As the highest-ranking LDS officer currently in the military, Lt. Gen. Robert C. Oaks has based his life around service to both the Church and his country, and finds the two complement each other.
"The Church encourages service," said the three-star Air Force general in an interview with the Church News. "We believe strongly in patriotic national service. My Church training was certainly part of my reason for going into the Air Force."A former commander of the Allied Air Forces in southern Europe, Gen. Oaks is currently head of the Air Training Command, headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. In this assignment, he is responsible for the basic military and initial skills training of some 54,000 men and women, as well as for Air Force recruiting and for ROTC programs on college campuses throughout the country.
Gen. Oaks' military service has also had an influence on his Church service. Because of his career, Gen. Oaks and his wife, Gloria, and their six children have been given countless opportunities to witness the gospel's growth in many countries and cultures, and have seen their own testimonies develop as well.
"That's been one of the exciting things about my life in the military," the general reflected. "I think we've been in about 25 different wards, branches, and groups - in Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Italy, Korea and other places. I was in Korea the day the first Korean elder was ordained."
He said he has attended Church in small groups and large wards. He was in a group of only two members in DaNang, South Vietnam, in 1964, and his family has lived in large wards, "as large as any in the Church," in Washington D.C.
When Gen. Oaks was a counselor in the district presidency in Italy, he said he and his family were able to witness firsthand the growth of the Church among the Africans who came to Italy to work: "When we went to Naples in 1986, our little branch was all white, but by the time we left, it was 50 percent black. The Africans are very receptive to the missionaries' message."
As for his personal growth, said Gen. Oaks, his peripatetic career has helped him to better appreciate the gospel and the positive impact it has on people of all nationalities.
He said he has gained "a great appreciation for the power of gospel living in making life meaningful in any setting."
A high priests group instructor in the Randolph Ward and a high councilor in the San Antonio Texas East Stake, Gen. Oaks has many opportunities to be an example to others. Having been required to participate in various social activities where alcohol was served, he has quietly shown his religious values simply by living them, and finds that people respect him for it.
"I once had a commander when I was really young," Gen. Oaks recalled, "who said, Bob, I've found that it's not a problem to take a drink once in a while.' And I said,Well, if I have to do that I'll leave the service.' I told him my values, and it wasn't pushy. That's all that was said, and we're still friends. He was supportive of me. Not drinking has never been a problem to me; in fact, I would say that it has been an asset."
The 53-year-old commander noted that adhering to specific gospel laws and seeing the results of such pragmatic principles has formed the basis of his testimony of the gospel.
"You live the principles and life is better in very specific ways," Gen. Oaks declared. "When you live the principles of hard work, of the Word of Wisdom, of honesty, order comes to your life, health comes to your life, clear thinking comes to your life, education comes to your life. The ability to do more flows from the basic precepts that are taught."
But, he added, beyond the intellectual confirmation, "there's been an embellishment of specific spiritual experiences."
One example occurred in Vietnam, where he was flying one of his nearly 900 missions and was shot down.
"Things happened - absolutely extraordinary things that shouldn't have happened," Gen. Oaks recalled. "Parachutes opened that shouldn't have, and you say, `I'm not capable of that myself.' Those become part of my own personal experiences that reinforce that there's a special care there, that prayer is answered."
The general, a cousin to Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve, grew up in Provo, Utah, and graduated from the Air Force Academy with a degree in political science in 1959. That same year, he married Gloria Unger in the Salt Lake Temple. In 1967, he received a master's degree in business administration from Ohio State, and six years later attended the Naval War College.
Of their six children, the four sons are all following in their father's footsteps: one is a captain in the military and is a maintenance officer, another is a B-52 pilot, and the youngest two are currently attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The two daughters are both living in Provo, where one has graduated from BYU, and the other is now attending. Three of the sons are returned missionaries.
"Our family is a close one," said Gen. Oaks. "The brothers and sisters love and care about each other, and stay in contact."
When the children were growing up, he said, "I looked for every opportunity to spend time with them. I was Scoutmaster and priests quorum adviser so Sundays were generally a time we spent together." He also coached Little League when he could.
"What time I had, I tried to spend it doing family things. That's why things like family home evenings are important - it lets kids know that Dad cares even though he's not always there."
When the family lived in Germany, Gen. Oaks would take the children to the Alps for a week of skiing, and in Italy, he would often take them on his travels throughout the country. He said in spite of "dragging his family around the world," they have been "very appreciative" of what has been done for them. Regarding the military way of life, Gen. Oaks smiled and said, "Well, the four boys are in the military, so I guess they don't feel too bad about it."
His illustrious career has taken him to not only the corners of the world, but to the peaks of the skies as well. As a pilot he has seen the world from a lofty vantage point.
"I enjoy seeing the world from above," he related. "You get the view that it's a big world and that it's put together very well. I think, `That's the world that was created by God for us,' and I appreciate that part of our association with Him.
"We are put on earth for a purpose," he said. "When I fly, I get a sense of smallness, and then a wonder that He cares for each one of us."
Gen. Oaks said his military career has been very satisfying to him. "I told my wife the other day that I just don't know if there's anyone I would trade places with."
