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Make time to go fishing

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Brian Mosier
  • 305th Civil Engineer Squadron
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE --  As I was contemplating ideas for this editorial, my daughter was quick to come to my rescue. "Why don't you just write about fishing" she told me. Write about fishing, I thought ... hmmm. Then I thought back to last weekend when my 6 year-old son and I were out fishing. 

As my son and I were sitting there on the bank of the lake patiently waiting for the bobber to submerge and resurface with a trophy trout on the end of the line, I couldn't help thinking of all the fishing we missed out on last summer while I was deployed. I also couldn't help thinking of all the other sons and daughters patiently waiting for their mom or dad to return from deployment so they too could join us and compete for that trout. 

In today's Expeditionary Air Force, all Airmen should prepare and expect to spend summers away from their families helping freedom flourish in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Although many family members probably don't want to think about it every day, they understand and accept the sacrifices that go along with being a military family member, and they proudly stand by supporting their war-fighter from the home front. Make no mistake -- we could not accomplish all the great things we have without their unwavering support. 

The Air Force has many great programs available to help the families of deployed members cope with the absences and communicate with their deployed spouse or parent. On top of that, many squadrons have stood up their own programs to support the deployed families as well. All those programs provide a great service to the families but they still don't eliminate daily stressors and reminders that they are doing it alone. 

We all know deployments are part of who we are, so why am I bringing up the obvious? To remind you that not only are we Airmen -- proud to put that uniform on each morning, motivated to do our very best each day to contribute to the success of the mission and ready to defend freedom anywhere on the globe -- but we are also husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Although we can't eliminate the impact deployments have on family time, we can make sure we do our best to squeeze in as much quality family time while at home. 

Your commitment to excellence is critical to the success of the mission and the success of your family. Don't unnecessarily sacrifice family time for tasks that can wait. Don't get me wrong, there will be plenty of days you'll be asked or expected to work late and on your days off to keep the mission going, but your challenge is to do that when the mission calls and not as a norm. 

We ask a lot of our Airmen both at home and while deployed. Many of you here now are struggling in your work centers to keep your mission going with a third of your folks deployed. On top of that, there's a seemingly never-ending chain of suspenses with most due by COB today, tomorrow or ASAP. All this pressure makes it much more difficult to carve out some family time. 

Although one of our core values is "Service Before Self," it should not be interpreted to mean "service in spite of self." Your families sacrifice quality time with you every time you deploy -- don't make them sacrifice that time while you're at home too. You owe it to them and yourself. 

So, as I head back out to the lake this weekend with some fresh tackle, I hope to see more of you out there competing for that trout or at least out somewhere enjoying time with your family.