Commentaries

  • An ode to Adam

    Early in the oncoming tide of Airmen moving in and out of Little Rock this summer, our base will lose a veteran C-130 maintainer as the 314th Maintenance Group commander, Col. Adam Dickerson, once again leaves Little Rock and heads off to the Middle East for a year's duty ... again. He's been my

  • Airmen are the keys to success

    Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley spoke recently at the Air Force Association's 27th Annual Air Warfare Symposium about the Air Force's top priorities. He outlined the five priorities that we, as a service, have committed to tackling in the coming years: strengthening the nuclear enterprise;

  • International training increases at Little Rock

    Little Rock Air Force Base is the home of C-130 combat airlift, and the mission of the 314th Airlift Wing is to train the world's best C-130 and C-21 combat airlifters to fly, fight and win. This mission is achieved by our experienced maintainers, operators and aided by a strong partnership with our

  • Trust: The foundation of who we are

    Standing for hundreds of years as a symbol of strength and resolve, the Great Wall of China extends for a formidable 3,948 miles as the world's longest man-made structure.That's pretty impressive, but what does the Great Wall of China have to do with trust and the United States Air Force?It all

  • 314th Airlift Wing: The inspector general says "You're excellent"

    This past Monday morning, I sat in a video teleconference with Maj. Gen. Mark Solo, 19th Air Force commander, as the Air Education and Training Command Inspector General's team chief out-briefed him on the results of the 314th Airlift Wing's unit compliance inspection. After just five months as the

  • 314th Airlift Wing: America’s Foundation for Combat Airlift!

    As the 314th Airlift Wing commander, I am proud to welcome you to "The Rock"! Our team here represents America's -- indeed the globe's -- total force foundation for combat airlift. Representing three major commands, Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard, we are the world's only

  • Hammering the point home

    "Never use a hammer to swat a fly off someone's head" --John C. Maxwell.Many of my life lessons came from my parents. They would find something I did like getting home after curfew and they would calmly explain their concern for me and how they thought something bad had happened. In the end,

  • Wrapping it up: Innovation and Focus

    With the new year upon us and fresh resolutions among us, our fourth and fifth themes are particularly relevant. As you remember, we previously discussed the first three of our five themes: Mission, Standards and Partnerships. These three themes inform the current situation. Our last two themes,

  • T'is the season to look out for one another

    As members of Team Little Rock, we are all very busy throughout the year. In the aircraft maintenance community we are constantly supporting training, test and operational missions to such places as Yuma Air Station in the West to Pope Air Force Base in the East with numerous destinations in

  • A cornucopia of fin flashes

    If you've been near 'The Rock' flightline lately, you may have noticed some C-130s that don't have "The Rock" or "Arkansas Air National Guard" painted on the tails. There's new color atop many of our gray transports, and those fin flashes read, "Maxwell," "Bragg-Pope" or "Youngstown" ... and as of