets, it's clear we're getting the best and brightest from all four corners of our great nation. Seeing way to avoid war is to prepare for war and to be ready when our nation calls.

What are your impressions of the Air Force Academy today and your first impressions of the cadets?

We have a world-class military service academy. We also have an incredible permanent party who come to work every single day to ensure our cadets are getting the support, education, leadership development and athletic training they require to succeed in their leadership development journey. I am in absolute awe of our younger generation. When I speak to them, I can see the fire in their eye [and] see their desire to not only be a part of the transformation, but to also lead the transformation. As Sec. Kendall has clearly laid out for us, our job is to develop these leaders so they are ready to lead on Day 1, and I have full confidence in our future leaders.

At your Assumption of Command ceremony, you said, “Warfighting is not just a job; it's a state of mind.” How does that wrap into the priorities you set forth?

Our priorities are straightforward: to develop warfighters to win, leaders of character and quality and critical thinkers to adapt. As I look at warfighters to win, it's ensuring our graduates have the training and skills to lead on Day 1, such as weapons qualifications, medical qualifications, the ability to survive and operate in denied areas, and the ability to quickly shoot, move and communicate. While those are skill sets, warfighting is a mindset — the aggressive mentality of fighting for excellence, for standards, for discipline. The best teams lift each other up, hold themselves to standards and are ready when the nation calls. They do not wait on external organizations to correct behaviors or to [uphold] standards, because they hold each other accountable and ensure they're lifting every teammate up so they succeed together.

USAFA has stood up the Institute for Future Conflict and the Multi-Domain Lab. Soon, the Madera Cyber Innovation Center will open. As superintendent, how do you see the work of preparing cadets for the changing nature of conflict?

It’s absolutely foundational to our success. And first off, I cannot thank enough our alumni network, as well as our supporters and teammates that are supporting the Institute for Future Conflict and the Madera Cyber Innovation Center, as well as other ongoing efforts to ensure we have the best possible instructors, thinkers and resources to ensure success.

It is critical our cadets fully understand the uncertain geopolitical times in their future. To lead on Day 1, they must first understand what they will be stepping into. Inculcating that understanding via institutions like the Institute of Future Conflict and the Madera [Cyber Innovation] Center into the entire cadet experience transforms USAFA into preparing leaders ready to lead on Day 1.

Our permanent party and cadets lean forward into this transformation is exciting. It's a lot of change, but our teammates are rising to the occasion. Like Chief Allvin said, as we look to the future, we are in a time of consequence, and we must take this time to ensure we are purposely developing and training those career leaders our Air Force and Space Force need to fight and win our nation's wars. I will be the first to say I hope we do not go to war, but I know from experience and in my heart [that] the best Preparing our cadets for the changing nature of conflict is also why we are purposely pivoting to a four-class system versus the fourth-class system that we’ve grown accustomed to. As we talk about leading on Day 1, it is important we spend the time training and developing cadets to be teammates and followers, frontline engaged supervisors, team leaders and, finally, unit leaders. We will leverage the outstanding professional military education that we already have in the Department of the Air Force and bring that in as a baseline of the four-class system.

How do you balance the need for change in some areas with the traditions that bond so many graduates?

I had the great opportunity to execute an all-call with our permanent party and cadets. I shared with our team many of the things I personally believe. It’s not guidance [and] it’s not policy, but it’s my belief structure. And one of those beliefs is “heritage-minus.” I believe in our heritage, but we are not beholden to it. I am so proud of all those teammates that came before us and paved the way. We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants. I also know that we have so much further to go, and the problems in front of us are incredibly complex and wicked hard. I also acknowledge, as we look to the past, that there are parts of our heritage that we should have done better, where we made decisions that we should not have made. I think it’s important that we retain those traditions that are critically aligned to our mission of graduation and commissioning. And for those traditions that are not aligned, keep them in our history books.

Along the lines of traditions, you’re considering making some football games optional, not mandatory. Can you talk about that?

We’re working through that decision right now. At the United States Air Force Academy, we have 30 incredible intercollegiate teams that deserve our support. I had the great opportunity recently to go see our women’s soccer team prove victorious in our own soccer stadium. The discipline, adherence to standards, teamwork, ferocity and warfighter spirit we need was evident on our fields of friendly strife. As I look to the future, I am asking the team some questions. How do we find additional time to conduct key military training needed to develop warfighters to win? How do we fulsomely support all 30 of our intercollegiate sports? What if the entire Cadet Wing only attended the game during Parents’ Weekend and our service rivalry game and only a portion of the wing attended other home games? Would this free up critical time to both train and enable increased support to other sports teams? Put simply: How do we make the best use of the limited amount of time we have with these incredible leaders?

Is the Academy keeping pace with the Air Force’s and Space Force’s needs?

We are on a pathway to keep up with Air Force and Space Force needs, but that’s exactly why we’re transitioning to the four-class system. There had been a belief that our graduates would be ready to lead later in their active-duty career, but the Air Force and Space Force [came] forward and said, “No, we need you to lead on Day 1.” So our priorities — warfighters to win, leaders of character and quality and critical thinkers to adapt – require a four-class system to ensure we’re developing the followers, frontline engaged supervisors, team leaders and unit leaders we need. As we develop training for the Cadet Wing, that is our pathway to ensure they will be ready to lead on Day 1. We have seen dozens of examples where our Academy leaders are put in those situations where they must lead within months, if not weeks, of commissioning. It is our responsibility to ensure they are ready for the adversity and the challenges they will face, and ensure they have the skills to build and lift their teams to a level they did not think they could achieve.

