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Show HILLTOP TIMES Hilltop TIMES November 6, 2014 Vigilance From 2 DANA RIMINGTON/Hilltop Times correspondent Cacey Dyson is deeply moved as she's presented with a family advocacy award by Mental Health Flight Commander Lt. Col. John Simons in recognition of her service towards those affected by domestic abuse. Abuse From 1 sage was dispelling some of the myths associated with domestic abuse. Dyson spoke of growing up in a loving home with many privileges, and expected to have a similar family life when she married, but instead, she was pushed, shoved, punched, hit, slapped, spit at, bit, called names, belittled, ridiculed, suffered broken bones, sexually assaulted, suffered a dislocated hip as a result of being raped, strangled, stabbed, pushed out of a moving vehicle and hospitalized, and yet she stayed. On average, a woman is hit 35 times before they report the abuse according to Dyson. "I suffered at the hands of the person I agreed to marry, whom I loved and agreed to spend the rest of my life with and trusted implicitly," Dyson said. "I felt compelled to remain silent to preserve and protect my personal life, and working in the mental health/social work field at the time, Commander From 1 scholarship and get my commission." He started out in the 354th Component Repair Squadron Avionics Branch at Myrtle Beach AFB, S.C., and his varied career has since included aircraft maintenance, logistics, business development, resource integration and munitions. Buhler has directed a command post, served as a legislative liaison and overseen precision maintenance on the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron "Thunderbirds" aircraft. He's also commanded at the wing, expeditionary group, and squadron levels. The lessons he's learned in his many assignments have helped Buhler deal with the different personalities he's met worldwide. "One thing that I tell folks is the best leaders change their leadership approach, based on who they're dealing with. Some leaders can come in and have a one-sizefits-all approach. They don't change, regardless of who they're dealing I felt I should have known better." Dyson admitted asking for help early on in the abusive relationship and was stunned by the response she got, so after a while, she stopped asking for help. "Anyone can be a victim of a violent crime. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody," Dyson said. Many people still think domestic violence is a private issue, but Dyson made it very clear that it is a public issue. One vivid experience happened while shopping at Walmart when Dyson was pregnant with her second son. Her husband put his hand on the back of her head, winding his fingers around her hair and slammed her head into a metal brace at the end of an aisle. "I felt humiliated and prayed no one heard, but when I surveyed my surroundings, I looked directly into the eyes of another woman, and it was obvious she had witnessed the entire exchange. I'm sure my eyes sent a strong pleading for help because I was terrified to utter a word, but I only half expected her to help because you see, this was not the first time this had occurred in public," Dyson said. "People look, but just as quickly, they avert their eyes and look away in order to avoid discomfort or avoid getting involved. Domestic violence is a public issue, not a private one. If you see domestic violence happening, call the police. No one is asking you to be a hero or put yourself in danger, simply call the police." Dyson spent eight months planning to leave, but ended up leaving at the drop of a hat when her 15-month old was hospitalized with two dislocated shoulders, a concussion, and a black eye while she was at work. "I immediately left work, drove to the hospital, put both my boys in my vehicle and drove away without a penny or a single personal belonging. I thought I could actually leave and put all of that behind me, but that's when our nightmare really began because when there are children in common, there is always going to be a relationship," Dyson said. In the U.S., 15 million children are exposed to domestic violence every year, with 70 percent of men who abuse their female partners also abusing their children. Dyson still struggles with feelings of guilt, shame, humiliation and self-blame, questioning how she could have let that happen to her children. "I still have nightmares, panic attacks, anxiety in the pit of my stomach, and I'm continually looking over my shoulder, and that's 20 years later." "However, my boys and I survived. We are resilient, we go on and succeed because of people like you, who care," Dyson said at the close of her emotional story. On base, there is help for domestic violence any hour of any day at 801-917-1021 and off-base, at 800-8975465. with," he said. "I equate it to an NFL coach who learns the talents of the individuals on the team, then builds the offensive and defensive schemes around those talents. That's how I like to lead — evaluate who I get to work with." "Everybody has pros, everybody has cons, including myself, and so it's good to build a team going forward that way. Some people you can say 'I'm disappointed in you' and that will be the worst thing they've ever heard. With other people you have to be a little sterner. And some people you have to just shrug your shoulders. Everybody responds differently." Shortly after 2nd Lt. Carl Buhler entered the Air Force, the Berlin Wall was torn down and Operation Desert Shield began after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. George Bush was president, and the Air Force had 535,233 active-duty Airmen. "When I first came in, I had parts on hand, I had 300-plus maintainers," the general recalled, "where now, you probably have around 200 in an A-10 fiightline unit. We had officers' one- or two-deep in