Airmen must adjust to realities of modern age

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Healy
  • 349th Aeromedical Staging Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  As I near the end of my journey as a member of the Air Force Reserve, I am taking stock of the challenges that await our next crop of leaders. I've come to the realization they face a pretty daunting task.

When I am not at Travis, I teach economics, and one of the terms we constantly use to evaluate our decisions is opportunity cost -- the value of what you give up when you make a decision. The most obvious answer for this in relation to the hours we spend here at Travis are precious hours spent with our families, the inability to accept a promotion in our civilian position or the value of lost income associated with working here as opposed to our civilian occupation.

In my 28-year career, I have always been able to justify these costs because of the benefits associated with serving in the Reserves.

Unfortunately, I think this is becoming increasingly difficult. When I first started coming to unit training assemblies, I would sign in at our squadron, have a brief meeting with my supervisor then head up to one of the floors on the hospital where I would perform my job taking care of those who have served. When we performed our annual tours, we would go to busier hospitals, and spend extended time honing our clinical skills.

When we were activated for the first Gulf War, we quickly built and operated a 250-bed contingency hospital that served more than 4,000 wounded service members. The results of our efforts and the many things we sacrificed to accomplish our goals were obvious and tangible. We left UTAs and more importantly, the war, feeling as though we had accomplished something significant. There is a great deal of personal satisfaction in carrying out difficult tasks to serve our nation and its service personnel.

Our mission has not really changed, but how we get there certainly has. I have stopped counting the times I've heard a person bemoan the fact they can not log onto a website or even a computer to attempt one of the countless computer-based training modules we are tasked with completing each month. Additionally, it seemed like we used to get the resources, time and money to adequately train our people, whereas today we constantly have to tell our people they may not be able to get the necessary days to accomplish all their requirements.
Professional, conscientious people need to feel as though their time is well spent and targeted toward a meaningful goal. If not, the opportunity cost will quickly out-pace the benefits and we will lose the ability to successfully execute our mission.

I can tell you unequivocally that your leaders realize this and are working to create new training platforms, and simplify requirements that allow you to train for your specific job.

We know we have the best Airmen in the world who are committed to serving. Keep the suggestions coming and never lose sight of the main goal -- serving the men and women willing to sacrifice for our great nation.