Commentary Search

  • While you were distracted from driving

    Service member, if it's your first time around base and you did not consider a drive down our most dangerous road, you need to really see what the locals here like to call "... I'll-kill-ya-highway."I think it may have passed you, without notice.Consider this a lesson, not a scolding. First, put

  • ALS: Rediscovering the profession of arms

     When thinking about Airman leadership school, what thoughts come to mind?Many Airmen may think of professional military education as boring, a box to check or a waste of time.For me, ALS was none of these things.ALS is a five-week course that prepares senior airmen, new staff sergeants and sister

  • Hometown News is service before self, not egoist

    Today's service members go automatically to popular social media to tell friends and family of their military experiences. But there's a much older media platform called Joint Hometown News Service that your grandparents, and maybe your parents, are more familiar with.What remains relevant about a

  • 101 narrow escapes this summer

    It won't be long now until all of those familiar summer safety messages come hurling at us for the 101 days of summer. I have to admit that I planned not to add to that sortie with a commentary on the importance of wearing a seat belt or a helmet or putting on a life jacket, but an old memory came

  • Jokes aside: leaders remind us to lighten up too

    There's nothing like an April Fools' joke, or being tricked by one, to really get your attention.It happened to me in April 1, 2010, during my time as a joint staff journalist at the National Guard Bureau when every assignment seemed critical. I was always traveling, I was under deadlines and I was

  • Don't wait to obtain crucial documents

    I learned these past months that having "advanced medical directives" and other documents make a family emergency more manageable. It is one less issue to fix when emergencies arise.I remembered that someone called them advanced directives during an event held to provide them for families here at

  • Instead of DISability, focus on the disABILITY

    I'm forever thankful that I was presented opportunities based on my abilities rather than on my DISability.Although it is indisputable that an individual might have a disability, the focus should be on the root of the word and not the prefix. So, instead of DISability, focus on the disABILITY.After

  • Recommit to addressing alcohol use

    Summer is upon us and with it parties and intoxication.Just where you stand on alcohol consumption can affect you and others for a lifetime.The Pentagon announced a service-wide review of alcohol policies in May, and just last year the Army, Navy and Marine Corps enacted new limits on alcohol sales

  • People give our missions life

    More than three hours before the aircraft commander took responsibility for our C‐130 Hercules, the flight line was dark.Pulling up beside our aircraft was like parking in front of an empty shopping mall or a closed restaurant - nothing moved. A single light-all burned at the entry control point.