Each moment is an opportunity to learn something new

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Youseff Elkassis
  • 386th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  It takes a special person to join our all-volunteer military in the U.S. Just looking at our numbers will tell you that.

With a population of more than 300 million people, less than one percent of our country serves in the active-duty and Reserve military components combined.

The fact that you have volunteered to serve should be a source of pride, not because we are all members of an extremely small minority of the U.S. population, but because of the things we are willing to sacrifice for this service.

As deployed individuals, we spend large amounts of time separated from our friends and families, risking life and limb, and placing our personal goals on hold to complete our missions. Every day, I meet someone new with a spouse and perhaps children at home who are waiting for their loved one to get back. Every day, I'm reminded that my own family -- my parents and siblings -- are all patiently waiting for the day I safely return home.

But until we get home to our families, we have our military families in the deployed environment. We must take the opportunity each day to use this pride in our service and push for excellence in all our actions.

When we take those extra seconds, minutes or even hours to accomplish our tasks properly the first time, we build the force multiplier that makes our military the most agile and powerful in the world.

In order to remain the force multiplier the U.S. needs us to be, we must continue to exhibit the strength, courage and flexibility that is required of us.

Through our everyday actions, we must show that we really care about what we are doing. We must be dedicated to the continued growth and development of ourselves, and see each moment as an opportunity to learn something new. The rest of the world will continue to grow whether we adapt or not, and by the time we realize we have been left behind, it will have been too late.

"Be the change you want to see in the world," Ghandi said.

Pursue your ideas, your goals and your dreams. Never stop looking for the best way to accomplish your tasks.

Be humble, and see that you can learn a lesson from any person, no matter who they are or where they came from.