Commentary Search

  • Professional development: Not just a block to be filled

    Whether it is airman leadership school, NCO academy or senior NCO academy, we all have professional military education we have to attend throughout our careers.However, there are other courses that can enhance your supervisory and leadership capabilities: the NCO enlisted professional enhancement

  • Warren members make a difference

    We are confronted with challenges every day in the Air Force. Sometimes, those challenges seem so overwhelming and difficult that we will never make a difference. It is sometimes difficult for us to see how we can change or fix things in our organization.For instance, in the early '60s the Boston

  • Warren rocks!

    I've been assigned to Warren for about eight months. I'm still getting used to understanding Twentieth Air Force issues, but I have come to know this base well.Our mission here is very important and one that most Americans know little about. The young men and women who perform this mission are

  • Six little words

    "Shirt, have you got a minute?" Many conversations for a first sergeant start with these six little words. What follows can be anything from "I lost my I.D. card" to "I've lost a family member."No matter the issue, it's important to the individual, and therefore, it's important to their first

  • Doggone leadership

    It's a bad guy's worst nightmare. An 85-pound "blur of black and gray fur" running after him at 35 miles per hour and closing fast. When he looks back, he sees two big green eyes fixated on him and only him, and then notices the sharp teeth extending from black lips to take a bite out of the slowest

  • Excellence: Are you just going through motions?

    Excellence. It's a hard concept to fathom. How would you define excellence? Is it in the old Army motto, "Be all you can be?" Or is it just an utterance as the lead character in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" so eloquently stated, "Excellent, dude!"Excellence is easy to overlook. We are in the era

  • Creating a sense of gratitude

    I will never forget Nov. 7, 2004.Just past noon, my family and I almost lost our lives on a two-lane road in rural Virginia.We had just been hit head-on by a young man who had swerved into our lane as he came around a sharp curve. He was going about 45 miles per hour when the crash occurred. Both of

  • Airman's Manual refreshes skills

    I've always taken my Airman's Manual with me on past deployments just in case I needed it, but I never took a great interest in it. Some Warren Airmen read it during exercises and then stow the book in their mobility bag to collect dust until the next exercise.However, procedures for certain

  • Overcoming challenges of cross-training, PCS

    As military members, most of us have experienced a permanent change of station at one time or another in our careers. But have you ever thought of the difficulties you might face when you arrive at a base or try to adjust to a new area, especially when the area or base might contrast with what you

  • Financial readiness key to peace of mind

    Our world has evolved into a global economy and the military has been in step with that change.The military operation tempo has gone full bore since the early nineties and shows no indication of slowing anytime soon. We are an expeditionary Air Force, and for our service members, it is no longer a