Intentional or not, people have an effect

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Daniel A. DeVoe
  • 570th Global Mobility Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  When life gets busy, it becomes easy to view the world in a way that only considers how events impact us personally, as individuals.

When this happens, we begin to lose sight of the ways we affect the world and that lost awareness can be costly. That point of view can be terribly inefficient. It can lead to countless missed opportunities and it grates against our core value of service before self.

The greatest harm, however, is that if the self-centered perspective persists for too long, it can actually cause an Airman to lose sight of the impact they truly have as an individual.

Regardless of who you are, your rank or position, never forget you continually have an effect on the world around you. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines effect as "a change that results when something is done or happens: an event, condition or state of affairs that is produced by a cause" and as "a particular feeling or mood created by something."

Your mere existence means you are constantly influencing your environment and the people in it. Hundreds of times a day, you are that "cause," that "something."

Every day, you have an effect on your family, your fellow Airmen, your squadron, the base, your community and the United States Air Force. Your attitude, mood, appearance, body language, words, actions and decisions all have implications that extend further than yourself. Each time, the effect can either be positive, meaning it affirms, strengthens, motivates, contributes, leaves a positive impression, etc., or it can be negative, meaning it divides, un-inspires, detracts, hinders, destroys, erodes and so forth.

Even when you choose not to act, not to engage in a conversation, not to seize an opportunity or to contribute your talents, you have an effect. It is unavoidable. When you think about all the opportunities you have to influence others in a given day, it can be quite enlightening. Think of the power you wield. Even the smallest of actions can have a monumental impact.

For example, your actions can shape another Airman's career. I can think of many Airmen, officer and enlisted alike, who have set examples for me to aspire to throughout my career.

Airmen like Chief Master Sgt. Bradley McClain, who was the first chief I worked with as a young lieutenant maintenance officer, and who never missed an opportunity to mentor me when we were in the office, to stand with me and support me when were out on the engine shop floor. His effect was greater than he will ever know.

Your friendship can save a life. I remember a letter I received from a retired Air Force civilian who I had worked with thanking me for being there for her. Unbeknownst to me, I was the only one who would listen to her as she was going through a particularly troubled time in her life.

At the time, I had absolutely no idea of the effect I was having. Only later did I learn that our almost-daily, short conversations, which were genuine but relatively simple pleasantries to me, carried so much more significance to my fellow Airman at that particular point in her life. In turn, her effect was to open my eyes even wider.

Your attention to detail could save millions of dollars. I love to read stories about Airmen producing innovative ideas that save time, money, manpower or all three. They come from all ranks and experience levels from within our Air Force, but they only happen because an Airman makes a deliberate effort to make their effect a positive one.

Frequently, the effect you have is completely unexpected or unintended. I'm sure that Sgt. Paul Ramoneda, from the base's bake shop, never thought that he would lose his life rescuing men he didn't even know from a fiery crash of a B-29 Superfortress in 1950 or that he would become the namesake of the base's Airman Leadership School. I'm willing to bet he never imagined his actions would have the lasting effect of his character and valor being studied and revered by thousands of Airmen decades later.

On a lighter note, while then-Col. Robin Olds acted to affect many things within his fighter wing in Vietnam, he probably didn't imagine that his flamboyant waxed handlebar mustache would be the impetus for a tradition called Mustache March.

As in these examples, the majority of the time, the effect you have will be unknown to you. However, that fact makes the effect no less important. Instead, it should drive us to make every opportunity count since we will never know when the effect we are having will be the one that stretches Air Force-wide.

In the end, it all boils down to the simple realization that, no matter your rank or position, you matter a lot. The potential for you to make a significant positive impact on so many levels is immense. Our Air Force needs every Airman to understand the power that lies within them and the effects that they are producing. Our Air Force needs you to maximize your effect in a positive way.

What effect are you having today?