Remember past to help inform present

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Christopher Toney
  • 60th Force Support Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Like myself, I am sure most of you have heard the saying, "Don't forget where you came from."

Several years ago, as I was looking through some boxes of my military memorabilia, I ran across a thank you note from Gen. Stephen Lorenz, who at the time was a lieutenant general and the commander at Air University.  The thank you note ended with the words "look into their eyes" and was presented to me in 2006 for protocol support I provided to him when I was the protocol superintendent at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

Gen. Lorenz came to Goodfellow to speak at one of the noncommissioned officer academy graduations. At the end of his visit, I remember driving him to the airport. We got into a conversation about taking care of Airmen and he passionately spoke about how important he felt it was for noncommissioned officers to take care of their Airmen. This conversation lasted from the moment we drove through the South Gate until we arrived at the airport, which is about a 20-minute drive.

As we were unloading his luggage from the van, he never stopped conversing about this topic and as he was about to board his military aircraft, he turned to me and his parting words to me were "don't forget you were once them" as he waved goodbye.  Those six simple words have stayed with me and every day I make an effort to remember them. 

The older I get and the longer I remain in the Air Force, the more I focus on the patience and caring attitude my early supervisors had with me. They saw potential and they worked on developing and honing that potential into what, almost 26 years later, has turned into a fair and caring leader who can make decisions and balance the mission needs with those of the Airmen. 

As leaders, we are responsible for our most important resources: America's sons and daughters. Their mothers and fathers who do not know our names or who we are or what we look like hold onto a prayer that we will train, lead and care for their loved ones.

Our most important responsibility as leaders is taking care of our Airmen. Sometimes we get so busy that we lose sight of this.  All of us are guilty of it. We get busy meeting suspenses, deployments, exercises, computer-based training and numerous other things.

But are these really excuses?  Not only are we responsible for putting bombs on target, we also are responsible for bringing those loved ones home safe and sound and ensuring that America's sons and daughters are taken care of.  

Airmen notice when their supervisors care about them. They remember when their chief and commander visited them at the First-Term Airman Center or Airman Leadership School or when their supervisor checked the quality of their dorm or helped resolve a child care or housing issue. They remember that pat on the back for a job well done.

Few of us who are leaders became leaders overnight. It took years of practice and some failures to develop into what we are today. We can't forget where we came from. We can't forget the leaders and supervisors who took us under their wings, took the time to care, looked us in the eyes and asked how our weekend was.  They took the time to explain, care and shape us into the leaders of the future.  We must do the same.  We should want our Airmen to succeed.

The Air Force needs solid leadership and we must find and develop this leadership potential as early as possible. There will be times it will mean some long days because the day isn't over until our Airmen's needs are met. It means investing the time many have already invested in us.  

Get to know your Airmen. Know their lives. Know how to recognize if there is a problem or a change. The simple message that Lorenz conveyed to me with his parting words and with those words he wrote on the thank you note was: Take the time to care about your Airmen.

It pays huge dividends by fostering teamwork to get this nation's mission accomplished. This goes hand in hand with being a wingman. The time we invest will pay off for our Air Force and our Airmen.