Perspective important amid sea of changes

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Brian Eastman
  • 60th Operations Group
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  This month, we remember how acts of terrorism have affected our world, country, family and friends.

We take a moment to reflect on those we lost and thank those everyday people who became heroes in a split second. We also remember those who are or were prisoners of war or missing in action.

Here at Travis Air Force Base, California, we had several events to honor those heroes and remind us to never forget those who gave some and some of those who gave all. Thank you to all the people who organized and participated in these amazing events. "I remember."

I would like to share a story about perspective.

I will never forget spending an evening with William. W. Smith and his wonderful wife, Charlotte. I was their escort during an Air Force Sergeant's Association POW Dining Out event.

Smith was a prisoner of war during the Korean conflict. He was captured, held prisoner, starved and tortured by the Chinese. He was marched across Korea and into China along with 750 other POWs. Only 250 made it through the first 30 days and even fewer to the final camp. He told me stories that, to this day, touch my soul and bring tears to my eyes.

Trying to put myself into his shoes, I realized even my worst nightmares couldn't compare to what he and so many others went through. Some survived, but many more didn't.

As he shared his many stories with me, he taught me about perspective. Even during his absolutely worst days, he said he would wake up in the morning and if his feet touched the floor, it was a good day. That meant he still had a chance to see his loved ones back home, it meant he had survived another day.

Many of you may have heard me say, "feet on the floor. It's a great day." Now you know why.

I just returned from a deployment. I was definitely not in a POW camp, but I heard many people complaining about how hard the conditions were there. Trust me, they weren't that bad, especially if you add in a little perspective.

When I got frustrated about my situation, all I needed to do was remember Smith and, if my feet made it to the floor, every morning my life was good. Having the right perspective made my deployment much less of a struggle.

Our Air Force is facing many challenges these days. The enlisted force is implementing massive changes to our enlisted evaluation system and promotions process. Believe it or not, we asked for these changes. Many of the Air Force's top enlisted leaders and greatest thinkers have come up with these new processes.

Are they perfect? No. Is it difficult to accept these changes? Yes, of course change is always hard. Will they deliver the results we need? That depends on you.

This system relies on integrity, trust and perspective. We must be honest with ourselves about our true level of performance. We should expect the same honesty from our supervisors. The same goes for those you rate on. Don't sugar coat average performance. It's OK that not everyone exceeds all standards.

If everyone exceeds all standards, we must be aiming too low. Without integrity and honesty, we are sure to fail. We have to trust that others will be honest, too. If there is no trust we will surely fail.

Finally, we need the proper perspective. The truth is that the same percentage of people will get promoted and, yes, you can get promoted without the highest marks on your reports.

As with all new things, we always have to make adjustments and tweak the process as we go. It will take some time but with integrity, trust and the right perspective we can do it right. Feet on the floor, people.