Lt. Gen. Dick Newton is Assistant Vice Chief of Staff and Director, Air Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. He oversees the administration and organization of the Air Staff, which develops policies, plans and programs; establishes requirements; and provides resources to support the Air Force's mission. He also serves as Deputy Chairman of the Air Force Council, and is the Air Force accreditation official for the international Corps of Air Attachés.
Born at Forbes Air Force Base, Kan., General Newton hails from an Air Force family and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1978. His command assignments include the first B-2 squadron, a B-1B operations group and a B-52 wing. He served at Headquarters U.S. Air Force as a planner and then executive officer for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, and later as Deputy Director for Strategic Plans and Future Systems for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. His joint assignments include serving as the executive assistant to the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy (J5), with later assignment as Deputy Director for Information Operations, and Deputy Director for Global Operations in the Operations Directorate (J3) on the Joint Staff, followed by duty as the Director, Plans and Policy (J5), U.S. Strategic Command. Most recently he served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.
General Newton is a command pilot with over 2,900 flying hours in a variety of aircraft, including the B-2, B-1B, B-52 and T-38.
Born at Forbes Air Force Base, Kan., General Newton hails from an Air Force family and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1978. His command assignments include the first B-2 squadron, a B-1B operations group and a B-52 wing. He served at Headquarters U.S. Air Force as a planner and then executive officer for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, and later as Deputy Director for Strategic Plans and Future Systems for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel. His joint assignments include serving as the executive assistant to the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy (J5), with later assignment as Deputy Director for Information Operations, and Deputy Director for Global Operations in the Operations Directorate (J3) on the Joint Staff, followed by duty as the Director, Plans and Policy (J5), U.S. Strategic Command. Most recently he served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.
General Newton is a command pilot with over 2,900 flying hours in a variety of aircraft, including the B-2, B-1B, B-52 and T-38.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR Now more of the
WOR Saturday Morning Show and Larry Minty Welcome back. It
happened again this week, and it's still shocking every time
it does. A soldier opens fire on his fellow soldiers.
This time it happened at Fort Stewart in Georgia, and
(00:21):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton tells us the news is especially
hard on those who served.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, Larry, delighted to be with you, regardless of
the circumstances. But this is a tough story.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It is a tough story, and it hit all of us.
As soon as you hear a story like this, you
run to the TV sets, you run to the radios
to hear more, and you're hoping, you're hoping for the best.
And I guess we did get the best that could
have happened in a situation like this, and that nobody died.
But I know how we all felt. I don't know
how people that served felt when they heard this, Because
(00:58):
my guess is you must see this as a real
violation considering the fact you've been on these camps and
you've been with these men. Could you please explain your
first feelings when you heard about this story.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, my first thought harkened back immediately when I was
a senior general officer in the Pentagon. I was part
of the initial senior officer investigative review team that we
put together. As I mentioned the Pentagon in November of
two thousand and nine, if you recall our listeners may
recall when Major Nadal Hassan, an Army major at the
(01:31):
time psychiatrists, killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded thirty at
Fort Hood in that early morning hours. And so my
first thought was concern for the soldiers at Fort Stewart.
There are fifteen thousand soldiers there, by the way, in
sixteen thousand family members. And then once I heard and
(01:54):
started to hear just the initial reports come out, my
first thought in terms of what it was likely an
insider attack, much like we saw with Hassan, in terms
of a weapon firing on fellow soldiers and then being
subdued and apprehended almost immediately exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
The only good thing that came out of this, and
the only thing that should make people proud, is that
you had young men I'm assuming they're young men that
were there that were being shot at. There was somebody
with a gun, an active shooter, and instead of running
out of there or hiding or going for cover, several
of them went at the man and tackled him. And
(02:35):
if not for that, this could have been a lot
worse being someone that served, being someone that's led these men.
You must be so proud, I am.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And you know, we have two million men and women
in uniform and all volunteers, and in this case, and
also as we've demonstrated in a Rock and Afghanistan, and
by the way, our men and women serving Overseasar and
over one hundred and thirty five locations around the world
as we speak right now this morning, they run to
the sound of gunfire and this was a demonstration, however,
(03:07):
of not a combat situation, but still their training kicked
in and the fact that they were able to nearly
immediately subdue this Army sergeant in what I'm going to term,
and this is preliminary obviously, but an extreme case of
you know, work centered violence in this case. But the
(03:29):
other aspect of this I want to underscore is at
Fort Stewart, and you would expect this at other installations.
