Commentary Search

  • Preventing sexual assaults

    Ever since I was a teenager I have read true crime books. I have read numerous stories about killers and rapists who committed hideous crimes against men and women. Since most of the books I have read are stories about women who were abducted by a stranger, raped and then killed, I naturally assumed

  • It seemed like a good idea at the time

    Jeff Foxworthy has nothing on my family. No kidding - this really happened. I grew up in an old farmhouse. My older brother Joey and I lived upstairs, where the only source of electricity was a bare bulb hanging in the center of the room, to which we ran a spider web of extension cords. Dad's an

  • Holy warrior reflects on life, service

    When you read this, I'll have celebrated my 50th birthday ... hard to believe. Another milestone in my life will happen in April - I'll have 20 years of total service in the United States Air Force. Also, hard to believe. Attaining two milestones within a month forces me to reflect a little bit on

  • Leading edge of change hails from Hickam

    "The times, they are a changing," and we are right in the middle of that change at Hickam. The stand up of 13th Air Force as a Component Numbered Air Force in October 2006 brought a dramatic new capability to the Pacific and world stage. We are a nation at war and the realities of the 21st century

  • Commander's Risk Management

    You've heard a lot about Operational Risk Management and maybe even Personal Risk Management, but what about Commander' s Risk Management? As a commander of a unit that suffered two non-combat related deaths in two months, I certainly learned a lot about my unit during that stressful time, but I

  • A list for success helps today's battlefield Airman

    Every Marine, a Rifleman! So goes one of the most well known credos of the United States Marine Corps. Like us Airmen, Marines each have their own specialties. But the bottom line for the Marines is that no matter what their specialty happens to be, they are riflemen first. Historically as our

  • Spiritual fitness—like water on poison ivy

    Poison ivy--poison sumac! If you've never had it, you'll never know the sheer torture those four words represent. As a child I was a poison ivy and sumac magnet. We played outdoors all summer long and climbed trees that were covered with poison ivy and tramped through weeds filled with poison sumac.

  • Great Americans, Great Patriots

    A young captain I knew frequently used the phrase, "You're a great American"--it had a real nice ring to it. I used this powerful phrase to honor people in my unit and to show quick appreciation for the daily tasks that I sometimes took for granted. It didn't take me long, however, to realize the

  • One child can make a huge difference

    I just witnessed something that moved me deeply and I wanted to share this feeling. I hope you do not mind reading this. The other day I was coming home from work carrying a lot of stuff, physical training uniform, shoes, school books and my laptop, when the music for the National Anthem sounded. I

  • Force reductions streamline process improvement

    It's a turbulent time to be in the Air Force. We're expeditionary and fighting a Global War on Terrorism. Anyone wearing a uniform is in harm's way, not just our traditional warfighters like aircrew members, tactical air control parties and security forces. We're bringing on new weapons systems and