Major General Joseph R. Harris

An Airman’s Journey to New Role as Hawaii ANG Commander

Oregon National Guard Public Affairs Office | Story by Master Sgt. John Hughel | Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Taking on unforeseen challenges can be both exhilarating and daunting. Second-guessing, delaying a decision, or just not taking a chance during one’s military career can lead to “choosing not to choose,” as described by the current Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., during his confirmation hearing in May.

“There’s a risk in taking a decision, and there’s a risk in not taking a decision,” Brown expressed to the committee, prior to being confirmed as the 22nd Air Force Chief of Staff. “In choosing not to choose, it defers a chance to move forward.”

In 2014, then-Lt. Col. Joseph R. Harris II was serving as the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing Deputy Maintenance Group commander. As an Active Guard Reservist (AGR), he had hit a barrier by accruing nearly his maximum years of service time. He faced retirement having served nearly 29 years with the Oregon Air National Guard.

Seeing an opportunity to continue to serve, Harris took a chance, foreshadowing Gen. Brown’s assertion “to choose,” when he and his family moved to Hawaiʻi, as Harris joined the 154th Wing as the unit’s Deputy Maintenance Group Commander. That decision would open up several consequential and unexpected new opportunities.

In less than six years, Harris was elevated to the unit’s Maintenance Group Commander position, then transitioned into the role as the Director of Plans and Programs A5/8, and then his remarkable promotion to brigadier general in April, as he took command of the Hawaii Air National Guard.

“I wanted to continue to grow both as a leader and in my field,” Harris said. “It was never in the picture that I would be in the position I am now — but I would have never had this opportunity if I had not taken the chance.”

For Harris, this desire to push himself came from years of taking on new challenges. He enlisted in the Oregon Air National Guard in 1985 and was assigned to the 142nd Fighter Wing’s base supply squadron.

“I was 19 years old and basically looking to make some extra money for school,” he said, recalling his unlikely journey from Airman Basic to brigadier general. “As things often go in the military, one thing led to another and then another…”

As Harris’s military career took off, he transitioned to aircraft maintenance when he transferred to the 173rd Fighter Wing at Klamath Falls, Oregon, and developed rapidly as a noncommissioned officer. He graduated in February 1994 from the U.S. Air Force NCO Academy, achieving an Academic Excellence Award. He enrolled in 1996 at Northwest Christian University and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in 1998 with a distinguished achievement award for academic excellence in his class.

When given the opportunity to become a commissioned officer in 1998, then-Master Sgt. Harris applied his same level of determination toward academic excellence at the Academy of Military Science. He graduated with the highest academic average and was selected for the Commander’s Military Achievement Award.

“During my time in the Oregon Air Guard, I was fortunate enough to serve at two unique Wings, and really grow both as an enlisted member and commissioned Officer,” said Harris. “In total, I spent 13 years with at the 173rd, before coming back to the 142nd in 2004 during a really uncertain period after 9/11.”

Soon after Harris returned to Portland, the 142nd Fighter Wing and the Portland Air National Guard Base (PANG) were selected by the 2005 BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission) to close. In an assessment in the final hours leading up to the decision by the BRAC commission, the 142nd was taken off the list, but the 939th Air Refueling Wing terminated operations at the PANG base.

After coming off BRAC, there was a renewed sense of purpose for the unit members as leadership took on the task of enhancing the base infrastructure while bolstering Airmen readiness.

“I had the distinct pleasure to work for General Harris when he served as our 142nd Maintenance Squadron (MXS) Commander and then soon after as our 142nd Maintenance Group Deputy Commander,” said Chief Master Sgt. Daniel Conner, Command Senior Enlisted Leader for the Oregon National Guard.

Conner also emphasized that one of Harris’s biggest concerns was to ensure members felt a sense of accomplishment in a job well done, and holding everyone accountable to the same standard.

“He (Harris) was very engaged in ensuring we as Senior NCOs were developing training that not only met standards but were challenging, engaging and valuable in a way that produced pride and job satisfaction,” said Conner.

Leading by example, Harris was asked by former Oregon Air National Guard Commander Brig. Gen. Daniel O’Hollaren to investigate a new operating system to dehumidify aircraft and help preserve the aging F-15 Eagles assigned to the 142nd Fighter Wing. The trip to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaiʻi, yet another prophetic marker for Harris, found “the test to be inconclusive, but the results were that the National Guard Bureau had approved shelters for the aircraft.”

It took nearly four years to secure the funding for the new shelters, but Harris was able to work with the 142nd Comptroller Flight to get the capital to build nine new shelters. Completed in August 2014, they were one of the first new projects constructed on the PANG base in several years, and helped protect the aircraft against a variety of environmental stressors from rain, heat, and occasional snow accumulation.

The project was a significant accomplishment prior to Harris departing Oregon and joining the Hawaii Air National Guard just a few months later.

“It was truly an honor to be part of the Oregon (Air National) Guard, to have mentors that helped me develop, trusted me as a Squadron Commander and in other leadership roles,” said Harris, recalling his long tenure in Oregon.

As he assumed his current role as the Commander of the Hawaii Air National Guard, he was quick to point out how the timing was nearly perfect but far from certain.

As Harris was working as a full-time contractor for Lockheed Martin, all matters that might be flagged for conflict of interest had to be approved.

“General (Ryan) Okahara, was about to take a new position so the opportunity to lead the Hawaii Air National Guard came right as the final approval to hold this position — was finally signed off at SAF/GC,” said Harris.

With all the real-world challenges of the novel coronavirus, the development of the U.S. Space Force and changes at the top of the U.S. Air Force, Harris said that the Hawaii Air National Guard is poised to take on all these new challenges and excel.

“We currently have 162 Airmen supporting the state on COVID-19 response and our economy in the state is really constrained with the impact on tourism,” he said, a point he emphasized during his first address to his Airmen during Hawaii’s ANG August SuperDrill weekend. “These are unprecedented times, I just ask that everyone be good Wingmen — look for ways to be there and watch out for each other.”

– 2020 Fall Pupukahi pp. 4 & 11