Commander's Quarters dedication ceremony

Barksdale Air Force Base recently conducted a ceremony to dedicate the Eighth Air Force Commander’s residence in honor of Major General Gerald C. “Jerry” Brant. The Brant House now serves as a physical link between our air, space, and cyberspace warriors of today and the determination and efforts of past air power visionaries like General Brant, who served and sacrificed to shape the United States Air Force into the best in the world. General Brant personified the core values of our Air Force: Integrity, Service before Self, and Excellence. A life-long personal friend of famous airpower advocate General Billy Mitchell, shared General Mitchell's convictions about the decisiveness of air power. Their visionary focus on creating an independent Air Force, despite serving a fledging Army Air Corps of the 1920s and 1930s, speaks volumes about their farsighted thinking. As a mid-grade officer, General Brant testified as for the defense during Mitchell’s 1925 court-martial with famous brothers-in-arms such as Gen. Carl “Tooey” Spaatz and Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joanna M. Kresge)