General Rooney looks back on 33 years of Air Force Service

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66 ABW Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  Electronic Systems Center Vice Commander Maj. Gen. Art Rooney saw a lot of changes in his 33-year Air Force career, but in looking back, he recognizes there are some things that never change, especially the tenets of leadership that he learned early in his career.

The importance of mentorship and taking care of Airmen are two examples that he learned early on and has championed throughout his career. Surprisingly, his first mentors weren't senior officers, but rather, Chief Master Sergeants, who made it their job to help him succeed as a leader and take care of Airmen.

"In my first three assignments I was lucky enough to have great chiefs serve alongside me who kept me informed on the needs of the Airmen I was leading. They served as a sounding board for me and, behind closed doors, they gave me honest feedback on how I was doing," General Rooney said. "Taking care of Airmen and mentoring the next generation of leaders should be every senior person's focus, whether, officer, enlisted or civilian."

General Rooney, a Charleston S.C. native who entered the Air Force following his graduation from the ROTC program at Baptist College, in his hometown, has held assignments in maintenance, logistics and programming, and has served in four command assignments, including one as wing commander in Air Education and Training Command and one as Commander of the Air Force Security Assistance Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

When he entered the Air Force in 1975, the new lieutenant never considered the possibility of someday earning the rank of general officer, or even staying in the service past his four-year commitment. Like many of his contemporaries, he saw himself getting a job in industry after gaining an education and some valuable experience with the Air Force. But, after serving as a field maintenance supervisor at Pope AFB, N.C. and being responsible for leading a large number of Airmen, he realized industry could never match the level of responsibility he had as an aircraft maintainer or the number of people he was leading as a lieutenant. When his four years were up, he decided to make the Air Force a career, a decision he has never regretted.

His career in aircraft maintenance continued, with an assignment to Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, where he worked as officer in charge of the C-130 Flightline and Enroute Branch, and later, as maintenance control officer for the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing.

Assignments to the Pentagon and Headquarters Military Airlift Command followed, and at each stop, the general continued to pick up valuable lessons on leading Airmen and succeeding in his duties.

A self described continuous process improvement zealot, General Rooney learned early on the value of constantly striving to find a better, more efficient way to get a job done.
"Continuous Process Improvement has been an area of interest with me since I began in the Air Force in 1975," he said.

"My interest peaked during the Total Quality Management days of the early 1990s, when, while assigned to the Pentagon I had the opportunity to spend a week with Dr. W. Edmunds Deming, the man who had pioneered process improvement in manufacturing after World War II, both in Japanese and American industry. I was later able to apply some CPI techniques while commander of the 437th Logistics Group at Charleston AFB, South Carolina, and as a result of those techniques, we enjoyed tremendous success."

Later in his career, as a two-star select, General Rooney furthered his knowledge of process improvement techniques, earning the distinction of a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

"No matter whether you call it TQM, or what we know today as AFSO 21, all Airmen, military and civilian, need a continuous process improvement tool bag that's chock full of tools like brainstorming techniques, value stream mapping or Lean," he said. "And, you need to continuously expand the number of tools in your bag, while using them regularly. If you do that, you'll leave your organization better than you found it."

General Rooney applied all of the lessons he gleaned throughout his career to his job as ESC Vice Commander, making a positive impact on ESC and Hanscom. He continued to be a strong advocate for continuous process improvement, spearheading Hanscom and ESC's AFSO 21 efforts, and working hard to improve ESC's civilian hiring process.

"Over the past two years, we have really focused on workforce competency, from hire to retire," he said. "We've improved our recruiting, tightened up our hiring process, made sure our people have the necessary interviewing skills so they can make the best selection, we've stressed the importance of sponsors, and we've instituted an improved orientation process that shows our new people the big picture of the ESC mission, and ties what they do into that mission. I think ESC will see the results of these efforts for years to come."

