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  • Thank you and carry on

    As both an Airman and a commander, I have witnessed and taken part in countless change of command ceremonies. With each ceremony, I am struck with the symbolism and transitions that take place with the passing of the colors, the formation of the troops, and the first and final salutes.Team

  • Readiness -- an operational imperative

    "Train like you fight." As Airmen, we are familiar with this saying, but it is more than a "bumper sticker" -- it is literally life or death in war fighting. The world remains a dangerous place and Airmen delivering combat power from air, space and cyberspace will increasingly be called upon to fly,

  • My job is prosecuting sexual assault

    Here's a simple truth...sexual offenders reject our core values of integrity, service and excellence, in favor of following their own base, undisciplined, criminal desires. Most sexual assaults committed by Airmen are "blue on blue," or Airmen victimizing other Airmen. So in addition to rejecting

  • Mission success for our Nation

    Mission success in the Air Force has always required a high level of commitment. Former legendary Green Bay Packers Head Coach Vince Lombardi once stated, "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Nowhere is

  • ‘Smart Defense’ in action for NCOs in today’s AF

    At a recent NATO summit in Chicago, leaders from the world's most successful political-military alliance agreed to embrace the tenets of "Smart Defense" to ensure the alliance can develop, acquire and maintain the capabilities required to meet the goals for a more capable and modernized alliance --

  • Attitude: The key ingredient in resiliency

    "There will be demands upon your ability, upon your endurance, upon your disposition, upon your patience...just as fire tempers iron into fine steel so does adversity temper one's character into firmness, tolerance, and determination" - Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. As we've gone through the past

  • Importance of family in Airman resilience

    In the last few months, we have focused on our Airmen's resiliency in the forms of briefings, roll calls, training, down days and other forums to focus on our most important resource--our people.As you recall from your training, the four pillars of resiliency are physical fitness, mental fitness,

  • Mentoring, what does it mean to you?

    We all have memories of being mentored or mentoring someone. Air Force Instruction 36-2618 "The Enlisted Force Structure" speaks of mentoring at all levels. At every point in my 18 years of wearing our uniform I think fondly of the people who took the time to teach me, lead me and mold me.I think

  • Transforming sexual assault prevention in the Air Force

    Air Force leadership takes sexual assault prevention very seriously and continuously works towards creating a culture where sexual assaults are eliminated. To that end, senior Air Force leaders recently participated in a Sexual Assault Prevention Summit at Andrews AFB, Maryland in the continuing

  • Safe summer driving: Are you ready for your trip?

    It's finally summer in Germany and the open road is calling your name. Before you hit the autobahn for a weekend getaway or take a drive in the beautiful German countryside, here are a few pointers to ensure you have a pleasant and safe summer outing.First you need to make sure you are prepared