OK AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
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January 01, 1970
Tinker general about to retire, embark on new mission
BY JENNIFER PALMER, Business Writer
The Oklahoman
10/23/2011
After Maj. Gen. David Gillett hands over the reins of the state’s largest single-site employer, the Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, he will face something he’s never faced before: job hunting.
Gillett retires from the military Dec. 31 and during a change-of-command ceremony Nov. 10, will pass the torch to his successor. So, what’s next for the two-star general?
“I’ve never had to look for a job. For 34 years, somebody called me and said: ‘Go here. Do this.’ And I went there and did that. Now, all of a sudden, I have a choice and that’s a new experience for both Stacia (my wife) and I,” Gillett said. “We rented a house in Edmond and we’re going to figure it out. We’ll see where life takes us.”
Gillett, 57, sat down recently to discuss with The Oklahoman his life and career. This is an edited transcript.
Q: How did you get your start in the military?
A: My dad owned an electrical contracting business in San Antonio and I went to (Texas) A&M to get my degree and I needed a way to pay for it. The Air Force wanted to pay for it. I was going to stay in for four years, get out, and go work in my dad’s contracting business. I’m a journeyman electrician — I’d gotten that far in the trade. After three years at Fairchild (Air Force Base in Washington), the Air Force offered me an assignment in the U.K. And Stacia and I decided we’d like to travel a bit. While I was in the U.K., my dad sold the business and retired. So that bridge was burned, but that’s OK because I was having fun anyway and wasn’t really all that interested in going back to San Antonio and settling down.
Q: You went to Texas A&M. Does that pose a problem when OU plays A&M?
A: The first year I was here, President (David) Boren invited me down for the OU/A&M game. And they beat us something like 64 to 10. I went down at halftime because I wanted to see the Aggie band on the field, I got there three minutes before halftime and OU scored three times while I was standing there. I’m like, OK. I get it. Enough. So I was real happy to see A&M win last year. The thing that we have in common is that we both want to beat Texas. So I’m always an OU fan when ya’ll play Texas. For the day.
Q: Where have your assignments taken you?
A: The U.K., Germany, twice in Saudi Arabia (for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm).
Q: Tell me about a typical day here and what you do.
A: My daughter asked me not too long ago: ‘What do you do?’ The best way I can describe it is: I’m a coach. I don’t get to get on the field and play. But I get to make sure the players are ready and they have what they need. This is a 15,000-person workforce, not including contractors. We have everything from workers who wash the aircraft to Ph.D. engineers and scientists. All I have to do is find out what they need and get the barriers out of their way so they can do what they know how to do. Just like on the field, you can have a great quarterback, but if they’re not blocking up front, you’re going to get tackled. You’re not going to make progress. And that’s what I do. I help knock barriers out of people’s way and support them when they need it.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: Running. I ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon for the second time this year. I’ve been running since I was 17 so it’s something I’ll probably always do.
Q: How does Tinker, as an employer, fit into the Oklahoma City economy?
A: We’re the largest single-site employer in the state. (There are) 15,000 people in the (Air Logistics) Center and a total of 26,000 people here on the base. So that adds up to a pretty big economic impact. We partner with academia because they produce most of the mechanics and a lot of the engineers we hire.
Q: Is it growing?
A: We have grown over the last two years. (We’ve had a) net increase of about 2,000 employees because our workload has increased. We’ve had an increase in engine workload and we’re bringing in more KC-135s here versus sending them to the Boeing facility. When I first got here, we were doing 46 a year. This year we completed 64.
Q: What are your feelings about leaving Tinker?
A: It’s a cliche in the Air Force that the best assignment you have is the one right now. It happens to be true for me in this case. I was talking with a historian about the challenges that were already on my plate when I got here. We had just promised the secretary of the Air Force that we would significantly increase the KC-135 workload here and we were asked to install avionics upgrade to the E-3 Sentry. And we had just taken over the former GM facility.
To tell you the truth, when I walked in there and looked at it, I was scared. Because GM literally walked away from all their assembly line equipment and it was all still hanging there. And we needed to get rid of all that stuff and turn this into a repair overhaul facility. The workforce here made it look easy. Now, it’s like a well-oiled machine. Those were three significant challenges we started with and I’ve got to say, we pretty well overcame all of them. But we’ve barely scratched the surface. We can do much better.
Q: Are there any causes that are important to you?
A: I think I’d rather talk about my wife. She’s been volunteering helping disabled vets since she was a teenager. That’s a special interest of hers. For example, we were at Ramstein Air Base when Operation Iraqi Freedom started and it didn’t take very long before she was out at the hospital making sure soldiers and Marines had clothes. Because they cut them off in the battlefield and they have nothing. She was kind of a one-person campaigner for that. After 9/11, she went down and volunteered to take care of the families of the victims. For about six weeks, she’d go every day and help take care of the families that had come in and needed assistance and support.
Q: Anything else you’d like to say?
A: I feel privileged to have had a chance to do what I’ve done. I’m grateful. People talk about sacrifices that the military makes, and we do, but for me, it never felt like sacrifice. It felt like I was doing what I wanted to do.
