General says "Goodbye," retires after 36 years of Air Force service

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Daryl Knee
  • 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  The commander of the Twentieth Air Force, the person responsible for all of the nation's ICBM force, ends his 36 years of service July 1.

Maj. Gen. Roger W. Burg said he is satisfied with the direction his career has led him and wants to thank the people in his life who made it all possible.

When General Burg entered the Air Force three and a half decades ago, he said that he wanted to become a lawyer. The best way to do that, he continued, was to start off as a missileer.

Years later, after actually being selected to become a lawyer, then Lieutenant Burg talked with a staff member at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. The staff member said the ICBM career field was too important to lose its members to law school.

His speech made General Burg hesitant to leave the missile field.

"Once I chose to stay with the ICBM force," the general said, "I found people of professional competence and high character.

"I decided that I wanted to work with these people for the rest of my career," he said.
From that decision, General Burg continued to serve in roles to strengthen his knowledge of space and missile operations to culminate as the 20th AF's commander in August of 2007.

In this position, it's been his priority to educate the near 8,800 Airmen assigned to the three missile wings -- Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Minot AFB, N.D.; and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. -- about the importance of the nuclear mission.

"I'm very gratified today, based on the significant investment of time and energy at the senior-leadership level of the Air Force," the general said, "that there shouldn't be anyone who goes to work not knowing exactly what they're doing and how important their job is.

"It's too important to do it part way," he said about the way in which these Airmen perform their day-to-day duties with excellence and precision. "The nuclear mission is unforgiving -- meaning it's very difficult to perform to a level of perfection required every day in every situation."

But, if the standards are set high, and Airmen strive to perform above those standards, perfection can and has been achieved.

"To our young Airmen out there," he said, "there is no more significant or important mission than the one you are doing today."

As another part of the general's retirement, he donated his personal collection of books, ranging from basic leadership qualities to Air Force history, to the Warren library.

General Burg said he has been collecting these 300 plus books for the last 30 years and could think of no better place for them to be.

"I realized I could take them all with me, set them upon a bookshelf where I could admire them," he said.

"What a waste," he continued with a laugh.

At least in the Warren library, years later, someone could pick up a history book and realize the issues and concerns that take place today may be the same issues and concerns that were dealt with in the past.

For more information about General Burg's donation, call the library at 773-3416.