Mike Rabens (F), Chair of the NDIA Industrial Committee on Test and Evaluation, and Jeff Bilco, NDIA T&E Division Chair, presented the Walter W. Hollis Award for lifetime achievement in Test and Evaluation to the Honorable Bob Behler (F) on 1 November at the NDIA Systems and Mission Engineering Conference. Bob entered the Air Force in 1972, attended USAF Test Pilot School, flew the SR-71 and 65 other types of aircraft, commanded the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron, the 9th Operations Group, and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing before serving in many Pentagon roles, retiring as a Major General. Afterwards he became one of the leading voices for Software and Cyber Test and Evaluation at Johns Hopkins University Applies Physics Lab, MITRE Corporation, SRC, Inc., and finally as COO and Deputy Director of Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute before being appointed by the president as Director, Operational Test & Evaluation for the Dept of Defense, a position he held for 3 years. He was one of only two test pilots and SETP members to serve as Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, the other being Honorable Jack Krings (F). As you can see in the picture, Bob is very much alive and well, and says he intends to continue to support our nation's Defense. His test philosophy can be summed up as "Veritas - seek the truth". Asked why we test, his response: "We test to minimize the maximum regret". A most worthy individual for this award, which is presented by NDIA in the name of Walter W. Hollis to honor his dedicated and long-standing service in the field of Test & Evaluation. In 1980, Walt was appointed as the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for Operations Research. In this position, he proudly served the Army and this country, leading the Army T&E and analysis communities for 26 years until his retirement in 2006, but his reach was well beyond the Army. In fact, he was affectionately known as the grandfather of T&E.
