Episode 57 Dr. Bob Elder - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

General Bob Elder sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

 

0:30 1. General Elder, in 2009 after 33 years you retired from the Air Force as the Commander of the 8th Air Force and US Strategic Command’s Global Strike Component. I want to talk today about all the amazing work you have done and what the focus of your work is today.

 

Let’s start here if we can. For those who may not know what the 8th Air Force is, can you talk about it and its different roles and responsibilities?

 

8:25 2. In a similar manner, for those who may not know what US Strategic Command is, can you talk about it and its different roles and responsibilities? 10:34

 

3. Let’s talk cyberspace for a second. You were the first commander of Air Force Network Operations and led the development of the cyberspace mission for the Air Force.

 

Can you talk about some of this work? And, for us lay people, what does “the development of the cyberspace mission for the Air Force” mean?

 

20:11 4. I believe this is current.

 

You are on staff at George Mason University as a research professor with the Volgenau School of Engineering. You currently conduct research in the areas of command and control, deterrence, escalation control, competition short of armed conflict, crisis management, and international actor decision-making.

 

Can you talk about what the above means and some of the current work you are doing in your role at George Mason?

 

27:21 5. Let’s talk Barksdale Air Force Base for a minute. How important is this base within the overall US Air Force and operations?

 

29:54 6. It has been suggested to me that there are growing needs and business opportunities locally to support the type of work taking place at Barksdale. I would like to spend the remainder of our discussion here.

 

First, what businesses currently exist today in our community that are supporting needs at Barksdale?

 

36:32 7. Lastly, as you see it, what are the gaps that still exist in our community in order for us to best support the evolving needs at Barksdale and for the military as a whole?