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  • Ready, set, compliant, go

    What exactly does it mean to be really ready? We are routinely afforded opportunities to demonstrate our readiness to external visiting higher headquarters inspection teams. One key measurement of an organization's readiness is its ability to demonstrate compliance. An important question we should

  • Are You Ready?

    The word "ready" can be interpreted a lot of different ways. Just ask anyone who's ever waited for someone who said they were ready -- except for one more thing they need to do. Most of us tend to assume the cost of not being ready in our personal lives is merely a matter of inconvenience. However,

  • Tips for your journey to becoming a more effective professional

    As a relatively new member of the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment team, I recently had the opportunity to share with a group of our branch leaders the philosophy I follow as a professional Airman.Here are the tips I shared with them to help in their journey to becoming a more

  • September 11th -- Never forget (part 3)

    At the time of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, I was a flight attendant with Delta Air Lines, based out of New York City. That morning, I was at the John F. Kennedy Air Port in a meeting, which began at 8 a.m. Our meeting got interrupted and we turned on the news at 9 a.m., right after the first

  • September 11th -- Never Forget (Part 2)

    When discussing 9/11, the most common question among Americans is "Where were you?" My answer, most often in silence, is "I was there."I was at the Pentagon, September 11, 2001-- Room 5e229 to be specific. Those familiar with the Pentagon will know that equates to room 229 on the fifth and top floor

  • September 11th -- Never forget (Part 1)

    I look at my life as a sound track -- and a song that describes my life during the 9/11 terrorist attacks would be 'Where were you when the World Stopped Turning' by Alan Jackson.I remember it very clearly. I was stationed at Lajes AB, Azores-Portugal. It was September 11, 2001 about 1 p.m. local

  • Is it my right?

    Back during the days of the Napoleonic Wars, England needed able-bodied men to fight its conflicts. It was common practice to search out the pubs in the early morning hours for drunks--who would be piled into carts and hauled down to the ships in port. Many a sailors became an able-bodied seaman by

  • Airman seeking other airmen

    I am looking for someone to take my place. My time in this uniform is running relatively short and, all too soon, I will change direction and venture down a new path. It is not my position or even my rank that needs to be filled. It is far more basic than that. You see, this is my Air Force and I

  • June 6, 1944: a day of great sacrifice, victory

    Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force -- You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you ... Your task will not be an

  • The first step is the hardest

    It started with an assignment I wasn't too keen on taking. We all have them, where we have already been there, done that and wanted something else. I knew the assignment would be difficult since I recently retrained into a different career field. I hadn't expected or been told before arriving that I