every organization. "Plus, and this is a key, we didn't deploy that often. In fact, we had three squadrons on base and we were lucky, each of us, to get one TDY deployment a year — usually two weeks to Red Flag, two weeks to Air Warrior. Now, with real-world deployments, people are gone four-tosix months to a year and the size of our Air Force is almost 50 percent less compared to when I joined." Yet, Buhler sees the current fiscally constrained environment as an opportunity to make operations more efficient. "Losing resources is not always a bad thing because it leads to folks finding ways to be efficient," he said. "My outlook on the Ogden ALC going forward is cost-effective readiness. As our commander, General Litchfield says — and I agree with him 100 percent — cost-effective readiness leads to the size of our Air Force that will fight our nation's wars in the future. We can do a lot of great things, right now, today, that will impact our Air Force for years and years to come." The general said he will focus on providing tools, training and equipment for ALC employees. "I think that the opportunity for growth right now is to get very efficient in what we are doing. People know how to be efficient — the key for leadership is to give people the opportunity and hold them accountable. Accountability goes both ways, and we rely on that to maximize the efficiency. Any organization, by definition, has inefficiencies in it — so it's our job to help find out what those inefficiencies are." Buhler describes himself as a proactive, visible, "out-and-about kind of leader" who strives to plan ahead. "I'm a process guy. The folks that know me — and I tell my staff — I'm a planner's planner. I like to plan and then have plans on top of that. I'm a firm believer that if you plan to prevent something bad, the bad part usually doesn't happen." although it should go without saying, never, ever post personally identifiable information online, such as your address, phone number or birthday. As advised, I checked my personal security settings on various social media sites and found I have some housekeeping for my digital identity. Chances are, you do too. Should I delete my social media accounts? Should you? That is a personal decision everyone needs to make, but remember once you post something online there is no taking it back. It's out there for the world to see, regardless of your intended audience. Personally, I continue to use social media because it is the easiest way to keep up with family and friends across the globe, especially when deployed. I will, however, routinely check my security settings and remember to be smart about what I share. This year, my birthday passed with minimal wellwishes online because 5 I removed it from my profile. That's a small price to pay. Historically, we learned "loose lips sink ships" as a way to remind ourselves of OPSEC measures. Today, this principle is even more vital because most people have the internet in their pocket. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Fundamentally, public opinion wins wars." In a way, the battle against ISIL takes place in the realm of public opinion. Our adversaries showed how they can effectively leverage social media to instill fear in millions of people when they beheaded Westerners and posted the videos to YouTube. As a public affairs professional, it is my job to help tell the story of American Airmen and I will continue to do this because I am proud of the accomplishments we achieve each and every day. It's important for the American people to see us accomplish our duties competently, effectively and proudly - without putting the mission or our wingmen at risk. Photo courtesy of Master Sgt. Sonny Cohrs The Air Force reminds us not to post information about deployment departures, locations, and ongoing operations. However, even a simple photo of your family pet can reveal personal information in the metadata, especially when taken with a smart phone. And plan he has. As a means of helping the ALC groups stay up-todate with each other, Buhler will hold many of the weekly meetings in locations other than the usual Bldg. 849 conference room. "I don't see why everyone has to leave their place of work and come up to see us," he said. "If you look at it from a planning perspective, it takes someone who works in the F-22 area 12 minutes to get here and 12 minutes to get back, and by the time they park and get inside, that's 30 minutes out of their day. And if they have two meetings in a day, that's an hour they're not on the floor working with employees." "Our squadron leaders and group leaders that attend can go into the Commodities Group, for example, and see real-time how the landing gear process operates. This gives me and my other leadership teammates the opportunity to get out and see what's happening, productionwise." Again stressing efficiency and teamwork, Buhler wants the ALC employees and leadership to know that "we matter" — The Ogden ALC is important to keeping the Air Force operating. "I truly believe that any leader, including myself, works for the folks getting the job done. I truly believe that," he said. "It's a strategic imperative for us to be more efficient. I think everybody — from the technicians on the floor to all of our commanders and our civilian leaders — needs to be more demanding of each other in terms of knowing what's going on and helping to knock down constraints." "I've been very, very impressed with the scope of the ALC. I honestly wasn't aware of how large the ALC was in terms of the things we touch. I've enjoyed meeting our union reps and having relationships with the union. And I'm very, very impressed with the work ethic of the workforce here." "Additionally, I've been very impressed with my Team Hill teammates, as well as the community leaders that support the base and our workforce." |