Core values, good playbook foundation of championship Air Force team

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Laura Lenderman
  • 15th Aircraft Maintenance Operations Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  College bowl games are fast approaching, and soon football fans across the country will be cheering on their favorite teams in some of the greatest match ups of the season. 

This is usually one of my favorite times of the year, but this year is different. My team, Auburn University, is having one of its worst seasons in recent history, and the Tigers will most likely be watching the bowl games from the sidelines. 

Going into the season, Auburn was a nationally ranked football team that played in a bowl game in 20 of the last 25 years. Next weekend the Tigers will play their arch rivals the University of Alabama. The stakes are high. Auburn needs a win to become bowl eligible as Alabama tries to preserve its perfect season during its hunt for the national title. Unless Auburn pulls off the upset, this season will be one that Tiger fans would like to forget. 

Auburn's problem this season wasn't due to a lack of athletic talent, but rather a lack of discipline. In short, Auburn failed to follow the playbook that made them a winning team for the past 25 years. Instead, they broke from tradition, changed from a run-oriented offense to a pass-oriented offense, and fell apart early in the season. 

Unfamiliar with the plays and unable to run the football, Auburn decided to make major changes in its coaching lineup mid-season, refocus on the fundamentals and return to running its traditional style of offense. In other words, the Tigers got back to basics. 

As Airmen, we can learn a few good lessons from Auburn this season. Importantly, it's critical that we discipline ourselves to follow the playbooks that made us a winning team for the past 60 years. In the Air Force, our playbooks are our technical orders and instruction manuals. 

Often written in blood, these documents provide the foundation for exercising good judgment and decision making under all circumstances. This is especially true during wartime when there is a tendency to focus on accomplishing the mission at all costs. 

However, this is the most critical time for supervisors and wingman to foster a culture of discipline and adherence to technical orders. Taking the time to follow checklists, guidelines and procedures will actually result in fewer mistakes and mishaps and ultimately save time and lives in the long run. 

In addition to fostering a culture of discipline, Airmen can borrow another play from Auburn's playbook and refocus on the fundamentals or our core values of Integrity, Service Before Self and Excellence In All We Do. Our service is currently facing several challenges that we might have avoided had we focused more on these fundamental core values and the mission areas that absolutely cannot fail. In this environment, leadership and teamwork are critical, especially in lean times where there are fewer personnel and an increasing number of problems to solve. 

However, problems are also opportunities for individuals and units to innovate and become more efficient. Successful innovation requires leaders at all levels to identify critical mission sets, remove any obstacles, and ensure personnel focus on priority taskings. 

This will take discipline and hard work, but with our core values as our foundation and our playbooks as a guide, our service and our families grow stronger and ultimately form a championship team.