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Commentary Search

  • Mustache March, Air Force Heritage and you

    So it's March and what's the first thing you think about in this glorious month...Mustache March of course. Maybe not, but this year Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh issued a challenge to the force for this March."I don't think we've ever had an all-in Mustache March, have we?" Welsh said

  • Witnessing the End of an Era

    Kyrgyz journalists and photographers trailed off the buses and spread out to observe a mostly empty flightline parking ramp. There was departing cargo squatting on the first parking spaces of the Foxtrot ramp of the Manas International Airport where once KC-135s had been poised to fulfill their

  • Keeping the bond throughout deployment

    Deployments are different after you have a kid. I just never realized how different deployments would be once I became a parent. This deployment I am a mother. Sometimes I wonder how a mother could leave her 1-year-old baby like I have done, as if I am abandoning my child in some way, but then I

  • My Force Shaping Journey

    In 2007, when given the opportunity to voluntarily separate from the Air Force, I was faced with one of the most difficult decisions of my life. Having started as a 17-year-old cadet in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and having served nine years on active duty, I didn't even know what

  • Airman's donation saves sister's life

    I've always known my sister Cassie and I were alike. We looked like twins growing up even though we were four years apart. But, I didn't realize how alike we were until the day I found out I could save her life.I was finishing my junior year in college the first time I heard the "C" word...Cancer.

  • Who holds you accountable?

    I would like to take this opportunity to present my views on a critical attribute for military, professional, and personal success; that attribute is accountability.We can easily understand how accountability ties into each of our core values, and if asked, we would likely universally respond that

  • It is not just about you anymore

    I could break out any Air Force Instruction, The Enlisted Force Structure, Air Force Doctrine Document 1-1, or even "The Little Blue Book" of the Air Force Core Values, all of which will tell you how to be the Airman you are supposed to be. All NCO's should know these to make themselves better

  • Be a 'ghost' this holiday season

    I need each of you to be a "ghost" to your Wingman during this holiday season. No, that doesn't mean I want you to "disappear" when it's convenient for you-quite the opposite.Let me explain by saying, "Bah, humbug!" Dickens' classic Ebenezer Scrooge character perhaps sums up what your Wingman might

  • Airmanship 101; 360 degrees of trust, respect, mentorship

    A little more than 10 years ago, a wing commander and his command chief instituted the phrase, "Trust your leaders, respect your peers and mentor your subordinates." At that time our wing had an incredibly high operations tempo and faced significant challenges related to "doing more with less." We