What service is

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Tony Jenkins
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Who remembers the little blue book? Not the brown one, but the blue one. I do as I read that thing like it was atop the New York Times Best Seller’s List in 1997, the same year I attended basic military training. In fact, anytime I hold that pale blue booklet, it’s hard not to reminisce of the cool Texas mornings spent standing in line during hours of darkness, my stomach rumbling, waiting and waiting and waiting some more, to enter the chow hall for breakfast, the best part of the otherwise miserable days that began my military career. 

I learned the Air Force’s core values quickly. There was no way I was taking a scolding for not knowing them, and I zealously repeated them anytime a drill instructor or fellow Airman challenged me. Did I really know what I was shouting, though?  Sure, I knew following the core values were the price of admission into the Air Force. I knew they were the difference between a profession and the profession of arms. “Integrity first” was very simple for me to understand and explain; as Spike Lee would say, “Do the right thing.” “Excellence in all we do” was also pretty clear, meaning to try hard, seek continual improvement and fight mediocrity. Service before self, on the other hand, had some depth. The little blue book does a great job of explaining the first and third core value, but the second one’s definition is ambiguous to say the least.

It would take an entire dissertation for me to explain service before self if I was describing it as an action. For many years of my career, I tried to do that as I considered it an action in its literal sense. Finally, it snapped in me, after witnessing the devotion our Airmen have and the availability they continually provide. Service before self is not an action, but rather, a commitment. A commitment to our profession of arms, to the men and women we serve with and to our Constitution and country. It doesn’t mean you need to neglect your family and suppress your personal desires for insignificant tasks. It does mean you need to be willing to put them aside when rightly called upon. It’s not about how late you clock out. It’s about how late you’re willing to stay.

Service before self must come from the heart. There is no other way one could truly believe and abide by it, and in truthfulness, not all of us do. Most of us waiver in the ways in which we’ll serve. Some pledge service immediately upon entering the Air Force while others gradually commit over time. We also have different reasons why we serve and from time to time, may even sway left or right of our service centerline. If you do, get a little “re-blueing” from our little blue book because, regardless, you are the half-percent of this great nation that has chosen to serve and it is an absolute honor to serve with you.