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Commentaries

  • Searching for Private First Class Roberto L. Lopez

    This is a brief and microscopic view of another person’s service.When I started military service in 1993, I was given an artifact with a story behind it. It was a Silver Star in an old, worn case. The story came from his relatives who said it belonged to an uncle, Roberto L. Lopez. The name was

  • The joy of service

    There are many roads that lead to our service in the Air Force. Some of them selfish, some of them selfless. Whether you joined for college education assistance or to defend our country, we all wear the same uniform and chose to serve on this great Air Force base.

  • Through the eyes of our veterans

    Recently, I had the good fortune to share a meal with a gentleman who had been a prisoner of war as a child during World War II, and went on to serve as an Airman here at Travis Air Force Base. Soon after this meeting, Ken Burn’s latest documentary, Vietnam, was released telling the story of that

  • Strive for perfection, settle for excellence

    To err is human, as we are not inherently perfect. Nevertheless, if we chase perfection, excellence is a probable outcome. To pursue perfection, we must elevate risk to the appropriate level, proactively avoid complacency and learn from honest mistakes. We must strive for perfection—cognizant it’s

  • A simple thank you goes a long way

    In today’s instant gratification world, we are easily disgruntled if something doesn’t happen immediately. Because we are used to our cell phones and social media, we have become less and less inclined to deal with the human element of the mission.

  • Are you ready?

    Growing up in the Midwest, I loved to play sports. In fact, there wasn’t a sport I wasn’t fond of. However, the sport I loved most and was best at, was football. In middle school, I was on the field the majority of the game because of my boundless, natural gifts and abilities. Oh, and the fact we

  • KC-10 shows off capabilities to CAP

    A Travis KC-10 Extender was at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland for the 2017 open house and airshow, giving aviation fans an up-close look at state-of-the-art U.S. Air Force aircraft. Aircrafts included were F-15E Super Eagle, A-10C Thunderbolt II, C-5M Super Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III, T-1A Jayhawk,

  • Embrace diversity

    Since my first days at Basic Military Training, I have marveled at the Air Force’s ability to bring people together from such diverse backgrounds to accomplish a common goal. Our first goal was simple: to effectively march in unison as a flight. That was possible not only because we shared one

  • Find the awesome

    We all should take moments here and there to reflect on what we do and what other Airmen do each day. Sometimes this is difficult as we all try and slay the alligators closest to the boat—the next mission, the next staff meeting, the next task, the next training event, the next shift, the next

  • Commentary: 3lbs, 11oz of Resiliency

    In 2016 my husband and I found out I was pregnant with our second child and we were ecstatic. We had just bought our first home and the age gap between our first and second child would be three years, our "ideal" age gap. It was another girl, which is exactly what we were hoping for. We decided to