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Show HILLTOP TIMES TIMES June 12, 2008 Air Force duties demand excellence in all we do BY CHEF MASTER SGT. RODNEY J. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force T hese are challenging times for the Air Force. This is not the first time our Air Force has faced challenges. Airmen confronted challenges during World War II, such as when the Doolittle Raiders launched their B-25B bombers from a tiny aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean to strike at Tokyo, Japan. All 16 of these B-25Bs were lost on the mission, with 11 crew members killed or captured. We were challenged again on September 11,2001, and we have responded with airmen fulfilling more than 524,000 deployments while we have flown more than 1,000,000 Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom sorties. Airmen today deal with their own unique challenges. Every explosive ordnance disposal technician who approaches an improvised explosive device, every aircrew member who boards our aircraft, every joint terminal attack controller who crouches beyond the front lines to transmit coordinates for a strike, these airmen, and many like them, are putting their lives on the line for America and their comrades-in-arms. Think of the challenges faced by our critically wounded warriors. Many of them are struggling with losses of their eyesight, hearing or limbs. For these heroes, oftentimes REFOCUS From page 1 bat Support-System for more positive inventory control, improved in-transit visibility and more accurate parts forecasting. These are good first steps and we must continue to reinforce their success. However, organizations and systems alone will not be enough. It will take the personal involvement of each person on the Air Force team — military, civilian, contractor, National Guard and Reserves. During the next few months there will likely be several reports, studies and audits conducted. I ask for your personal commitment to attack head- airmen always have important duties to perform. Each and every job is critical and airmen must remain focused on the job at hand. We must give every task our most careful attention to detail. It's imperative for every airman to perform their duties to our high Air Force standards and continue to concentrate on safety. Our core values of "Integrity First," "Excellence in all We Do" and "Service before Self' should guide our every action to ensure we have the correct focus. Whenever we walk into our workplace, whether in a hangar at home station or an observation tower overlooking a forward operating post in Iraq or Afghanistan, we simply must do our best. I'm proud to be an Ameri- simply eating a meal or standing up becomes a significant obstacle. We should always remember the 55,000 airmen we have lost since World War I. We must make it our solemn duty to honor them, and we do t^is by being the absolute besi airmen we can, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in and out of uniform and no matter the duty we're asked to perform. Think also about the trials of the mothers, fathers and families of our airmen warriors lost in this war. These parents and families struggle with the knowledge that their loved one is gone, yet the pain is tempered by knowing their sacrifice was for our nation's cause. Despite turbulent times, on the root causes and systemic shortfalls identified in any of these reports. After all, this is not just a nuclear enterprise issue, it's also about regaining the culture which created the world's most feared and respected Air Force — a culture based on discipline, adherence to standards and strict attention to detail. So these incidents must serve as our wakeup call... we each need to actively execute the fundamentals of our profession every day. Whatever job you hold in AFMC, you are a critical link in the chain and our overall success depends on your actions, your individual discipline, adherence to standards and our strict attention to detail. In 1979, a commercial aircraft took off from New Zealand with 257 people aboard for a sightseeing trip to Antarc- tica. Unbeknownst to the crew, ground personnel had introduced a two-degree error in their navigational computer. When they flew down below the clouds over the snow and ice of that frozen continent they had no way of knowing that this small error placed them directly in the path of an active volcano, the 12,447-foot Mount Erebus. The white clouds above and snow-covered land below masked the rapid approach to the large mountain. By the time the cockpit warning sounded it was too late and everyone aboard perished in a tragic accident caused by a very small error put in place well before the actual mission launched. Similarly, a single error in a logistics system, on a shipping document or in an RFP has the potential to throw the entire Air Force off course with Chief Master Sgt. McKintey can airman, and I know you are, too. I ask all airmen to forge ahead with your heads held high and your focus on being the best airman you can be. Our country, our leaders, and our calling demand this dedication from each of us. tragic results. The Air Force's priorities remain unchanged: Win today's war, take care of our people and prepare for tomorrow's challenges. We must join together and exercise the teamwork and discipline which created this nation's great Air Force. Now is not the time to speculate or become defensive. It is a time to act, to fix, to succeed. Together we must rededicate ourselves to excellence by recommitting to the basic fundamentals of our profession ... discipline, adherence to standards and strict attention to detail. 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