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  • Overcoming Setbacks

    I distinctly remember my high school soccer coach telling the team one afternoon that sports were lessons in life and would not only helps us overcome obstacles on the field, but also off the field. How right he was! Freshman year went well for me. I worked hard, floated between junior varsity and

  • Character Matters

    For Fathers’ Day some years ago, my mother sent me a framed document. As a child, I told her a lie. On November 17, 1982, she made me write a page (a whole page!) on the subject, “Why it is good to be truthful.” That page was in the frame. Of course, I had forgotten about this, but she saved it for

  • Heritage and Infrastructure Investment

    Starting with its beginning as Brackley Landing Ground in 1938, Royal Air Force Croughton has been home to generations of Airmen. In the early years, the base was a training site for Commonwealth bomber pilots and later served as the home of No. 1 Glider Training School.   Since 1950, RAF Croughton

  • Talking to your kids about dating and healthy relationships

    RAF CROUGHTON, England -- Technology has transformed how kids grow up. Today’s tech-savvy middle and highschoolers are able to look in places online for information and advice on dating, relationships and sex. Parents may be unaware and/or feel a loss of control. The good news is parents can empower

  • Job Satisfaction

    Job satisfaction is an elusive beast. It has escaped me many times in my military career, especially in my early years. Prior to my commission, I built computers, installed networks and developed applications for small businesses. It was easy to find my sense of satisfaction. The efforts of my work

  • Air Force Medical Reform

    I wanted to take this opportunity to explain the changes that have been made to the Military Health System (MHS) and help decipher the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) transformation. The passage of the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) for Fiscal Years 2017, 2018, and 2019 directed the

  • Mess Up, Screw Up, or Fudge Up

    Something that I have heard often since I’ve been in the Air Force – and realize I repeat every time I meet a new Defender in the squadron – is that mistakes aren’t punished but crimes are. Failures are the best way to learn the right way to do things, but speaking from a career field that has

  • The Power of Words

    As a child, I fell in love with books. More accurately, I fell in love with words.I would read anything and everything I could find; even cereal boxes and backs of milk cartons were fair game. I was transported to worlds that intrigued and frightened me, exposed to ideas that challenged and pushed

  • Fundamentals - The Building Block of Success

    While innovation and “thinking outside the box” get much of the headlines these days through a focus on process improvements and an array of innovation programs, we must ensure that we remain diligently focused on the basics and fundamentals if we are to have lasting and meaningful success both

  • Strength in Diversity

    The years that I’ve spent in the Air Force has shown me that the diversity of our Airmen is one of its greatest strengths. This diversity allows us to think outside of the box and derive innovative solutions to solve the problems of both today and tomorrow. Growing up in a small farm town in upstate