Commentaries

  • Duty...Not reward

    Duty. Honor. Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes

  • Lorenz on Leadership -- Sustaining a wingman culture

    On April 20, a 22-year-old man with a history of violence walked into a bookstore in Wichita Falls, Texas, and started shooting. He wounded four women, then drove to a bar and killed an employee outside before he drove home and took his own life. This tragedy sounds like so many we hear about on the

  • Embracing change a must

    When it comes to long-term success, the only constant thing in life is change. Whether it's organizational or personal, continuous improvement is a paradigm shift that doesn't come easily to some people. In fact, our natural tendency is to resist change due to a fear of the unknown. Therefore, it's

  • Lorenz on Leadership -- Motivation

    These are challenging times for our Air Force. We have been engaged in combat operations since 1990 and are balancing limited resources against an aggressive operations tempo. We are once again adjusting to maintain our authorized end strength while juggling priorities within a leveling budget. Many

  • AETC commander selected for Order of the Sword

    Air Education and Training Command enlisted members recently selected Commander Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz for induction into the Order of the Sword. The Order of the Sword is the highest honor and tribute NCOs can bestow upon an individual.General Lorenz is set to accept the honor in a formal ceremony

  • Going above and beyond

    Black Knights, you rocked the house during our Air Mobility Command Unit Compliance Inspection and Logistics Compliance Assessment Program, and your actions were nothing less than marvelous.In a time in our Air Force where "Satisfactory" is the standard, you went above and beyond to earn an overall

  • Training for victory

    For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.-- Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, circa 404 BCThe premise that training is essential for success in battle is universally

  • Arming yourself for the social media cyber war

    Coming to a workstation computer screen near you in the very near future is the ability for Airmen to engage in social networking, but with that new capability, Airmen also accept an awesome amount of responsibility.While there has been a lot of discussion about network security and preserving that

  • First Command: AETC first to influence Airmen

    To the men and women of the First Command, I leave Air Education and Training Command after spending the past 20 months honored to be your vice commander. Boy, have you taught me a lot! Thank You. Thank you for your tremendous devotion, service and professionalism. We call ourselves the First

  • Are your bags packed?

    About 10 years ago, a group commander of mine liked to ask the question: "Are your bags packed?" He was speaking, of course, about readiness to deploy. The bags he referred to weren't the A, B, C, D or E bags you might be thinking of - rather they are all the "things" we as Airmen need to do in