COMMENTARY SEARCH

  • CONS: Who we are, what we do

    When people ask me what my job is in the Air Force, I tell them contracting. The typical response is, "You're a contractor?" Then, I have to explain that I am not a contractor but actually an active-duty Air Force officer who has been given the authority to spend taxpayer dollars in order to keep

  • Motivation: Starts with a goal

    Last week when I visited family in California, my father mentioned to a family friend that I was in the Air Force. After exchanging pleasantries, he asked me how long I had been in the military, and I said, "Nine and a half years." He fired back to me with a question that I hadn't thought about for

  • Emotional intelligence calls for controlled feelings

    There is no doubt that we are emotional people. Many of us have the ability to control and or hide our emotions better than others. Some of us wear our emotions on our sleeves. Part of leadership is understanding and managing emotions and emotional situations. Failure on the part of the leader to

  • Following standards, expectations lead to life, job satisfaction

    As Airmen, we take pride in the quality work product and superior performance that naturally accompanies everything we set out to do. How is it though that these characteristics have become so deeply woven into the fabric of our existence as an organization? "Excellence in all we do." If we desire

  • First sergeant nothing to fear; here to help

    This goes out to everyone in the 56th Fighter Wing, "Do not be afraid of your first sergeant." We are not the people some may portray us to be. I have heard many times during my six years as a shirt that the only people in the shirt's office are getting in trouble. That is just a fallacy. It may be

  • We can learn from history

    The philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This quote is more popularly credited to Sir Winston Churchill, "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." The point isn't so much who said

  • If it isn't you, it's the person next to you

    "Hey sexy... you single?"I turned to see a fellow Airman in training; standing about 5 foot 8 inches tall, dark hair and eyes. Over the next four months, I heard this fellow classmate repeat the same line more than a couple dozen times.It wasn't just me he had an eye for; it was a handful of my new

  • What leadership means to me

    A good leader in our Air Force profession of arms is one who strives to live, uphold and emulate our core values - integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. These are not just words a leader spits out without first understanding their meaning. These are not just words one

  • AF core values: Our guiding light

    When someone mentions the Air Force core values, often I hear the phrase "doing the right thing when no one is around." But that is only one of our values. There are two others that get lost in the shadow of integrity first. Service before self and excellence in all we do are often forgotten;

  • AF faces retention problem

    The Air Force is facing tough times. Sequestration is forcing many of you to work overtime to run "what if" drills, cut mission essential training, forgo any real ability to plan and prepare for a potential civilian workforce furlough. Yet, we have a bigger problem and the impact will be felt for