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COMMENTARIES

  • Coming to you from the flight deck

    Thirty-two thousand feet.  Four hundred and fifty miles per-hour.  It's 2 a.m., and quiet.  The aircrew of Reach 723 is just starting its journey across the Atlantic.  Because my commentary deadline for the Patriot is the same week as one of my all-too-infrequent C-17 missions, the flight deck is my

  • Please don't thank me for my service

    The other day a good friend and mentor, a retired AF Master Sergeant, sent me a message made up of a few simple words. Words that we, folks who wear a military uniform, may be accustomed to ... "Thank you for your service." I don't know about you, but I am very uncomfortable when people thank me

  • Leadership is crucial

    Leadership is crucial at all levels of the organization especially in a squadron as diverse as the 6th Force Support Squadron with 63 Air Force Specialty Codes, 60 buildings and nearly 600 employees.Each Airman not only plays an integral role in being a member of the team, but also in building the

  • Sooo... What Are You Reading?

    "There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." - Ray BradburyI'm a book nerd.There... I said it.I've always enjoyed a good book and many times perhaps made some questionable decisions about the times that I've chosen to read books (My wife claims I read six books

  • Bridge the communication gap between Ops, Maint

    I'm a crew chief in the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here and in my years on the flight line, I have noticed a number of pitfalls in which maintainers could possibly be trapped. The most prominent would have to be a sense of complacency and an inability to see the big picture. As

  • Sacrifices...Don't Underestimate Their Importance

    As I was reviewing some enlisted performance reports and decorations today, I started contemplating a huge event in my life that occurred almost 20 years ago. In April of 1995, I asked my then girlfriend Tiffani, a fellow Airman at the time, to be my wife, for better or worse. We were married later

  • Do something

    "What can I do to make a difference?" If you're like me, this is the question you ask yourself about sexual assault in the Air Force. As legal professionals we're trained to respond to any argument. But when you read so many conflicting reports about sexual assault in the media, when you hear

  • Back to Basics: Team Identity Changing "I" to "We"

    We in the MacDill AFB community are all part of many teams. Be it in the smallest unit, up through the military echelons of the combatant commands; we are part of many groups culminating to "Team MacDill". But, do you really identify yourself as part of Team MacDill? Does your team have conflict

  • Adaptation a survival trait in modern days

    Sir Winston S. Churchill once said, "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."If this is, in fact, true, I humbly submit that the Air Force is striving for perfection. From the birth of our service in 1947, we've experienced phenomenal changes in our equipment, capabilities and

  • I really shouldn't be here ... times two

    A couple of feet, a half a second. These may seem like insignificant measurements; but when combined with fatigue, a couple of feet almost cost me my career, and that half a second almost ended my life.There was a time when I was an enlisted aircraft electrical and environmental systems specialist