Three Keys to Mission Success

  • Published
  • By Maj. Travis Harsha
  • 60th Security Forces Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  We each play an important role in delivering Rapid Global Mobility for America to make a safer and better world.

To best accomplish our mission, we each must know, do our job the best we can, be mentally, physically and spiritually balanced, and work as a team.

Know and do your job the best you can. Know how your job fits in with your unit's mission and higher missions. This will enable you to know priority of tasks and how you can help better accomplish the mission.

Continually look for more effective and efficient ways to do your job and institutionalize them in your organization. Work smarter, not harder. Focus on the entire process you contribute to and invite stakeholders to share ideas to make the process and mission better. Think lean.

If you're a supervisor, create an environment which encourages and rewards continuous improvement. This requires leadership at all levels. As retired Gen. Mike Loh, the first commander of Air Combat Command, once said, "you must make a leadership commitment to an operating style that inspires trust, teamwork and a spirit for continuous improvement."

To do your job well, you must also be balanced mentally, physically and spiritually.

Think of these as three pillars supporting you as you support the mission and each other.

To be mentally balanced requires keeping a healthy perspective on life, your job and yourself. Take time to reflect, relax and appreciate life. Keep a positive attitude and remember the serenity of prayer.

Being in shape also keeps you mentally balanced.

To be physically balanced requires being fit to fight. Having spent a year in Iraq, I saw how out-of-shape Airmen jeopardized our mission, their life and the lives of others. Don't be one of those Airmen. Eat, exercise and sleep right. You'll feel better, think better and do your job better.

Being spiritually balanced helps restore your energy. Bottom line, take care of yourself so you can take care of the mission and each other.

Finally, work as a team. Trust your leadership, respect your peers and mentor your subordinates. Talk to each other about what you bring to the fight and how you can better accomplish the mission.

Look after your wingman. Don't forget your loved ones. Take care of them and thank them for all their sacrifices and support allowing you to be your best.

Remember, our mission accomplishment depends on you knowing and doing your job the best you can, being mentally, physically and spiritually balanced and working as a team.

With our nation at war and an all-volunteer service, I'm extremely proud and honored to serve with each of you in making a safer and better world.

As Edmund Burke once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Thank you for your service, sacrifice and support.