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COMMENTARIES

  • Uncommon Airman

    I do not choose to be a common man.It is my right to be uncommon--if I can.I seek opportunity--not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.I refuse to

  • PTSD a four letter word we shouldn't be afraid to use

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a four letter "word" that we should not be afraid to say in public. For many people, their knowledge of PTSD is limited to media or movie portrayals like the "The Hurt Locker."It is important that as a community we go beyond these accounts and become

  • Be a Wingman: Understand the signs and symptoms

    The intrinsic responsibilities bestowed upon us as Wingmen, supervisors and members of the military, revolve around a creed of looking out for one another. Why is it that we tend to ignore those who are spiraling downward?Often times, we as military members get fixated on our job and tasks-at-hand,

  • That narrow way

    How do you define a leader? Is a leader the individual who creates an atmosphere of teamwork and camaraderie in the workplace? Someone who quickly and easily gathers support to accomplish that short-notice tasker from your boss? Is a leader someone you place your trust in to get you through the

  • Just put it down; It's time to earn the title bestowed upon us

    For the past 26 years--my time, so far, in the Air Force--I have heard leaders describe our generation in flattering terms on numerous occasions. We have been called the "best and the brightest," "the new 'greatest' generation," and countless other names commenting on how wonderful we are.Until

  • Memorial Day: Remembering our fellow servicemembers

    This year, Memorial Day hits a little closer to home. While it's a day to reflect and remember the sacrifices borne by all those who've died while serving our nation in uniform, my thoughts are turned toward the recent losses we've suffered here and in the Air Mobility Command community.As

  • How do we balance it all?

    I was speaking to a group of company grade officers recently and one of them asked, "How do you balance it all?"He knew that I had a very busy job with a lot of demands on my time. He also knew that I had a family and, quite possibly, some personal interests as well. How do I balance it all? The

  • Trying to live, Living to "Tri"

    Our friendship started in the early hours of June 24, 2012, when I was hit by a truck as I crossed a street. The first time we met I was lying unconscious on a stretcher in a trauma bay within Barnes-Jewish Hospital's emergency department. Scott Farber was the trauma surgery resident on call working

  • We can really learn from kids

    It wasn't until recently that I learned there is truly something beautiful about being appreciated.In the last six weeks I have been volunteering with Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and

  • There I was...: Of angels and heroes who kept us safe

    There I was taking my first step off of a C-17, arriving in a foreign land. I felt from that point on that my life would never be the same.I saw, I heard, I ran to and hid what I had grown accustomed to during that temporary life. During most nights as I lay in my bed in my wooden room in Bagram,