Do a 'reality check', be prepared for anything

  • Published
  • By Maj. Timothy Hess
  • 52nd Maintenance Operations Squadron
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) --  During my freshman year at the Air Force Academy, one of the upperclassmen would come out of his room almost every morning and shout, “Reality Check! We are one day closer to our next war. What are you doing to prepare yourself for it?”

At the time, I didn’t take the statement too seriously, but within a year, our country was engaged in the first Gulf War. The words of that reality check echoed through my mind as I watched the news coverage. It was then that I first fully realized the nature of the profession of arms and that it demands us to be ready at a moment’s notice.

When I got to my first base, I ensured all my squares were filled as quickly as possible in order to be deployment qualified. Some of my peers took a more relaxed approach, thinking if a deployment did come up, there was no way they’d be picked over one of the more senior captains.

A short notice temporary duty assignment did come up, and I was selected to go because I had everything in order.

At my second base, we were on a regular air expeditionary force cycle, so most people thought they had plenty of time to get things in order before our scheduled departure date. I still made sure I got everything done a couple months early just in case the plan changed.

As it turned out, they accelerated our deployment by three months, and a lot of people were caught off guard and had to do a lot of last minute scrambling. That’s not a good way to start off a 120-day deployment.

I then got assigned to an Air Education and Training Command base and thought my TDY days were done for a while.

Late one night, I got a call from the base, informing me that one of our students had been killed in an automobile accident. My commander had volunteered me to be the family liaison officer. I was told to be at the airport at 7 a.m. the next day to fly out to the family’s house. Fortunately, I had my service dress in order and didn’t have to spend the remainder of the night preparing for the trip.

Later on during that assignment, I was selected to go TDY for a couple of months to take over a training detachment while its commander was on maternity leave. I arrived Sept. 10, 2001.

The next day, our country came under attack. I found myself at an unfamiliar base, working with people I did not know, and I was the acting detachment commander. I was extremely lucky to have an outstanding chief as the first sergeant there, and we quickly got things under control.

The point to all these examples is we are all expected to be ready to perform our duties whenever and wherever our country needs us.

Take every opportunity to make sure you are ready. Do you have all required training done and are you proficient in the tasks you will be expected to do? Are you medically qualified? Do you have your finances in order? How will the bills get paid while you are gone? Who will look after your property? Do you have a will?

These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself. If you don’t have a good answer to each of them, now is the time to do something about it. Your next deployment is now one day closer.