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COMMENTARIES

  • Safe summers start with the right attitude!

    While America celebrated its Independence this past weekend, we received some sad news that one of our Total Force partners passed away from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident that occurred in late May.Tech. Sgt. William Wolfe, a reservist who was on active duty and assigned to the 932nd

  • Remember ‘why we fight’ this Memorial Day

    There's a small bulletin board just down the hall from my deployed office that has a simple sign above it that reads, "Why We Fight."Placed on the bulletin board are a collection of miscellaneous items put up with mismatched push-pins. One item is a desert-colored U.S. flag patch. The patch is

  • 21st AS helps out overseas

    The 21st Airlift Squadron, deployed as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron was recently tasked with a rare humanitarian assistance mission to airlift supplies into southern Tajikistan. According to various sources, including MSNBC, this region recently experienced devastating floods which

  • Water safety learned the hard way

    On Nov. 1, 2008, I was enjoying an unseasonably warm day at the Heber Springs., Ark., reservoir with my family and friends. The water temp was still in the upper 70s, so it was a great day to be on the lake. We started the day with some boating on the pontoon boat, with our friends riding on their

  • Imagine

    Just imagine you are in a different country, with different laws and customs. You are with a group, out late at night. Collectively you decide to go to an all-hours club across the street from your hotel. In order to reach your destination you have to cross a wide, six-lane roadway. There are

  • Five minutes to impact

    It was March 12 -- a day after Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited my deployed base here and spoke to the hundreds of servicemembers of my wing and base units.I took a look at my watch and it read 5:55 p.m. plus a few seconds. We had five minutes to the start of our weekly wing retreat

  • Family experiences DePLAYment during deployment and reintegration

    No amount of patriotism can overcome the stress that deployments bring. I don't look forward to leaving my spouse and children for deployment; I'm sure you are no different.August 18, 2009, my family dropped me off at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. I was on my way to the Horn of Africa for

  • A deployed Air Force 'birthday'

    On Feb. 18, 1992, I stepped on a plane in Milwaukee, Wisc., and flew to San Antonio, Texas, with thoughts running through my mind telling me, "What did you just get yourself into?" I'm sure every other new Airman headed there has the same thoughts. It's especially confirmed when you get to the

  • Driving safety starts with leadership from the bottom

    The Air Force lost 49 Airmen in fatal vehicle accidents in Fiscal Year 2009, and 20 of these were on motorcycles - this is unacceptable. These 49 deaths are the highest since 2004, and nearly eight times the total number of Airmen killed in aviation accidents in the same period. Conventional wisdom