People, skills make Air Force work

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Russell Quinn
  • 52nd Operations Support Squadron
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) --  "It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; ... who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Spoken by Teddy Roosevelt, April 23, 1910, during his "Man in the Arena" speech.

So what is your story? What is it that made you choose this line of work anyway?

I ask only to point out something you may not have considered. This is an amazing time to be in the service of our country, and an even more amazing time to be a member of the United States Air Force. Consider these two things:

The U.S. Air Force is by far the most powerful, precise and advanced air force that exists on Earth today. You are part of that. In fact, you are integral to that power and precision. You need to know, whoever you are or whatever your skill level, that we would not be as strong as we are without you.

Equipment is great, but the people make the Air Force work. Ask anybody, inside or outside our military. The individuals we work with today are the smartest, most talented and motivated group of people we will most likely ever work with in our life. We're very lucky that they are so focused when you consider the critical nature of our current conflict.

Our window of opportunity to make a difference is a relatively small window. For some people, it will be three to four years; for others, it may be 20 to 25 years. Either way, we as individual members of the U.S. Air Force will spend the vast majority of our lives outside the service of our country. You may not look at your service this way, but I look at it that way every day.

Having joined at the age of 18 and served continuously until this day, I feel so very fortunate to have experienced so many things in the service of this great nation. There is plenty of time in the future to wake up knowing that some other individual is in the arena; right now, it's our time. Consider that, and if you feel the same way I do, appreciate every minute, value every brother and sister in arms and continue doing the outstanding work that you do every day.