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What Would the Forefathers Think of Us Today?
240 years ago some brave statesmen adopted our Declaration of Independence from the tyrannous Great Britain. Their signatures were treason and punishable by death. Their signatures and courage to stand up was a declaration of war on the most powerful nation on the planet. Have we let our forefathers down as many claim? It is…
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You can’t make a hole in water
“Why don’t you take some time off? You’ve been working hard.” “If I’m not here, who else is going to make sure this place is running?” This is a fallacy that many of us find ourselves believing. Not only is it unhealthy because it can become a source of ‘bad stress’, but because at the…
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Leave a Legacy
When the topic of legacies arises, who comes to mind? For many, it is a former president, commander, etc. There is often very little talk about those who have the most impact in another’s life, the people who impact others on a one-on-one basis. In many families there is a lineage of veterans leading from…
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Are you a Pinger?
“We are working for a real pinger today,” were the first words out of the mouth of my Senior Airman trainer on my very first day on the flightline. He went on to explain a pinger is a person that freaks out and is bouncing from one thing to the next like a ping pong…
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Fail Forward
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat.” These are the words from the former Naval Aviator and best selling author, Denis Waitley. Often times we all look at failure as the end of the road and when we fall down, we do not want to get back up again.…
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What’s Real and What Isn’t
Colonel Robin Olds, a cavalier fighter pilot and commander during the Vietnam War, commanded a military installation and flew a F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft. He often found himself at odds with policies during his time in Vietnam; Washington had implemented what was called the ‘Rapid Roger’ program for generating F-4 missions[1]. The program had been…
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Why Do We Need to Develop Professionally?
Have you ever played with a child? I have eleven nieces and nephews and two children of my own and each of them is very different. However, they all liked to play peek-a-boo when they were tiny tots. I could have hidden behind those hands and then suddenly revealed myself for hours with a giggle…
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Leaders Set the Tone
“Come on, we have to get this done to get the boss off of my back!” We have all experienced this scenario in our careers at one point. Maybe we were even the person saying this. Upon hearing our leader say something like this, we get an instant sense of stress. This does not help…
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Management vs Leadership
“Airmen have inherited an Air Force forged through the ingenuity, courage, and strength of Airmen who preceded them.” This excerpt from the Air Force Leadership Doctrine Volume II sums up the importance of what we do as leaders and mentors. It is up to us to take the knowledge and wisdom provided to us, make…
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We all Fall Down
I am a big fan of Batman. Something about a person who can persevere through all of the setbacks he faced and still be victorious is inspirational to me (yes, I know he is fictional). This post is not about Batman, but it is based on one of my favorite quotes from the movie Batman…
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