Commentary Search

  • Safety is a Combat Skill

    All critical combat skills require constant training and practice. Failure to do so allows the skill to degrade which ultimately leads to loss of proficiency. The loss of proficiency in core tasks can be dangerous and have a disastrous effect on a unit's ability to perform its mission. In the flying

  • Military Family Appreciation Week 2009

    As we count our blessings this month, America's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coast Guardsmen serve day and night around the globe to defend our Nation. We are all very proud of them, and yet we should never forget that none of them do it alone. The extraordinary families who support them

  • AMC Commander: ‘You are all heroes’

    As my 38 years in the Air Force come to a close, I find myself reflecting on the great accomplishments made by mobility Airmen...past and present. Ninety-one years ago we began developing the core competencies that define the Air Mobility Command (AMC) we know today. Beginning with innovations in

  • Where others have gone before

    I stared at the rain streaming down the outside of my dormitory window at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center campus on Nov. 11. It was barely getting to be light outside as the early morning stirrings of all of us in the Combat Airman Skills Training Course were getting ready for another long

  • Gen. Lichte's Veteran's Day Message

    Veteran's Day is the time for all of us to say thank you and pay tribute to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving our great nation with honor and dignity. We owe our freedom to the unwavering support and sacrifice of those who have served and continue to do so

  • Living among patriots

    Every place I live I try to make sure I have an American flag, with no rips or tears, properly displayed in the front of my home. It's not because I'm overly patriotic, it's because I'm so thankful that I live in the United States and that I have the privilege of serving as an Air Force Airman. The

  • A lifetime history lesson in a day

    Rarely in the career of an Airman can you learn so much about Air Force history in such a short time. For me, it fell into one day. That day, July 22, happened when I went to Air Mobility RODEO 2009 at McChord AFB, Wash. My job was to work my public affairs role in highlighting the competition. On

  • The 17-year-old windbreaker

    In 1992, I was going through what most people would refer to as a "life change." During this course of change, I joined the Air Force, got married to a wonderful woman and moved overseas for the first time. I also became a stepfather. After I married my wife Bobbi on May 4, 1992, while in technical

  • Building resiliency into body, mind and spirit

    Testimony of the most seasoned combat veterans and the bravest warriors witness to the reality that stress in combat is unavoidable. Experts who treat wounded warriors understand, and have provided evidence; the stress of war is a unique kind of trauma in the human experience. Being a warrior,

  • Happy to be called the ‘birth mother’s husband’

    - In all of my 40 years of living, I've been called a lot of things. Over the past 10 years, however, I've had one title only a few people hold - the "birth mother's husband." I was referred to as the "birth mother's husband" this past April while attending a wedding for my wife Bobbi's "birth"