8 Aug 2009

Your safety is our business

Editor's note: At the time of this submission, Sergeant Lowe was assigned to the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Group. He has since redeployed to the North Dakota Air National Guard.Moving back into a maintainer's mindset, I remember my feelings at seeing quality assurance arrive in my work area. Whether on the flight line, in a missile silo, or

31 Jul 2009

Each of us key to joint mission

Who has the most important job on base? Is it the pilots because they fly the planes and drop the bombs? Or maybe the command post because they are responsible for command and control issues? How about the folks in the 379th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron because they feed us, lodge us, and care for all our administrative needs? What about

26 Jul 2009

Are you up or down?

Here's a simple question for you to ponder. What is one of the easiest things any of us can do to make our deployment a better experience? Develop a good workout plan? Eat more healthy foods? Pray more? All of these are good options, but I'm thinking of something even more basic and easier to affect. It has to do with a choice each of us have in

19 Jul 2009

Putting life in perspective 6,000 miles from home

What's the most important statistic of this war? Bombs dropped? Sorties flown? Territory secured? I'd argue the most important number of this war to date is this: 5,059. Unfortunately, this number is not static--it grows every day. It's the number of American service men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the commencement of OEF and

12 Jul 2009

Mission First, People Always

Wow! What an amazing first week in command. This first week has literally flown by. It's hard to put into words how humbled and honored I am to lead this historic Wing. This is the largest, most diverse Wing in the AOR but the most impressive part I've seen is the people. Without exception, I've been incredibly impressed with every Airman, Soldier,

27 Jun 2009

Commander bids farewell to 379th

It has been an honor to serve with all of you as we lived and served together while conducting combat operations from this strategic base.  Even after a year here, I still pinch myself when I wake up and walk out the front door knowing I am on the Grand Slam team.  The highest compliment I can think of is when the USAFCENT Commander needs massive

20 Jun 2009

In faith of our fathers

Father's Day is a day we all take to look upon our past or our future or both.  As a deployed father of a 5-year old, I realize now more than ever how my presence in his life is probably like my father's in mine.  I loved when he was home, but I missed him terribly when he wasn't.  Like many of you, this year I am thousands of miles apart from them

13 Jun 2009

Force protection equals mission success

Executing the mission in such a dynamic environment as ours takes tremendous focus, unrelenting energy and unwavering resolve by all who have answered the call to serve and put themselves in harm's way for such a noble cause.  From ensuring air tasking orders are accomplished with optimum precision to conducting force sustainment operations, force

9 Jun 2009

Stay Active, Stay Involved

Welcome to the Grand Slam Wing.  It's a truly awesome and inspiring place to be.  Every day the men and women here accomplish the mission to find it, fix it, move it, gas it, and kill it with power and precision.  As the area of responsibility's busiest power projection platform, taking care of the mission is always easy -- it's the number one

30 May 2009

It could always be worse ...

We've all heard it at some point in our life.  "Back in my day, I had to walk up hill both ways, in the snow, in my bare feet ..." I guess it goes to show you that someone does have it harder and that it could always be worse.When I was six years old, I had the opportunity to live in a third-world country for almost three years.    While we lived