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Commentary Search

  • Budget should be immune to inter-service rivalries

    I recently had the privilege of visiting members of the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are doing amazing work. Serving alongside their joint team mates, their war-fighting contributions are both significant and deadly -- they are making a lasting difference to the advancement of freedom and

  • Women's History Month allows for reflection, changes

    Women's History Month provides an occasion to reflect upon our nation's history and the amazing and well-fought accomplishments of women, who have passionately defended the rights of equality to afford women the civil liberties, privileges and opportunities we have today and are continuing to

  • Living your life the way you want can impact others

    I will never forget that Sunday afternoon in Maryville, Tenn., when my parents received a phone call. My mom answered the phone and made the tell-tale gasping noise she only makes when something is wrong. She started crying and then hung up the phone. She told us my cousin had been killed in Iraq.

  • Commander offers three tools to aid supervisors

    Being a supervisor is the single greatest opportunity the Air Force can provide a leader -- the golden opportunity! Almost all of us will have this opportunity at some point in our careers. One important aspect of supervision is the fact that its inherent responsibility is also its inherent reward.

  • Time to reconsider 'work hard, play hard' motto

    "Work hard, play hard" -- it's a phrase we've all heard and many Air Force organizations use it as an informal motto. The phrase communicates the notion that we are intensely committed to doing what it takes to get the mission done, but we're not one-dimensional, mission-only people -- we approach

  • Desire, dedication, determination provide keys for fitness success

    "It was my first marathon, and I had to stop a bunch of times to take my leg off and adjust it, almost every one to two miles after mile 10, but at least I felt great afterwards, no real bad soreness either." A former squadron-mate, Lt. Col. Juan Alvarez, spoke these words to me after completing the

  • Career Focus: Decisions are your call

    Have you ever had an idea get stuck in your mind for days? It happened to me this month while I was attending a first sergeant seminar here. During several of the lectures, a recurrent phrase from the instructors kept appearing: "It's your judgment." I heard this phrase during the family care,

  • Seven tips for the "resolutionary"

    The new year often brings a wave of "resolutionaries." You know, all those folks who have a new plan to change their lives. They are out in force, filling the gyms, losing weight, quitting smoking and telling anyone who will listen about their latest behavioral change. Many are trying to fix

  • Reveille, retreat deserve adherence to military tradition

    You probably have heard the music coming over the base giant voice system. In the morning, you hear a bugle rendition of "To the Colors," and, as the duty day closes, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Observation during these musical periods, known respectively as reveille and retreat, should resemble a

  • Good leadership requires a vision

    The National Security Personnel System spiral 1.1 is nearing the end of the first appraisal cycle, and with it is a chance for all of us under the new system to assess how we've done and what we need to do to make the system more effective. As I set about the task of drafting guidance for new