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  • 'Service before self' part of enlisted review process

    On June 27,1923, the first successful aerial refueling took place. A DH-4B flown by Lieutenants Virgil Hine and Frank Seifert passed gasoline through a hose to another DH-4B flying beneath it, flown by Lieutenants Lowell Smith and John Richte.Our Air Force is continuously changing through necessity

  • It's a ruff life: Looking at life from dog's view

    My name is Sierra and I am an old Alaskan husky. Currently, my owner is attempting to impress his bosses by consolidating the knowledge gained through seven military schools and a master's degree in leadership into something called the Bachelor of Integrated Total force Education (BITE). While he

  • Must strive for excellence in all we do

    "Excellence in all we do." It's one of our core values, it describes a lifestyle, a culture, a modus operandi if you will. Yet, arguably, it's the one core value we are more willing to compromise than any other. We allow ourselves to be less than excellent, sometimes to the point of rationalizing

  • Airmen who brought Nat Geo to war get first look

    Nearly 10,000 miles away from Afghanistan, the war's realities are sometimes hard to imagine. Other than maybe a spike at the pump, many carry on with life with little regard of the turmoil that takes place on the other side of the globe. But there are some who know all too well what it's like to

  • First in line for cake

    I have had the privilege of commanding the 15th Air Mobility Operations Squadron for the past two years and truly believe I am the luckiest man in the world. Like all squadrons, we have had our share of bad times, but they have been outweighed by the good times and offset by our ability to rally

  • Resiliency - a personal story

    I appreciate the opportunity to write this article and share with you a personal experience of how resiliency training helped me. According to the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, resiliency is the ability to withstand, recover and grow in the face

  • Seeking out one's passion helps give life direction

    Physical Fitness has been a passion of mine for over a decade. I've been fortunate enough to compete in several half and full marathons and have completed in four Ironman Endurance Races. I have also recorded a nine-minute fit test, and at the age of 51, can still run a six-minute mile (if I have

  • Customer service a bedrock of success

    Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction with a product or service. This is a simplistic ideal of what many people think or expect customer service to be based on their expectations. Or as the saying goes, "the customer is always right." So, as I near the completion of four

  • American Red Cross helps military around globe

    As we end May, I reflect that May is special for so many reasons, Mother's Day, Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day among them. From our Red Cross office here at Travis and throughout our region, I am privileged to work with a dedicated team of volunteers and our Red Cross Services to the Armed Forces

  • Stand on your own two feet

    In the coming weeks, supervisors of all ranks across the Air Force will begin gathering information, formulating bullets and populating AF Form 1206s to recognize a select few of our Airmen. Arguably, the Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award is, among all "blue suit" awards, one of the most coveted.