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Commentary Search

  • Freedom...at 24,000 feet

    Our air refueling mission bore the call sign "DUCE 01." It was printed in capital letters written with a red marker on a dry-erase board in the planning room for the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron. It was 3:47 p.m. on April 9. I sat in the room with seven aircrew members from the 2nd ARS as they went

  • The sum of the parts

    The Air Force is composed of more than 300 thousand "parts," but the collective "whole" is what makes it one of the best professional organizations on the planet. It operates so successfully only because the parts all work toward a common objective. Those parts are our Airmen who conduct their daily

  • A medal for grandma

    I was thousands of miles away when my grandmother Margaret Jeske died on March 17, 1993. It was the same day I was bringing my wife Bobbi and our new three-day-old daughter Ivy home from the hospital. At the time, I was stationed at Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal. I'd been in the Air Force for just

  • Go green with ‘3 Rs’

    Recycling is the best way to save the environment, right? To see recycle bins and dumpsters full of plastic bottles and paper should fill us with just as much pride in accomplishment, right? After all, the installation focuses on three enduring themes: mission excellence, developing leaders and

  • Take care of yourself and others

    Every day I notice the exceptional work our Airmen do with the talents they possess. It's about doing the best job they can do with the resources they have. Together, as a team of America's finest Airmen, we are trained in our specialties, taught core values, professionalism, customs and courtesies,

  • Are you professionally competent?

    This may seem like a rather direct or even harsh question, but it is one that we should all consider seriously. Before you rush to answer, it might be wise to ask yourself if you know what professional competence in the profession of arms really means. Professional competence for Air Force Airmen

  • How do we talk about preventing DUI's?

    As supervisors and leaders, we have difficult choices and paths to choose every day. Some of those choices impact the present, some are attempts to fix problems that occurred in the past and many impact our future. One is how we choose to address the consumption of alcohol. I'm not referring to

  • Air Force skills help make a difference

    Although it's still early in the year, there have been numerous leadership challenges around base. Some of our challenges have been readiness exercises and others are real-world requirements. It is not coincidental that our exercises are filled with tremendous effort and confusion. This is the

  • Got structure?

    As the base career advisor, most of my time is spent talking to Airmen of every echelon. No matter what group of Airmen I talk with, one tier often has a gripe about the other. For example, some Airmen want to know why NCO's aren't mentoring and teaching them. Conversely, some NCO's want to know why

  • Scraps of time

    Two of the sayings I distinctly remember hearing while in school and still try to follow today are from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Douglas Freeman. He stated that, "The difference between mediocrity and distinction in many a professional career is the organization of your time." As a follow on,