I've been a major installation commander where I had a
lockdown situation. We immediately went into force protection condition delta,
which is what happened at Fort Stewart. But for the
Army leadership as well as the chaining comand all the
way down to those soldiers who subdued this Army sergeant
(03:51):
in terms of the timing of this, in terms of
putting medical attention immediately on the scene for those five
wounded soldiers, for Fort Stewart to lock down the installation,
to protect other soldiers in the sixteen thousand family members there,
and to get those soldiers who are in critical condition.
Knowing that there when Army hospital wasn't as a Level
(04:13):
four trauma center wasn't going to be you know, provided
to care they needed, they were able to get those
remaining critical soldiers. I understand there's two of them to
Savannah Memorial Hospital, which is forty miles away, into a
Level one trauma center. I believe is going to also
be something that will be textbooked. But nonetheless, now the
(04:36):
hard work begins. What happened, How did it happen? Why
did it happen?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It Now apparently some a little bit of motive is
coming out in news reports that he had some disagreements
with people that he served with, and he was a
little bit disgruntled that he wasn't moving up ranks quick enough.
Is are there processes in these campuses in you shouldn't
go to campus, uh, inside these facilities that that pinpoints
(05:05):
that that can deal with that before it gets to
this point.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It absolutely all the services United States Army, the Marine Corps,
the Air Force and Navy, and the Space Force and
so forth, that this is the responsibility of the chain
of command as well as your fellow soldiers. In this case,
it's almost like having lived in New York City, you know,
you know the terminology. If you see something, say something.
But if there's an indication of say your fellow soldier,
your your you know, men and women are serving with it,
(05:31):
there's our issues. If there are hints of mental health issues,
for instance, if there's things that in terms of off duty, UH,
there are issues with their behavior. In this case, it's
reported that Sergeant Rafford had been charged with a DUI
back in May and had not reported that to his
chain of command as he is required to do so UH,
(05:54):
and there could have been some some lingering aspects of
what was going on within the Army unit and so forth.
He's a logistics sergeant, and this is a logistics unit
supposedly with a third Infantry division. Those things will be
looked at, but nonetheless, you are in however, you know,
in the United States Army and the Air Force and
other services, you don't necessarily lean away from those you
(06:17):
serve with. You lean into. And the fact is is
that it's one team, one fight, and so forth. And
I have to think that his fellow soldiers really had
not perhaps even contemplator even anticipated this type of violence.
And I want our listeners also, I'll close on this
point for this commentary, but this is very very unique situation,
(06:40):
and this is not something that we would anticipate that
is prevalent throughout the ranks at all. You know, we
recruit from the best and brightest that America has to offer,
but there's only about a twenty three percent of the
population between ages for men and women at eighteen to
twenty five. And we really try to make sure that
those that we recruit and we bring into the armed
(07:01):
forces that indeed you meet all the ethical standards and
health and mental and so forth. But something happened along
the way this sergeant has served in the Army for
about eight years or so, but something has had to
happen along the way that the Army will find out,
much like we did in the Deep Investigation. Thorough Investigation.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, a News Nation senior National security contributor.
This has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from WOR Now more of the
WOR Saturday Morning Show and Larry Minty Welcome back. It
happened again this week, and it's still shocking every time
it does. A soldier opens fire on his fellow soldiers.
This time it happened at Fort Stewart in Georgia, and
(00:21):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton tells us the news is especially
hard on those who served.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Good morning, Larry, delighted to be with you, regardless of
the circumstances. But this is a tough story.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It is a tough story, and it hit all of us.
As soon as you hear a story like this, you
run to the TV sets, you run to the radios
to hear more, and you're hoping, you're hoping for the best.
And I guess we did get the best that could
have happened in a situation like this, and that nobody died.
But I know how we all felt. I don't know
how people that served felt when they heard this, Because
(00:58):
my guess is you must see this as a real
violation considering the fact you've been on these camps and
you've been with these men. Could you please explain your
first feelings when you heard about this story.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, my first thought harkened back immediately when I was
a senior general officer in the Pentagon. I was part
of the initial senior officer investigative review team that we
put together. As I mentioned the Pentagon in November of
two thousand and nine, if you recall our listeners may
recall when Major Nadal Hassan, an Army major at the
(01:31):
time psychiatrists, killed thirteen fellow soldiers and wounded thirty at
Fort Hood in that early morning hours. And so my
first thought was concern for the soldiers at Fort Stewart.
