Doing one's best makes major difference in AF

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Brian Eastman
  • 22nd Airlift Squadron chief enlisted manager
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  As Airmen, you do your jobs every day, but do you do them to the best of your ability? Have you been doing it so long that you have become complacent? Are you losing focus? Are you more concerned with the new force-management programs than completing the task at hand?

Our lives are full of distractions. Some are minor and easily manageable. Others threaten our very basic needs and are much harder to overcome. As it has since its inception, our Air Force is changing rapidly. We must be flexible and support each other to ensure the mission gets done.

According to Donald T. Phillips' book "Lincoln on Leadership," one of President Abraham Lincoln's principals was to, "Do the very best you know how, the very best you can and keep doing so until the end."

Before I joined the Air Force, I worked in an animal shelter. In those days, we didn't have the internet, my parents TV only had three channels and the coolest video game out there was "Pong."

One day, after whining to my mother about how bored I was, she suggested that I find something productive to do with my time. Of course, I gave her the sarcastic "Like what?" She said, "You are good with animals and you should go volunteer at the Humane Society around the corner."

Within two weeks, I became a regular volunteer there.

One day my supervisor, Cynda, tasked me to mop the floor in the cat room. I did what I thought was a good enough job and then took a dog for a walk.

When I returned, Cynda was very upset. She said, "I thought I asked you to mop the floor." She then proceeded to point out all the areas I had missed. She made me mop it again and again and again until she was happy with the results. She told me that regardless how mediocre a job may seem, you always have to do your very best. One day someone's life may rely on how well you do it. For some reason, that lesson has always stuck with me.

Fast forward 30 years later. Even now, as a chief in the Air Force, that lesson still holds true. My job is to ensure that the Airmen working for me are provided the means and support to complete their mission.

The decisions I make and the job I do on a daily basis can affect the lives of my subordinates and their families. That affect can be positive or negative. I cannot and shall not take that responsibility lightly. I know I am human and am capable of losing focus and making mistakes, as we all are, but I know that every day I will do the very best I can.

I will continue to seek knowledge and strive to do better until the day I leave the Air Force family. Are you willing to do the same? Will you do the very best you know how, the very best you can and keep doing so until the end? The future of our Air Force depends on it.