Commentary Search

  • New Found Appreciation

    My senior year of high school, I remember watching my dad leave the house, dressed in uniform, Thanksgiving morning. This was going to be my last year spending the holiday with my family all together, and he was on his way to a lunch that leadership was hosting for single Airmen living in the

  • There I Was...Another bad day survived

    On my deployment to southern Afghanistan, I was part of a two man Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) tasked as a Helicopter Response Force (HRF) for British soldiers who encountered an improvised explosive device and needed EOD support. Because our area of responsibility covered almost the

  • The "Lone Wolf" Threat

    In the news lately has been a lot of discussion about terrorist groups such as ISIS encouraging "Lone Wolves" to attack US military members in America. I take this threat seriously, because during my last assignment, ten people were killed because after making themselves easy targets through their

  • Your health: It's more than you

    On an October night in 1997, I was calmly awakened by my cousin in the middle of the night with some news....She had received a call saying that we needed to come to the hospital.  She didn't express to me why, but when we arrived, there lie my best friend... my mother.She had tubes coming out of

  • There I Was...

    On 1 September 2013, I started on another journey that would land me in Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Although it first came as a surprise due to my short time on station, it was just another deployment...or so I thought. Upon my 1 a.m. arrival to KAF, I was met by a cheerful fellow who was very

  • Something bigger than me

    Hearing a five or six-year-old child say "my daddy's dead" or "my daddy's gone" is not something you can prepare for. And to hear a child express it so calmly can be disheartening.When I signed up for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors Good Grief Camp, a program specific to families that

  • There I Was...

    "You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you", (Walter Elias Disney, The Story of Walt Disney 1957). There I was in my living room making plans with my wife to take our nieces to the local water park. We had just enrolled in college with

  • Profession of Arms

    As I was debating what I wanted to write about, I reflected on my first year in command and thought about what stood out to me most. One question that seemed to resonate as I often find myself asking folks is "do you think that what you do is just a job?" I often use this question as a lead-in to

  • Effectively Communicating

    Successful outcomes depend heavily on effective communication. History illustrates this perspective in individual and family life, the workplace, desperate situations, and on the strategic world stage. Military leaders understand the importance of effective communication in relation to successful

  • There I Was...Armed with a cell phone loaded with numbers

    So there I was, receiving the phone call confirming that I was selected for a short notice deployment tasking. I was going to serve as the 1st sgt. for the 780th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania. It's a small city in south-east Romania near the Black Sea. My report no