How would you describe a leader of character?

A leader of character is a leader that does the right thing, the right way, that lives an honorable life, that focuses on those three items that I mentioned before. You provide a vision to your team, so they know the North Star of where you’re going. That vision should include what we need to do and why we need to do it but leave it up to the team to figure out how. Our teams will come up with amazing solutions if given the freedom to maneuver. Next, leaders of character fight for resources for their team to be successful. And, most importantly, they knock down those barriers impeding their teammates from being successful. I truly believe our teams will be successful if every single member of the team feels seen, heard and valued — if they come to work every single day knowing their hard work is going to really move the needle on the mission, and they feel like they’re being well led. I believe, in my heart of hearts, that leaders of character and quality do that.

There’s an additional aspect as we tie leaders of character and quality to warfighters to win: leaders that truly understand and manage risk. We need leaders who are not risk-averse but understand how to manage and mitigate risk to our most precious resource: our people.

As we develop leaders of character and quality, we will have those conversations on risk management. There is nothing we do in the military that is risk-free. In fact, many things we do are extremely high risk. But we understand the risk, we mitigate the risk and we make sure, through hard training and teamwork, that we can minimize that risk to our force and the mission.

How can the Air Force Academy continue to attract the best and brightest minds who are inspired to serve?

I would like to twist that question a little bit. We will continue to recruit and select the best and brightest people, because it comes down to not only their minds, but their heart, soul and grit. As we bring forward our future leaders, we want to invest in their education to ensure they understand the volatile geopolitical environment, the power of innovation and what can be executed with a fulsome understanding of science, technology, engineering and math to give us the capabilities our warfighters need to succeed on the battlefield.

Just as important as education is the development of leaders of character and quality — those with heart, soul and grit. As we develop our future leaders, how do we invest in them through the four-class development system to make them into great leaders, great teammates, great followers and great frontline engaged supervisors? We need supervisors that are so close to their teammates, they not only hold them accountable; they also raise them up. By a quick glance, they know if they’re having a good day or a bad day and get them the support they need. The same applies to team leaders and unit leaders. As I said at my Assumption of Command, if we do this right, our training will be more demanding. It will never be demeaning because we do not demean teammates. But it will be more demanding because our future leaders must be able to lead through crisis and adversity — that is what occurs in military operations, on the battlefield and in life.

What we are looking for are those leaders able to lead their teams through crisis with dignity, honor and respect, so the team can stay on mission.

What would you like to see from the USAFA graduate community in the way of supporting the Academy and each other?

I have been impressed by what our Association of Graduates and our alumni are doing on a daily basis in service to our nation and support to this great military service academy. I request our alumni continue to do just that, continue to demonstrate their career of service through the Long Blue Line, whether it be service to the military, service to your community or service inside of our industries. Continuing to demonstrate excellence, integrity and support in all we do. USAFA is an amazing institution and, as we transform it, we will need the support of our alumni [and their understanding]. Things will be different. Our alumni need to understand not only what is changing, but the “why” behind those changes, and we would ask our alumni to help carry our message forward.

And, finally, our alumni should continue to point out the best and brightest that America has to offer. Our future generations are incredible, and our alumni see those young Americans in their neighborhoods, in their churches, in their schools and in their communities. Continuing to encourage those young Americans from all walks of life and from every corner of our nation to become a part of the Long Blue Line. We need our alumni to lean in.

What do you enjoy doing to decompress?

I really try to protect family time, to spend time with my wife, Tricia, and my son, Drake, who’s in college, and to really enjoy what nature can bring to us. As we move to Colorado, we’re definitely enjoying the great outdoors and hiking. When the seasons turn, I’m sure that we will find ourselves on the ski slopes. I also enjoy watching sports, and that is one of the excitements that I was not prepared for as I came to the Air Force Academy — pulling for our outstanding 30 intercollegiate teams. Throughout the seasons, I look forward to watching our cadets compete, not only demonstrating their athletic prowess, but really highlighting their warfighter mindsets.

Any closing thoughts that you’d like to share with our audience?

I want to double down and reinforce a few points. I’ll start with ongoing change. We are changing. We are transforming. One aspect is there will be traditions we retain, and traditions that we do not. An example of a tradition that we will not retain is the term “doolie,” which is a term that has been used in the past to demean teammates. So, I’ve asked for that particular tradition to go into the history books. As we evaluate traditions, we would ask for your support.

Second, this is truly a time of consequence. In my 33 years, I have not seen the number of adversaries that wish to do harm to our nation, our allies and partners, or our way of life; harm in the way we’re seeing globally. We must prepare ourselves and our future leaders to lead in this time of increasing volatility and to demonstrate to our adversaries that we have the strength and the will to defend our ideals. Our adversaries must be deterred from ever testing our mettle and, if they should test our mettle, I am confident we will be victorious.

Finally, I’d like to thank the Association of Graduates and our alumni for continuing to support our USAFA. We have a wonderful service academy, an outstanding permanent party, the best and brightest from America in the Cadet Wing, and I’m excited about where we’re going. The support from our alumni delivers the margin of excellence we need to meet our mission, and [helps ensure] that we are on target with our priorities. I’m deeply appreciative of the alumni for doing just that.