The Last Ace: Brigadier General Steve Ritchie (USAF-Ret)

by Brig. General Steve Ritchie, Honorary Chairman

Over 200 speaking programs a year! That was part of being an Air Force recruiter as well as running my own business. It’s seldom that the master of ceremonies at these functions skips over the phrases, “…Air Force’s only Vietnam pilot ace…only MiG 21 ace…last American ace…”

And yes, I am proud of those words. But at the same time, it’s important to think about what they mean. I can’t help but interpret them differently, now that it has been nearly 35 years since the incidents that put these phrases into such widespread circulation.

Back then, we all thought we had learned a lot prior to the challenges of Southeast Asia. In the 24 years since, part of what I have determined is that the same basics which prepared us for combat are the same basics that run an individual’s life. And which form the foundation for a successful company. Or more important, a successful and honorable nation.

In the first place, when the term “ace” is used in an introduction, it seems as though I am taking credit for something in which I played a relatively small, although high profile, role. A fighter pilot is many things, but “self-generated” is not one of them. We are the result of an enormous web of training, preparation, leadership, and support that enables us to carry out a specific mission…an important job.

Central to those skills is understanding that, as General George Patton put it, “We fight wars with hardware, but we win wars with people.”
No one in any position of responsibility in any walk of life is immune to the same basic concept. It does not make any difference whether the war is of the shooting variety, or it is on Wall Street, or it is of the ethical, philosophical, and political struggle which, in the long run, defines a nation.

The bottom line is fundamentals that are as true today as they were 5,000 years ago.

It is absolutely certain that a huge amount of what went into making me successful in combat was that some of my earliest commanders taught the value of people and how much effect they have on success. We were not out there en route to Hanoi alone. We were being assisted by radar operators over 100 miles away. We successfully fired missiles only because technicians in maintenance did their job day in and day out. Sometimes mechanics would sweat all night under very difficult conditions to make sure our airplanes were ready for the morning go.