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COMMENTARIES

  • What's important to you?

    If you've ever gotten so caught up in the routines of daily business you found difficulty carving out time for your family or spiritual life, know you are not alone. If you've ever been pulled away from a family dinner, missed a birthday or not made it to church as a result of your pursuit of

  • More than talent accomplishes a mission; work as one team

    "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." -- Michael Jordan As we have trimmed our Air Force down, I have seen an improvement in the quality of Airmen. We no longer have room for individuals who want to take the easy way out. Most of us are here because we want to be and

  • Marching among heroes

    "Left. Left. Left-right-left." It was the first time I wore a flag harness and I didn't quite realize how much the heat would affect me while wearing my Airman Battle Uniform. Hovering at about 85 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity is somewhat unusual for this area of the Upper Midwest of the

  • When reducing energy use, knowledge is power

    Here at our "center of excellence," the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center, we impart knowledge to our students so they may be better able to perform their mission. Hopefully we are also absorbing the knowledge that is flowing all around us. Recently, during an Air Force Week in Philadelphia event

  • Any drinking means no driving

    After 29 years, it's still as if it happened yesterday. And, memory means a lot at my age. I was 18 years old and driving home on a rainy night. I had my own car; gas was under a dollar; my 8-track tape player was playing, and I was going to see the world at the expense of the Air Force. A set of

  • Use care when speaking; words are spiritual containers

    "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Most of us learned from a very early age this is not true. We know from our own experience that words have power, either for good or for bad. The book of Proverbs tells us that "death and life are in the power of the tongue." In

  • A day at Arlington is a day for remembering heroes

    The alarm clock chimed at 3 a.m. on April 9 just like it was supposed to do. My wife hit the off button and the next two minutes before I stirred seemed like an eternity. This was going to be the start of a busy day. I had to get up early to beat the morning traffic between McGuire Air Force Base,

  • Commuting to war

    Right now, 35,000 feet above the cold and treacherous North Atlantic, two hours from the nearest runway, 28 McGuire Airmen are commuting to war. Eight KC-10 aircrew members from the 2nd and 32nd Air Refueling Squadrons, and 20 KC-10 maintainers from the 605th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron are four

  • Follow your gut; it usually points to your destiny

    I've always heard people say, "Follow your gut instinct because it's probably right." For as long as I can remember, every time I was asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" the answer was different. It seemed my dream job changed as often as the seasons and was probably as

  • Saluting those 'Above All' Airmen

    As I was standing on stage in the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center's Grace Peterson Hall before 90 of the toughest Airmen you'll ever meet. Midway through talking to them, I had the realization dawn on me that these Airmen were soon heading off to war. It's not an unusual thing to think about at