Commentary: Sharpen the sword

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Scott Suckow
  • 56th Medical Support Squadron
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  " ... The woman's knees buckled under her and she slumped to the ground. The Taliban men tried to lift her again, but she screamed and kicked. Two more men joined in and helped force her into a chest deep hole at one end of the soccer stadium. The blind-folded man next to her, on the other hand, quietly allowed the men to lower him into the hole dug for him. Now only the two accused adulterers' torsos protruded from the ground.

'Brothers and sisters!' bellowed a white-bearded cleric into the stadium's PA system, 'We are here today to carry out Sharia! We are here today to carry out justice!'

Then a tall, broad-shouldered man walked to a pile of stones, picked up a rock and ceremoniously showed it to the crowd. The noise fell. The man hurled the stone at the blind-folded man in the hole, striking the side of his head."

So begins a graphic depiction of a public execution in Kabul, Afghanistan, detailed in Khaled Hosseini's autobiography The Kite Runner. The book gives an insider's view into life under the Taliban, like several other books on Gen. Norton Schwartz's, chief of staff of the Air Force, reading list, including In the Graveyard of Empires and Three Cups of Tea.

Why read about life under the Taliban?

Perhaps to help understand what we are fighting for, how the Afghan War came to be our nation's longest, and what the human consequences of failure might be. Or perhaps to follow Sun Tzu's famous counsel to "know your enemy" in order to defeat him.

Why pick up a book from the chief of staff's reading list?

Perhaps it's to increase your understanding of the Air Force's role in world events; or to learn about our military history and hopefully avoid mistakes rather than repeat them. Or, maybe it's to help prepare ourselves for the next war, rather than continuing to refine our approach to the last one.

"Academic development sharpens our edge and bolsters our ability as an Air Force and joint team," General Schwartz recently said. "Professional reading, in equal measure to physical training, is vital to maintaining our initiative today and our preparation for the future."

In today's Air Force we spend countless hours at the track and the gym, getting ourselves into peak physical condition so we can respond when the "stuff" hits the fan. We spend countless more hours perfecting skills like Self Aid/Buddy Care and weapons firing in order to become fully capable warriors. And we spend even more hours honing job skills so we can get the mission done with speed and precision.

But, what about our thinking skills? How often do we exercise our ability to comprehend complex issues and solve tough problems? What do we do to get better at thinking outside the box?

Too often we save sharpening our swords for formal classrooms. Or worse, we rely on the school of hard knocks to broaden our perspective.

This year's chief of staff reading list contains 13 books grouped into three areas - mission, doctrine and profession, focusing on leadership and the Air Force mission; our nation and world, highlighting current events which impact national military strategy; and military history, recalling lessons that could be applied today.

All of them are available at the Luke Air Force Base Library. I encourage you to stop by and sharpen your sword today.