Soon after his arrival, the general became a champion for a program known as Hanscom Pride that focuses on improving work areas at the base.

"We have limited resources, but using those resources wisely, we have been able to improve our buildings and make our work areas cleaner," General Rooney said. "I believe strongly that people should be proud of where they work, and if you involve them in the process, they will work hard to make their work area clean and safe."

The general sees safety in the workplace as another way of taking care of Airmen. He has been a strong advocate for Hanscom's participation in the Voluntary Protection Program, which encourages everyone to take an active role in safety by reporting potentially dangerous areas or situations before mishaps occur.

The general also has been a passionate advocate for preserving and promoting Air Force traditions and culture. He stresses the importance of club membership and events such as washer tournaments and crud at every opportunity. He also instituted the very successful Book of the Month Club that brings people to the club at lunch time once a month to discuss and share new ideas.

"I see our traditions and our culture as the fabric that holds us together," he said. "I think it was especially important this year, as we celebrated our 60th anniversary, to pause and reflect on the culture that was passed along to us. It is now up to a new generation of Airmen to embrace these traditions and pass them along to those who follow."

"Work your bosses' priorities," is advice General Rooney has been living by throughout his career. At ESC, he has worked hard to tie ESC Commander Lt. Gen. Chuck Johnson's five priorities into the Balanced Scorecard, and to then ensure that all other efforts, from each organization's mission to each individual's goals, are tied to the Balanced Scorecard. The priorities -- Workforce Competency, Operational Excellence, One Command, Warfighter Value and Acquisition Excellence -are all essential to the success of ESC, he said.

There are a number of other leadership lessons he would like to pass on.

"For example, you can't lead from behind a desk," he said. "When I entered the Air Force in 1975, we were blessed to not have e-mail, but even then, paperwork tied people to their desks. Leaders need to have more personal contact with people, whether one on one, or in groups. When you can't meet people, use the phone. Today, people have it backwards - first they use e-mail, then, if that fails, they try the phone, and only then do they get up from their desk to talk face to face with someone."

The general said that communication skills are absolutely essential for today's leaders, something that Abraham Lincoln knew nearly 150 years ago.

"A great book that I recommend to every one is 'Lincoln on Leadership,' by Donald T. Phillips," General Rooney said. "Even though Lincoln was a great communicator, what people don't know is that he had a tutor, and he practiced his speeches. He recognized the importance of communication, and took the time to get it right."

The general said today's leaders have to work harder to communicate with people on their team. "They need to hear your vision and understand the importance of the mission. They need to be clear on your priorities, your goals and objectives. They need to understand how what they do fits into the big picture," he said.

But not all of his leadership lessons came from Air Force members. "My two most important mentors were, of course, my parents," General Rooney said.

"My Dad, Art Rooney Senior, instilled me with a strong work ethic when he said 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right.' And I'll never forget my mother, Ellen, saying, 'Remember, your good name and the reputation we worked so hard to build can be ruined by just one bad decision.'

"Those two lessons are just as true today, whether you're a young man or woman growing up, or a member of our United States Air Force."

General Rooney said he has enjoyed his time at ESC, and is impressed by the magnitude of the center's mission.

"First of all, Helen and I have enjoyed every minute of our time here in New England," he said. "I've had some incredible opportunities, like throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park on the Fourth of July or being piped aboard the U.S.S Constitution for a turn around cruise."

"But I've also been very impressed with ESC," General Rooney said. "I'm not sure if everyone in the Air Force appreciates how ESC touches every Airmen," he said. "Whether you're talking about a maintenance or a finance system, you name it, we're responsible for it, from cradle to grave. It's difficult sometimes to get your arms around, but ESC's mission of developing command and control systems is no less important than developing planes and bombs. Without ESC systems, missions wouldn't be planned, aircraft wouldn't be launched, and targets wouldn't be hit. We provide real value to our warfighters, and we owe it to them to do our very best every day, because they're counting on us."