Commentaries

  • It’s what you don’t say that matters

    I remember being a kid on the playground hearing the melodic retort which traditionally followed a sizzling brickbat: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

  • The indefinite temporary: 2020 teaches lessons in gratitude, personal growth

    In April, as much of the world was cooped up indoors, waiting out the first, deadly batch of cases during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, I was binge watching every episode of the classic American TV show “M*A*S*H.”One of my favorite episodes follows the gang at the 4077th through 1951 in a

  • Commentary: Deployment Challenges and Coping

    Rule shares his experiences and struggles with deployment during a past deployment as an Airman in operational control assigned to a U.S. Cavalry unit in Afghanistan and during post-deployment.

  • The importance of diversity and experience

    The Air Force continues to drive home the importance of diversity and rightfully so. We all make better decisions by surrounding ourselves with people who don’t look, think and act like we do.

  • Positive Change

    General Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that leadership is the ability to get someone to do something you want done because they want to do it.The quote is one that I wasn’t aware of until I saw it etched into the first going away gift I ever received. I spent the first 3 years of my career at

  • It’s what you don’t say that matters

    How many of us throw around our words without pausing to decide if what we feel we need to say actually needs to be said. This lexical abstemiousness might best be summarized by the verse, “A fool gives full vent to [their] anger but a wise man quietly holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11). Or as the

  • Showcase Resilience For Life

    These past few months challenged many of us in ways we couldn’t imagine. We recognize some of us are hurting more than others. Given this, we encourage you to listen and lean into your teammates a little more these days. We are at our very best when we rely on each other for comfort and support.

  • Volunteering in a pandemic

    In March of this year the Freedom Fighters of the 42nd Cyberspace Operations Squadron, like so many others around the world, found themselves in an unfamiliar paradigm. I had just started to get my feet under me as a squadron superintendent when a global pandemic changed almost everything about how

  • I don’t treat everyone the same…now let me explain

    I don’t treat everyone the same…now let me explain.  I do treat everyone with dignity and respect.  That’s whether you are an Airman 1st Class or a Lt. Col., the squadron’s commander’s support staff or the group commander, a government civilian employee or the UPS driver dropping off a package at

  • 2020 Annual Suicide Prevention Training

    The 2020 Annual Suicide Prevention training looks a little different this year. With the very unusual year we’ve all experienced, I think you will find the current format to be a good fit. Some of you may have already completed the training, but for those of you who have not yet, let me explain what