What service is not Published Aug. 21, 2019 By Col. Douglas Jackson 621st Contingency Response Wing TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – The year was 1997. Titanic dominated the box office, Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart” played constantly on FM radio and the luckiest of us had dial-up internet to check our email accounts. That was also the year I became a second lieutenant and the year the U.S. Air Force released its core values. As those who remember 1997 can attest, much has changed in the ensuing 22 years. Hairstyles, catch phrases, technology and just about everything else has evolved, but Air Force core values endure. Unlike my 1997 body fat percentage, the common bonds that unify us all—integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do—remain unchanged. As our doctrine reminds us, our core values “serve as beacons vectoring us back to the path of professional conduct.” They are commonalities that inspire many of us to continue to serve, despite our constant challenges. With great respect for the power of our core values, I believe one in particular—service before self—is frequently misinterpreted. To embody the value of service before self, an Airman must be willing to subordinate personal interests to the greater cause, but there is more to service before self than mere adherence to rules and authority. To paraphrase a distinguished senior leader, service before self does not mean service above those things you hold above yourself, like your family, your faith or your honor. At times throughout my career, I’ve seen this core value misused by well-intended, but misguided leaders when a distasteful or even operationally unsound requirement emerged. Rather than respectfully question a mission that unnecessarily elevates risk in the interest of expediency, highly motivated leaders will occasionally allow their vision to be obscured by their zeal and will therefore accept a task under the guise of service before self. When they do so, leaders of subordinate organizations are then forced to assign personnel to execute the mission, often using the value of service before self as leverage to compel compliance. When we do this as an organization, we misapply our core values, which are designed to serve as beacons, and permit them to steer us off course. Just as excellence doesn’t equal perfection and integrity doesn’t require sainthood, service before self does not mean that you don’t matter. You must be willing to set aside your needs and offer personal sacrifices when necessary for the defense of our Constitution and the United States, but you are not expected to do that to the detriment of your family and loved ones at all times. As commanders and supervisors, we must make that distinction clear to the Airmen we are entrusted to lead. Moreover, we should resist ascribing our personal characterizations of service to all the other Airmen in our organization. If we fail to do so, we risk establishing a standard that no one could attain and, in doing so, alienate the most indispensable element of our great Air Force—its Airmen.