How many Air Force benefits would you be willing to sacrifice until finally deciding to opt out and seek employment elsewhere? Would you be willing to give up the educational benefits, TDY opportunities, BX and commissary privileges, or would the final “nail in the coffin” be your medical benefits?
Each and every one of us has a line in the sand and each makes decisions on what we will and will not accept. However, I would like to explore benefits from another angle. We in the Air Force have a benefit that may be unknown to us until we look back on a career and ponder a more pointed question. Did we make a difference in our Air Force during the time we were given the benefit to serve our country?
I can remember a time in the Air Force when one of the main reasons to serve was for a retirement check. Serve 20 years and one day, and then decide what you were really going to do in life. The phrase I remember using was, “I do not know what I want to do when I grow up: see me when I hit 20 years and then I will let you know.” Somewhere along the way this “passion for a retirement” was replaced with another passion – the passion to serve.
Having a photographic memory, I visualize history through images. While I do not have a thousand words to paint you a picture, I would like tell you a story about a technical sergeant who I believe had a passion to serve that may help us all see a benefit we may take for granted in today’s environment where our focus may be somewhat blurred by society.
The dates and places are not important; however, some background is necessary. In a particular USAF group there were seven squadrons, each with a separate identity.
What they needed was a group identity and the answer was in the form of a group table for the officers’ club. It would allow squadron commanders to meet and get to know each other while being mentored by the group commander.
One squadron took on the task of building the table and when the design was finalized a dedicated technical sergeant stepped up to build the table. He spent several weeks building the table. Specific examples of his dedication to the mission, no one will ever see. However, because of his passion to serve, a USAF group was defined and history began for seven squadrons. His team hand-sanded panels holding up the table and signed their names on the inside.
When the table was put back together, he made sure the names were facing in so no one could see who made the table. At 10 p.m., on the eve before the unveiling in the officers’ club, the technical sergeant and his 18-month-old son were seen standing over the group’s table adding a final coat of lacquer. In that moment while the technical sergeant was passing on to his son what it meant to have a passion to serve, I found mine.
To serve in the United States Air Force is a benefit – one that requires a passion to serve.
Do you have that passion? Today, when the hustle and bustle of your schedule drives you to the brink, saying “enough,” take a moment to remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing and silence the noise with the statement, “My passion is to serve and make today’s Air Force better for those that follow.”
One technical sergeant did and he has a table in an officers’ club that he will never use.
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How many Air Force benefits would you be willing to sacrifice until finally deciding to opt out and seek employment elsewhere? Would you be willing to give up the educational benefits, TDY opportunities, BX and commissary privileges, or would the final “nail in the coffin” be your medical benefits?
Each and every one of us has a line in the sand and each makes decisions on what we will and will not accept. However, I would like to explore benefits from another angle. We in the Air Force have a benefit that may be unknown to us until we look back on a career and ponder a more pointed question. Did we make a difference in our Air Force during the time we were given the benefit to serve our country?
I can remember a time in the Air Force when one of the main reasons to serve was for a retirement check. Serve 20 years and one day, and then decide what you were really going to do in life. The phrase I remember using was, “I do not know what I want to do when I grow up: see me when I hit 20 years and then I will let you know.” Somewhere along the way this “passion for a retirement” was replaced with another passion – the passion to serve.
Having a photographic memory, I visualize history through images. While I do not have a thousand words to paint you a picture, I would like tell you a story about a technical sergeant who I believe had a passion to serve that may help us all see a benefit we may take for granted in today’s environment where our focus may be somewhat blurred by society.
The dates and places are not important; however, some background is necessary. In a particular USAF group there were seven squadrons, each with a separate identity.
What they needed was a group identity and the answer was in the form of a group table for the officers’ club. It would allow squadron commanders to meet and get to know each other while being mentored by the group commander.
One squadron took on the task of building the table and when the design was finalized a dedicated technical sergeant stepped up to build the table. He spent several weeks building the table. Specific examples of his dedication to the mission, no one will ever see. However, because of his passion to serve, a USAF group was defined and history began for seven squadrons. His team hand-sanded panels holding up the table and signed their names on the inside.
When the table was put back together, he made sure the names were facing in so no one could see who made the table. At 10 p.m., on the eve before the unveiling in the officers’ club, the technical sergeant and his 18-month-old son were seen standing over the group’s table adding a final coat of lacquer. In that moment while the technical sergeant was passing on to his son what it meant to have a passion to serve, I found mine.
To serve in the United States Air Force is a benefit – one that requires a passion to serve.
Do you have that passion? Today, when the hustle and bustle of your schedule drives you to the brink, saying “enough,” take a moment to remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing and silence the noise with the statement, “My passion is to serve and make today’s Air Force better for those that follow.”
One technical sergeant did and he has a table in an officers’ club that he will never use.