Commentary

My alarm went off around 3:45 a.m. My gear was ready, and I quickly put on my base layers and hut sandals. I carried my bag and gear and left them outside the dining room. It was breakfast time. To me, eating is absolutely essential to climbing and I overeat […]

Leading is challenging due to the very thing that makes us the world’s greatest Air Force, diversity. However, it is because of diversity that we continue to challenge the norms and push beyond our adversaries. In fact, the joy of diversity is that we are not all the same. We do not all think alike. We do not all have the same desires and we do not all have the same motivations. While that is not a revolutionary concept by any stretch of the imagination, it highlights that leading cannot be a one-size-fits-all ordeal and it is incumbent on the leader to know, embrace and understand this concept to lead successfully.

There is a great quote by Charles R. Swindoll that states “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it”. This quote has resonated with me as I look back at my 20-year career. Like many of you, I feel like I’m a completely different […]

My leadership philosophy wasn’t developed overnight; it is rooted in my parent’s investment in my childhood, sharing in my father’s 30 years of service to the Air Force, nurtured with my own life experiences and mentored by a handful of fine general officers. My childhood bestowed upon me the ability […]

Over the course of the past year, my fellow 86th Airlift Wing squadron commanders have provided leadership insight from their experiences in command. I wanted to take this opportunity to build upon their insight and expand it by highlighting the leadership opportunities that are brought forth to the Airmen of […]

As we all reflect back on our own Extremism Stand-down experiences, it is vital that we keep the conversation open. We have to keep asking questions, keep engaging with each other, most important of all, keep learning and growing. I would argue that few, if any of us, have “arrived.” […]

Our society loves buzzwords. Many people often gravitate to speaking the language of the latest trend or fad, while attempting to capitalize on those words in a variety of ways. As I sat with this thought, I began to focus on some of the words that circulate in my circles […]