[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2007)] [Senate] [Page S6836] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] RETIREMENT OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL DONALD WETEKAMMr. CHAMBLISS. Mr President, today I pay tribute to a great military leader, officer, and good friend, LTG Donald Wetekam. After 34 years of distinguished and honorable service, General Wetekam, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Installations and Logistics, will retire from the U.S. Air Force. General Wetekam began his active duty service in 1973 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a career logistics officer, he commanded three maintenance squadrons, a logistics group and a logistics center, and has served staff tours at both the major command and air staff levels. General Wetekam's noteworthy service and responsibilities have been widely recognized. He received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with an oak leaf cluster, and the Air Force Commendation Medal with an oak leaf cluster. Prior to serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics, General Wetekam served as Commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, at Robins Air Force Base, GA. He also served both as Director of Maintenance and Logistics and Deputy Director of Combat Weapon Systems at Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, VA; and as Director of Logistics, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, HI. Prior to that he served as Vice Commander and Director, Aircraft Management Directorate at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, OK; and commanded the 49th Logistics Group at Holloman Air Force Base, NM. General Wetekam has been a visionary leader, and among his most significant accomplishments, championed initiatives including Repair Enterprise 21, establishing a single enterprise-wide maintenance repair network. He was a driving force behind the Global Logistics Support Center moving from a base centric supply process to a centrally responsive approach to improving supply chain management. During General Wetekam's tenure, the Air Force saw the implementation of Centralized Asset Management, culminating in a $14 billion savings and the elimination of complex and redundant financial processes. General Wetekam worked extensively to increase the number of Security Forces available for deployment and through this effort provided much needed support to our warfighters. He was successful in reducing career field operations tempo, and forged a ground breaking path for both privatized housing and joint basing. General Wetekam's leadership was instrumental to air and space forces engaged across a breadth of support activities in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. As the prime architect of Lean implementation, his guidance enabled the Air Force to increase efficiency in a resource constrained, high operations tempo environment. His efforts provided the foundation for Air Force Smart Operations 21 and the ability to fund the recapitalization of an aging fleet and build the Air Force of tomorrow while fighting today's war. The Nation will miss General Wetekam's commitment to duty, ceaseless drive for improvement, and unwavering support to the U.S. Air Force. I will miss having him in the U.S. Air Force, although I know he will continue to serve his Nation wherever he goes. I know I speak on behalf of a grateful Nation in saying thank you to General Wetekam for his years of service and sacrifice. I hope my colleagues will join me in wishing him well in all his future endeavors and hope that those who follow in his footsteps will continue his legacy of unprecedented support to our great Nation. Good luck and Godspeed. ____________________