A Lifetime of Lessons Learned

The chapter's April luncheon speaker was John DeBerry, U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) A-6, chief of plans and requirements. The theme of the talk was "A Lifetime of Lessons Learned." DeBerry directs the establishment and implementation, including planning and engineering of communications and information systems for AFCENT's area of responsibility (AOR). AFCENT develops contingency plans to support air operations for U.S. Central Command's AOR. DeBerry was chosen to be the combatant command J-6 planner to engineer tactical, strategic command and control (C2) systems and services during Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994 and 1995 in Haiti and in Operation Joint Endeavor, a 1995 peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. His expertise in computer network security expedited the response to the 1998 hacking of Defense Department computers, known as Operation Solar Sunrise. He deployed to Eskan Village, Saudi Arabia, for a year as chief of command, control, communications, computers (C4) operations and engineering at Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA), supporting Operation Southern Watch. DeBerry also deployed to Central Air Force Combined Air Operations Center before Operation Iraqi Freedom to provide communications support to AFCENT and the Combined Forces Air Component commander.

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