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  • Assessing risks is mission essential

    We are all home, at least for now. After four months deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the members of the 41st Rescue Squadron A-Flight fulfilled the final half of an eight-month commitment supporting our combat search and rescue mission. While flying home on the

  • Unsung heroes: Airmen left behind contribute to GWOT

    Throughout the past month more than 950 of our Gunfighters left Mountain Home Air Force Base to serve in far away places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates. They will be away from their families and loved ones, and many of them in harms way for periods of up to one year.

  • Like football, get on the field and make the play

    As I watched this year's Super Bowl, I was reminded repeatedly how teams or organizations need quality leadership to be successful and achieve their goals. Over and over during the game, I listened as the announcers focused on Indianapolis Colts coach, Tony Dungy, and how his calm, quiet leadership

  • Signs of compassion, signs of hope

    Major Pickart, chief of the wing public affairs office, recently deployed from Mountain Home Air Force Base to Balad Air Base, Iraq, as part of a regularly scheduled deployment. The following are some of his initial thoughts after his first few days at the base. I'm making the most of it here at

  • Salutes honor those serving yesterday, today, tomorrow

    Feelings of bitterness and loss caused the shoulders to slump, head held down, with no purpose or focus. Unaware of the surroundings, mixed emotions gripped the thoughts of the present. Time had run out. There was no way to show respect, thanks, gratitude or feelings of respect and pride to the

  • What ever happened to personal accountability?

    We are living in a society where it is so easy to blame someone else for everything that happens to us, especially the bad. In an effort to become a gentler, kinder Air Force, I believe we have lost the essence of personal accountability. Recently the 9th Medical Group has seen an increase in the

  • Is the quality of our Airmen declining?

    I've heard in recent years, and still do hear occasionally, from people not familiar with our Air Force or, "old timers," that the quality of our Airmen is not what it used to be. They say, "too many Airmen go bad." I can clearly say these people are profoundly wrong. Yes, in my almost 28 years of

  • 21st century here we come

    You might have read the recent article in Stars and Stripes that talked about base newspapers becoming Web-only products. When I first received word that the Air Force wanted us to stop publishing a hard-copy paper and instead turn to the Web, my reaction was well short of enthusiastic (a polite

  • Airmen as 'light infantry' may hinder AF mission

    Every couple of weeks I have the pleasure of briefing Ellsworth Air Force Base's newest first-term Airmen. Every time I brief these young Airmen, I make the point that the majority of our day-to-day focus here in the 28th Bomb Wing is to put "Bombs on Target from B-1 Bombers." However, since Sept.

  • Every subordinate deserves a supervisor who can write

    Every subordinate deserves a supervisor who can write. This is a critical point I want to get across to you because Air Force careers depend on skilled writing as applied to performance reports, award nominations, decorations, letters of recommendation, etc. Writing effective enlisted performance