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Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians

Commentaries

  • Helping good guys win

    Before I left for my current deployment, an 8-year-old asked me out of the blue, "Why do you have to go to Iraq?" It stopped me in my tracks. I remember thinking, "How can I possibly answer such an immense question without somehow tainting her view on this unpredictable world?" When I deployed to

  • Defending our nation is every servicemembers' job

    "That's not my job." We've all heard these words or some variation of them at some point in our career. What did it say to you about the individual or the organization that person represents? What would be the impact on our mission if we let this mentality creep into our culture? Today, our service

  • Letters from home mean the world

    People often ask deploying Airmen, "What can I do to help?" Most Airmen say, "Nothing. We're fine."Asking for things is hard, and we can get almost everything we need at the base exchange. It's not until I get a package from a loved one that I realize how much these little pieces of home really mean

  • Stress: Don't let it control you

    Your air expeditionary force cycle is coming up. You just received permanent change-of-station orders. An exercise is around the corner and you still need to prep for the Unit Compliance Inspection. And that's just work. Add a home life, and your demands and stressors seem endless. It's impossible

  • Inspection reminds us that people are watching

    Recently I participated in an open-ranks inspection with our commander. As I was standing in formation, I noticed many people walking by and staring at us. I could tell they were wondering what we were doing, but nobody stopped to ask, although some did take the time to watch. Standing there and

  • The ones left behind

    War is not something that penetrates the thoughts of most Americans every waking moment, even though we have been at war for more than five years now with the war on terrorism. To us, it seems to be this distant event unfolding in a faraway place, therefore not affecting any of us directly. We catch

  • Mentoring builds tomorrow's Air Force

    On July the 3rd I celebrated an important personal anniversary. It is the anniversary of the day that I enlisted in the Oklahoma Air National Guard some seventeen years ago -- July 3, 1990. For some, that may seem a small lifetime ago, but to me it seems like just yesterday. If you told me 17 years

  • Good vs. bad guys: Explaining war to an 8-year-old

    When an 8-year-old recently asked me out of the blue, 'Why do you have to go to Iraq?' it stopped me in my tracks. I remember thinking how can I possibly answer such an immense question without somehow tainting her view on this unpredictable world.When I deployed to Southwest Asia in 2002, a fellow

  • Adapt or die

    Three words stood emblazoned on a small plaque in the colonel's office: Adapt or die. In the colonel's typical freight-train style, he explained his philosophy to me -- the new lieutenant. We have those moments early in our careers when we hear something from a senior leader that sticks with us. I

  • AFSO 21, other programs improve Air Force

    Some would argue that Washington, D.C., is the seat of power for the entire free world. When I walked the city's streets in July while attending a course at George Washington University, I strolled past the World Bank and the halls of Congress. Coupled with gazing at the Washington Monument from my