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  • What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

    As a young smart aleck, when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my favorite response was, "A firetruck." I enjoyed the reactions I would get from that answer. Despite that joking response, I recognized the importance of the question and how much the answer could influence the

  • There I Was...

    There I was deployed to Jalalabad, Afghanistan for 329 days.This was not my first deployment but it was my first deployment to Afghanistan. I deployed to Afghanistan as an Air Advisor to the Afghan Air Force. My job was to advise the Afghan Air Force on basic aviation maintenance, supply and

  • Practicing and embracing integrity reveals the big picture

    Every day, Airmen on this base generate and enable airpower that has impact far beyond the gates. Some see this impact directly from the air; many wait to hear about it in the news, on metric slides, or in a story from the commander or social media. Some Airmen have a good understanding of how their

  • Leadership is crucial

    Leadership is crucial at all levels of the organization especially in a squadron as diverse as the 6th Force Support Squadron with 63 Air Force Specialty Codes, 60 buildings and nearly 600 employees.Each Airman not only plays an integral role in being a member of the team, but also in building the

  • There I Was...Adjusting To My First Deployment

    So there I was....Standing at my desk when I received a message that Senior Master Sgt. Smith, our former squadron superintendent, was looking for me. I immediately walked back to the command section where he sat and knocked on his door. "Come on in, have a seat," he said. I sat down, nervously, not

  • Sooo... What Are You Reading?

    "There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." - Ray BradburyI'm a book nerd.There... I said it.I've always enjoyed a good book and many times perhaps made some questionable decisions about the times that I've chosen to read books (My wife claims I read six books

  • Letter to Airmen - Accomplishing the Mission Safely and Responsibly

    "Winning at safety is like winning in sports. It's not the effort of one person, but the focus and determination of the entire team working towards a common goal..." - Author UnknownMobility Airmen,In my last letter to you, I asked you to call "time out" and re-evaluate how we can safely accomplish

  • Sacrifices…Don’t Underestimate Their Importance

    As I was reviewing some enlisted performance reports and decorations today, I started contemplating a huge event in my life that occurred almost 20 years ago. In April of 1995, I asked my then girlfriend Tiffani, a fellow Airman at the time, to be my wife, for better or worse. We were married later

  • February is National Children's Dental Health Month

    February is National Children's Dental Health Month! It is a special month for dental health care providers to focus on how we can support and improve our children's dental health. The following are just a few helpful children's dental health tips:      Every child falls at some point in their life.

  • Back to Basics: Team Identity Changing "I" to "We"

    We in the MacDill AFB community are all part of many teams. Be it in the smallest unit, up through the military echelons of the combatant commands; we are part of many groups culminating to "Team MacDill". But, do you really identify yourself as part of Team MacDill? Does your team have conflict