There are fifteen thousand soldiers there, by the way, in
sixteen thousand family members. And then once I heard and
(01:54):
started to hear just the initial reports come out, my
first thought in terms of what it was likely an
insider attack, much like we saw with Hassan, in terms
of a weapon firing on fellow soldiers and then being
subdued and apprehended almost immediately exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
The only good thing that came out of this, and
the only thing that should make people proud, is that
you had young men I'm assuming they're young men that
were there that were being shot at. There was somebody
with a gun, an active shooter, and instead of running
out of there or hiding or going for cover, several
of them went at the man and tackled him. And
(02:35):
if not for that, this could have been a lot
worse being someone that served, being someone that's led these men.
You must be so proud, I am.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And you know, we have two million men and women
in uniform and all volunteers, and in this case, and
also as we've demonstrated in a Rock and Afghanistan, and
by the way, our men and women serving Overseasar and
over one hundred and thirty five locations around the world
as we speak right now this morning, they run to
the sound of gunfire and this was a demonstration, however,
(03:07):
of not a combat situation, but still their training kicked
in and the fact that they were able to nearly
immediately subdue this Army sergeant in what I'm going to term,
and this is preliminary obviously, but an extreme case of
you know, work centered violence in this case. But the
(03:29):
other aspect of this I want to underscore is at
Fort Stewart, and you would expect this at other installations.
I've been a major installation commander where I had a
lockdown situation. We immediately went into force protection condition delta,
which is what happened at Fort Stewart. But for the
Army leadership as well as the chaining comand all the
way down to those soldiers who subdued this Army sergeant
(03:51):
in terms of the timing of this, in terms of
putting medical attention immediately on the scene for those five
wounded soldiers, for Fort Stewart to lock down the installation,
to protect other soldiers in the sixteen thousand family members there,
and to get those soldiers who are in critical condition.
Knowing that there when Army hospital wasn't as a Level
(04:13):
four trauma center wasn't going to be you know, provided
to care they needed, they were able to get those
remaining critical soldiers. I understand there's two of them to
Savannah Memorial Hospital, which is forty miles away, into a
Level one trauma center. I believe is going to also
be something that will be textbooked. But nonetheless, now the
(04:36):
hard work begins. What happened, How did it happen? Why
did it happen?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It Now apparently some a little bit of motive is
coming out in news reports that he had some disagreements
with people that he served with, and he was a
little bit disgruntled that he wasn't moving up ranks quick enough.
Is are there processes in these campuses in you shouldn't
go to campus, uh, inside these facilities that that pinpoints
(05:05):
that that can deal with that before it gets to
this point.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It absolutely all the services United States Army, the Marine Corps,
the Air Force and Navy, and the Space Force and
so forth, that this is the responsibility of the chain
of command as well as your fellow soldiers. In this case,
it's almost like having lived in New York City, you know,
you know the terminology. If you see something, say something.
But if there's an indication of say your fellow soldier,
your your you know, men and women are serving with it,
(05:31):
there's our issues. If there are hints of mental health issues,
for instance, if there's things that in terms of off duty, UH,
there are issues with their behavior. In this case, it's
reported that Sergeant Rafford had been charged with a DUI
back in May and had not reported that to his
chain of command as he is required to do so UH,
(05:54):
and there could have been some some lingering aspects of
what was going on within the Army unit and so forth.
He's a logistics sergeant, and this is a logistics unit
supposedly with a third Infantry division. Those things will be
looked at, but nonetheless, you are in however, you know,
in the United States Army and the Air Force and
other services, you don't necessarily lean away from those you
(06:17):
serve with. You lean into. And the fact is is
that it's one team, one fight, and so forth. And
I have to think that his fellow soldiers really had
not perhaps even contemplator even anticipated this type of violence.
And I want our listeners also, I'll close on this
point for this commentary, but this is very very unique situation,
(06:40):
and this is not something that we would anticipate that
is prevalent throughout the ranks at all. You know, we
recruit from the best and brightest that America has to offer,
but there's only about a twenty three percent of the
population between ages for men and women at eighteen to
twenty five. And we really try to make sure that
those that we recruit and we bring into the armed
(07:01):
forces that indeed you meet all the ethical standards and
health and mental and so forth. But something happened along
the way this sergeant has served in the Army for
about eight years or so, but something has had to
happen along the way that the Army will find out,
much like we did in the Deep Investigation. Thorough Investigation.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, a News Nation senior National security contributor.
This has been a podcast from wor
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