COMMENTARY SEARCH

  • Moral courage takes action despite consequences

    Physical courage is a quality rightfully associated with military members. Tales of battlefield heroics from Greek mythology through present day are replete with names synonymous with great physical courage. Hearing names such as Hercules, Perseus, Levitow, and Sijan summon powerful images of these

  • Leadership is action, not position

    I recently read a quote in an article that I believe defines a true leader. The quote is from Donald H. McGannon and says, "Leadership is action, not position." This phrase epitomizes my leadership philosophy; specifically, I feel people are leaders by virtue of what they do, not the authority they

  • Good foundation must for leading

    In its simplistic form, leadership is defined as getting others to do what you want. Those who follow this thought process typically revert to using conniving tactics to persuade their followers. Many view this as a shortcut to leadership and find it being an ineffective way to lead, without any

  • Words, deeds vital to Air Force success

    I had a hard time finding a topic for this article, so I went to the Air Force Times to see the latest headlines. Two items I found that seemed unrelated popped out at me.The first was the release of Air Force Doctrine Document 1. This was the first revision in eight years. The second was the

  • The Air Force and my American dream

    I immigrated to the United States in 1989 when I was 26 years old. Coming to the United States with English as my second language was very challenging and I was not sure if I would be able to find a stable job. I ended up joining the U.S. Air Force in 1991. I was hesitant about being in the

  • Good leadership begets good leaders

    As military members we all can relate to leadership, whether as an airman basic in basic military training relying on element leaders, dorm chiefs and ultimately the assigned training instructor; or a squadron commander who is tasked with leading those below him, as well as adhering to the

  • Leadership's responsibility to ensure safe driving

    The past several months have not been kind to government vehicles. A rash of government-owned vehicle accidents has plagued the base and the majority of these could have been prevented. Causative factors include inattentiveness, lack of respect for government property, failure to properly plan

  • Caring for people requires emotional intelligence

    A little more than a year ago I had the great opportunity to attend the AETC Commanders' Course. Being a new commander I was very excited and looked forward to learning the "secret handshake" for command success. The course agenda made it evident that we were going to spend some quality time with

  • Our world needs heroes

    Our world needs heroes.The term hero is often overused and misunderstood, similar to the word warrior. Fortunately for our country, our military is full of heroes. Maj. Troy "Trojan" Gilbert is certainly one of those heroes. Gilbert deployed to Iraq in 2006 while stationed at Luke Air Force Base as

  • A carrot, an egg, a cup of coffee

    Resiliency.Luke Airmen are dedicated to train the world's greatest F-16 pilots and maintainers while deploying mission-ready warfighters. Every Air Force organization is focused on that mission while standing ready to deploy anywhere. These two critical missions present their own challenges and