Airmen serve as ambassadors always

  • Published
  • By Col. George Dietrich
  • 60th Mission Support Group
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Congratulations. You are the 1 percent. You may not be a millionaire, in fact, if you chose this line of work it's highly unlikely, but better than that, you can proudly say you are one of the less than 1 percent of Americans currently serving in the military.

You read that right, less than one percent are defending this nation and fighting its wars. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry and David Kennedy wrote an opinion-editorial for The New York Times in May 2013 in which they defined the greatest threat to the U.S. military as "the widening gap between the American people and their armed forces."

What is causing this gap? The reasons are many. The establishment of the all-volunteer force in the early 1970s, technological advances that provide more capability with fewer people and the military's expanding role into nontraditional missions, such as nation building. The bottom line is we've become a small, extremely capable force that is perceived to be able to address just about any problem in the world, therefore, the American people and our decision makers can more easily employ the military, in more circumstances, with less economic and political costs. This is the threat to which Eikenberry and Kennedy referred. The vast majority of Americans simply don't have a direct connection to the military.

So what can we do to narrow the gap between the military and the American public? We can start by being Air Force ambassadors at our own base, reaching out to our local communities and making them aware of who we are. Being an ambassador begins by simply being an Airman. We are all respectful, courteous, helpful professionals when we're in uniform on the job and these are the traits the American people expect of us. We need to make sure we demonstrate those same traits when we're out of uniform in the local community. It should be easy for anyone to identify an Airman in civilian clothes, not because of their haircut, although that is a pretty good indicator, but by their behavior and actions. The Airman displays respect and courtesy, is much more prone to use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing strangers and if someone needs a hand, it's the Airman who is the first to offer assistance.

We then need to make the effort to be more involved in the local community and invite the public to be more involved with us. This includes participating in off-base organizations and seeking out volunteer opportunities, as well as inviting members of the local community to learn more about our base and the role we play.

It's too easy for us to think of ourselves as temporary "renters" in the communities to which we're assigned and even easier for the local communities to perceive us as "the people behind the fence." We need to break down these perceptions and become active, respected participants in our local communities and ensure those local communities better understand who we are and what we do.

As the military shrinks and becomes an even a smaller segment of the public at large, it's imperative that the 1 percent works even harder to stay engaged with other 99.