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Commentary: Staying informed should be part of your routine

  • Published
  • By Col. Rizwan Ali
  • 386th Expeditionary Mission Support Group commander
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  As we progress through our careers, many of us are told that we need to keep current with what is going on around the world, so that we can better understand the global role that the United States plays. We are also told that we have to keep current with the latest developments in many other areas, such as our career fields and the Air Force community. This is a daunting task for anyone.

Keeping updated with the latest information is very important. But most of us struggle to find the best way to do this. What works best for me is a regular daily, weekly and monthly routine that I can follow regardless of whether I am at my home station or deployed.

Here is a routine that you can use or modify to suit your needs:

1) Daily: Read the top 5-6 paragraphs of all the major stories of a good daily newspaper such as The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Times, Washington Post, etc. You can either go to their websites or subscribe to their RSS feeds. You can also pick up a free copy of Stars and Stripes at the Learning Resource Center (LRC) or the dining facility.

2) Daily: Skim through the stories on the Department of Defense's Early Bird. This is a great source of daily news about issues that the DoD, including the Air Force, is facing. Our Rock Public Affairs shop e-mails this out to everyone daily, but you can also go to the DoD Early Bird website and get the same news stories.

3) Weekly: Pick up a good news magazine that covers national and international topics. The Economist is arguably the best weekly news magazine but is out of the price range for many of our Airmen. Luckily, our LRC carries copies of The Economist, which you can read for free.

4) Weekly: Read through the Air Force Times. Once again, our LRC subscribes to the AF Times, and you are welcome to relax and read the paper at your leisure.

5) Monthly: Skim through a couple of monthly publications about your specific career field. Most of these are provided free by the publishers to folks in the military. If you do not know what publications are available for your career field, talk to your supervisor. It is likely those publications are already available for you in your work center.

6) Monthly: Pick a good non-fiction book and read it. If you need suggestions on what books to read, pick one of the many excellent volumes on the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's Reading List. The LRC has all these books, and more, available for you to check out.

As you can see, developing a regular plan to stay updated on current events, the military and your career field is not difficult. It is also not expensive. All the items I mentioned above are either available for free at the Rock LRC or available free on-line. Use the list above as a guide and modify it to suit your personal preferences.