F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. -- We lost one of our own last week--Tech. Sgt. Ricky Smith, 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron. Sergeant Smith was a superior NCO and will be dearly missed. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Calyssa and his family.

Cheyenne has a rich history. We are who we are because of those who have come before us. The values and traits they embodied have been passed down. For us at Warren, we have a strong foundation built upon the cowboy way of life. This base has had many famous people pass through our gates. One such prominent person was country recording artist, Chris LeDoux. He came to Wyoming via the military when his father was stationed here. Chris would become a bareback riding world champion and then a recording artist. He stuck to the values of the cowboy way of honesty, integrity and a drive for excellence. These same attributes echo our Air Force core values. Once again, F. E. Warren and the city of Cheyenne are linked together in our rich history.

These attributes we have inherited and built upon have helped garner another award. We received some great news last week. F. E. Warren was selected as Air Force Global Strike Command's nomination for the Commander-in-Chief's Installation Excellence Award. I was told this board heavily scrutinized the packages in accordance with the judging criteria. The criteria included improvements to the work environment, enhanced productivity of the work force, use of renewable energy or items that improved the quality of life for Airmen.

This award also regards our airfield and mission operations, which we have prepped the wing for success with 735 evaluations. This paved the way to the wing earning the highest possible rating, a "Sat" in the first no-notice ICBM NSI in 18 years. In our comptroller area, our wing funded $81,000 in Quality-of-Life programs, including $10,000 in driving under the influence prevention, in which we went more than 60 days DUI free. Our Airman & Family Readiness Center was also recognized with an AF best practice for our Supervisor Awareness Sustainment Initiative, a program that improved unit spouse support for deployed members. While the competition was fierce, there can only be one winner and we took home the gold!

This is another data point of feedback for us to analyze. Questions we should continually ask ourselves are the following: How focused are we on the mission? How focused are we on removing obstacles to allow our Airmen to get the job done? How do we treat one another? How well do we use the resources we have? How focused are we on our vision and mission statements? Then when you mesh all this together, we must ask, are we combat ready? If so, how do we know? Again, winning the Commander-in-Chief Installation Excellence Award for AFGSC sends a strong signal that our focus is on the mission and our Airmen -- right where it needs to be!

I want to take a moment and pass on my personal thanks to Tommy Gonzales, 90th Civil Engineer Squadron; Jim Hunt, 90th Missile Wing Equal Opportunity; his EO team, and the National Hispanic American committee for a superb event at the Fall Hall Community Center last Friday. I like these heritage celebrations because it helps to recognize our rich and diverse cultures. I appreciate the turn out. The food was superb, as well as the music and games.

I hope you had a chance to see the Domestic Violence Awareness "Walk the Path of a Victim" this last Tuesday. The march began on the parking lot of the base clinic and ended at the F. E. Warren courtroom in Bldg. 232. Speakers at the courtroom included Glenn Garcia, Family Advocacy Outreach Manager, and Carrol Nelson, domestic violence survivor and local family law attorney. Bonnie Scotto, 90th MW Judge Advocate, coordinated this truly touching event. My thanks go out to those who facilitated, and my appreciation to those who supported by showing up for this awareness event.

Also worthy of praise is Senior Master Sgt. Rene Vite, 90th Medical Operations Squadron supervisor. Rene was recently at a local restaurant and saved someone from choking. The individual choking was a spouse of one of our security forces member. I coined Rene for her outstanding service. Thanks Rene for saving one of our own Air Force family!

As Chris LeDoux once wrote, in his song Cowboy Up, "It hurts when you get thrown, but if
you're gonna' be the best well you got to get back on." Daily excellence starts in our own back yard. Every day we get better. If we experience controversy we face it, deal with it, and learn from it. Basically, we get back on our horse and ride on toward the next conflict.
It has been said that organizations either stagnate and die or move forward and excel. From my window, we are moving smartly in the right direction. Well done Mighty Ninety, well done!

Go Forth and Conquer!