Commentary Search

  • Sexual assault: Prevention is key

    It's often been heard, "Air Force training in sexual assault prevention is overdone." We get it. However, if sexual assault prevention training is taught too much, why do we still have to respond to sexual assaults? Is it because we must continually try to change assaulters? The fact is everyone has

  • Speak up, make your healthcare safer

    Know your healthcare. You and your family members are key to making your health care safe by being an active, involved and informed member of your health care team. Research shows patients who take part in decisions about their own health care are likely to get better faster. To help prevent health

  • A change agent's philosophy

    Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook, Contemporary British philosophers, told us 30 years ago, "You have to throw the stone to get the pool to ripple." This simple line provides a useful metaphor on how to approach change within organizations. The foundation of the metaphor is the pool; it is calm and

  • Remembering why we serve

    In the summer of 2006 while assigned to the U.S. Air Force Academy, I met a young man who reinforced the reason why I serve. I was about to enter an elevator when he and his mother, an instructor at the academy, walked in preparing to ascend to the upper floors of the academic building. The mother

  • Visit highlights importance of Turkey, challenges ahead

    I traveled recently to Turkey to see Airmen at Incirlik Air Base and Izmir Air Station, and I came away impressed with not only the quality of the Airmen we have in service to our nation, but also the importance of the mission they're doing with one of our most important allies. Turkey is a

  • Memorial Day -- More than just a day off from work

    Memorial Day is a young holiday, peculiarly observed. If you have not served on a detail, volunteered for Honor Guard, or flown a missing man formation over a military ceremony on Memorial Day, you may primarily associate this holiday with the running the Indianapolis 500, the beginning of our 101

  • Transforming 'inspection preparation'

    Throughout the course of my career, I've always been fascinated by the term, "inspection prep." This rather vague term has many different meanings for different people. With recent changes in our Air Force inspection system, it's clear the term "inspection prep" has and will continue to dramatically

  • Telling your story is important

    When I was deployed to Iraq my mother said, "We have Air Force people in Iraq? What does the Air Force do there?" My mother is probably like a lot of other people out there. She's educated, watches the usual news networks every day and reads the newspapers. How can they not know about the most

  • Information discipline requires vigilance

    "Even minutiae should have a place in our collection, for things of a seemingly trifling nature, when enjoined with others of a more serious cast, may lead to valuable conclusion." When Gen. George Washington first spoke those words, his intentions were to impress upon his soldiers that the