Focus an important part of unit success Published May 11, 2007 By Lt. Col. Stephen Rotta 305th Operations Support Squadron commander MCGUIRE AFB, N.J. -- Bob was an experienced sky diving instructor with hundreds of jumps to his credit. He had a great passion for his sport and desired to document it via video, so he bought a state-of-the-art, helmet-mounted camera especially designed for thrill seekers. His plan was to film a day at the "office" as his friend Ron instructed some a new student in the skill of skydiving. As luck would have it, Bob's friend Kevin, who had never sky dived, was scheduled for his very first jump, so Bob picked that day to film. He and the others arrived at the training facility at sunrise on a crystal clear day. Bob strapped on the camera's power pack and placed the helmet on his head. He filmed Ron as he walked Kevin through the basics of jumping. Once Ron was reasonably satisfied his student was ready, they checked their gear and hopped into the aircraft for Kevin's very first jump. Bob fixated the lens on his friends and continued to document every detail of the big day. As they approached the drop zone, Ron pointed to the red light as the Kevin waited with nervous anticipation. 5-4-3-2-1-Greenlight! Ron went first, followed by Kevin. Bob didn't want to miss a moment, so he closely followed. The jump went smoothly, and the student and his teacher deployed their nylon chutes. Bob wanted to get one last shot, so before deploying his own chute he pointed his camera towards the heavens and filmed as the other two floated towards the earth. The time had now come for Bob to pull his own rip cord. To his horror, there was none. In fact, Bob wasn't wearing his parachute at all. During the excitement of filming his friends, he failed to take care of the most important part of skydiving; he failed to focus on his own parachute. Have you ever been so fixated on something that your primary objective seemed to fade into the background? I once read a mishap report about an aircrew so distracted by a gear indicator that they flew a perfectly flyable aircraft into the ground. I've also read about a ground crew person so focused at getting to a fire bottle that they walked right into a spinning prop. There are also stories about Tower controllers who've cleared aircraft for takeoff while other aircraft were on the runway as a result of being distracted by a telephone call. Target fixation can happen to anyone of us. As a commander, it is sometimes easy for me to become fixated on any number of things such as unit PT performance, Government Travel Card stats or OPR and EPRs. Although all these things are important and necessary parts of my job, the time spent ensuring they were up to speed would all be for naught if I neglected to ensure my life supporters, intel specialists or combat crew comm personnel were properly trained or that my Airmen were prepared to deploy. You may become fixated on any number of things in your own life that make other things seem to fade into the background. Some of these may include your next job or promotion, PME completion status, children's softball game, squadron picnic, e-mail box, next Power Point briefing, health of a relative or AEF deployment. All have a certain level of importance to you and all require some level of focus. Some folks might feel as if they are running at the speed of heat these days. We just finished a mobility exercise, have an Air Expo/Open House, 8044 Operational Readiness Inspection, Unit Compliance Inspection, Air Traffic Systems Evaluation Program inspection, Aircrew Standardization Evaluation and Air Mobility Command Rodeo to name a few big events coming up in the near future. Couple these things with the kids being let out of school for the summer and key members of our units deploying and the plate appears to be pretty full. Many in our wing will be part of some or all of these activities which clearly need our attention. Each has its own place in the priority chain and all have their pitfalls if not executed effectively. However, we must be careful not to forget to strap on the other "parachutes" around us like the Global War On Terrorism, safety, our wingmen, our families or even our own well-being. Maintaining the appropriate level of focus on all the things going on around us is critical to our unit's success. So how do we make sure those shoulder harnesses are secure? Here's my suggestion. Slow down for a minute, and step back so you can see the big picture. Hack that proverbial clock, breathe for a moment, so you can bring all the things in your life into proper focus. If we can do this effectively, we can keep from making the skydiver's mistake and avoid jumping without a parachute.