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  • 16 minutes…

    May 20 a powerful EF-5 tornado devastated Moore, Okla. Tornadoes with the EF-5 rating are those with the most intense damage, wind as fast as 261-318 miles per hour and wind gusts over 200 mph. This disaster took the lives of 24 people, nine of them school-aged children. As we listen to this news

  • Hurricane season here

    With all the recent news about tornados, floods, hailstorms and snowstorms I bet most of you are not too focused on the granddaddy of them all - hurricanes. I know I'm not, and I should be, but we have other projects ongoing here at the National Hurricane Center, so I need to attend to those too. I

  • Self discipline key leadership quality

    Good leadership begins with good Airmanship. The best leaders who I have seen succeed have found significance in their lives and have shown self-discipline.In my opinion, their self-discipline drove a pattern of behavior which was fueled by the significance they found in their lives.One person who

  • Just put it down; It’s time to earn the title bestowed upon us

    For the past 26 years--my time, so far, in the Air Force--I have heard leaders describe our generation in flattering terms on numerous occasions. We have been called the "best and the brightest," "the new 'greatest' generation," and countless other names commenting on how wonderful we are.Until

  • Can you hear me now? May is better speech and hearing month!

    I am going to assume most of you reading this article did not know that May is Better Speech and Hearing Month. With this in mind, I am going to inform you about hearing loss, and more important, about hearing loss prevention.I grew up with a profoundly deaf father. I remember how embarrassed I was

  • Meet the new commander

    Col. Brian N. Smith assumed command of the 6th Operations Group May 14. He took time out of his day to introduce himself to the MacDill Air Force Base community and answered a few questions from the Thunderbolt:Thunderbolt: What do you expect of the Airmen under your command?Smith: I expect the team

  • How do we balance it all?

    I was speaking to a group of company grade officers recently and one of them asked, "How do you balance it all?"He knew that I had a very busy job with a lot of demands on my time. He also knew that I had a family and, quite possibly, some personal interests as well. How do I balance it all? The

  • Resilience through developing a ‘culture of character’

    As hurricane season approaches, we are reminded of the need to be prepared to take on the possibility of a disaster. Living in Florida we have become accustomed to the threat of severe weather brewing in the Gulf Coast of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.Despite the uncertainty a storm system brings to

  • Leadership style: Be true to yourself

    As we each develop our own leadership style, we often try to emulate those we view as successful leaders. After all, if their leadership style worked for them, it should work for you, right? Not necessarily.We all have different personalities, and our leadership style needs to fit our personality.

  • When did you learn your core values?

    Next month will mark my 24th year in the Air Force and this has given me reason to pause and reflect on my time in uniform. Many things have changed since I graduated college and took my oath to support and defend. Uniforms have gone through several iterations during that time. Airmen were still