12 Jul 2013

Leave People & Things Better than How You Found Them

As a young boy scout, I learned to always leave a campsite cleaner than I found it. This usually meant picking trash left-behind by others. Little did I realize at the time that this was an important life-long lesson: "leave things better than you found them." When you leave a room, clean up if needed, don't leave it for the next person. Wipe off

13 Jun 2013

Commentary: What I Respect and Admire About Airmen

It seems to me that we spend a lot of time in our wing talking about mentoring. If we're spending as much time mentoring as we are talking about it, then we must be doing one awesome job. I have a feeling that isn't necessarily so. As a good mentor, we have a responsibility to our subordinates to let them know our expectations to be successful. I

17 May 2013

Commentary: Talent and Hustle

Each of us not only have our own goals and dreams but we also have the desire to live life to the fullest. In order to get there, we need the drive and fortitude to make the necessary changes and decisions to get to our desired end state. We are all wired to want more, to make improvements in our lives and in ourselves in order to be the best

9 May 2013

Commentary: The Envious

The Envious spend so much time worrying about what everyone else is getting that they often miss the opportunities they themselves have to be recognized. Opportunities to excel come up every day, yet the envious often misses them, then they wallow around in self-pity because everyone else is getting recognized except them. There are two main

2 May 2013

Looking Back and Forward

This past week, two events occurred that caused me to pause and reflect upon my time in service. First was the 31st anniversary of when I first became an Airman and the second was conducting interviews for a new squadron superintendent, as the current superintendent will be retiring this summer after 26 years of service.In 1982 the military was in

25 Apr 2013

Military Service: 'I put on my uniform'

I was sitting in the IDS meeting and part of the agenda was reviewing items from the Caring for People Forums. One of the issues raised was, not everyone seemed to be pulling their weight as far as being available (for various reasons) for deployments. It was voiced that it seemed to be the same people going on deployments and the same people that

18 Apr 2013

New Travel Feature: Ozark, Ark.

This is a new feature series by the 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs. The intent is to inform Team Little Rock about interesting travel opportunities and activities happening around the state and nearby. If you have suggestions or comments, contact the PA office at 987-3601. The sleepy city of Ozark, an access point to the Ozark National Forest, is

18 Apr 2013

White Space

In the Air Force we have quite a few buzzwords, such as, resiliency, wingman, excellence, and the latest addition, sequestration. These may be "buzzwords," however; they all have a variety of meanings and impact Airmen in different ways.What does sequestration mean to you? For civilian personnel, it signifies the potential for furloughs, and for

21 Mar 2013

Keeping it R.E.A.L. through challenging times

Many of our news headlines today are littered with words like "challenging," difficult" and "problematic" indicating that the future will bring tough decisions and tough times. While these words are meant to manage expectations of the future budgetary picture, as Airmen, these same words can deter us from our overall mission and potentially lead us

14 Mar 2013

Are you ready for the CUI?

The 314th Airlift Wing just went through a Consolidated Unit Inspection (otherwise known as a CUI) in December 2012. The results were "Excellent" across the board in every unit. That grade just proved to the rest of the world what I already knew...the 314th Airlift Wing has outstanding maintainers and aircrew that produce the world's best aircrew