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U.S. Air Force News

  • Why does my kid’s school need to know we are military?

    Every year my kid’s school asks me – multiple times – if we are military. It doesn’t matter where we live, they always want to know … during registration, enrollment, and mid-semester! Why do they care? Why does it matter? Should I tell them? For the longest time, I answered “No,” because I figured

  • Invisible Wounds

    Our military members are the best trained and well-equipped in the world, and can take on every enemy, except for the one within. Quite simply, we’ve got to start talking to each other, and asking tough questions.

  • A message for the Air Force JAG Corps

    Like many of you, I have faced a gamut of emotions especially in light of the current discussions and events in our country (and our Air Force) revolving around race and justice. Perhaps unlike many of you, these emotions are familiar to me. I am a Black woman. I have faced my fair share of bias and

  • Commentary: Unrest in America

    To the Airmen who are mourning, angry, or weary of the battle against racial prejudice, discrimination, bias, and systemic discrimination, Chief Wright and I recognize your pain. As the Air Force's military leadership, we reflect on and acknowledge that what happens on America's streets is also

  • Resiliency Toolkit: The power of a positive thought

    Many of you have probably been in a situation where nothing seems to be going right and every step you move forward, something hits you in the face, knocking you two steps back. In these moments, your biggest adversary becomes your own mind.

  • Not Forgotten

    When you walk into many dining facilities in the Air Force, you see it in the corner or off to the side: the lone chair and place setting. In the hurries of our day, we become numb to the sight of it: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action table with a setting for someone who has never returned.

  • Should we really “pin them where they win them”

    Active duty Air Force members who have changed stations in the recent past (approximately the last ten years or so) are likely to have experienced a push to get their PCS decoration written and awarded before PCSing so that their shop, or even their commander, can present the medal prior to the

  • Cherish every moment

    It’s 4 a.m., and a car parks outside the family home. Inside, a proud father of two takes one last look at his daughter and son before hugging his wife and walking out the door.As the car drives off, he stares out the window, hoping his wife and children will be all right for the next six months.

  • Be thankful for contributions of military spouses

    In my nearly 20 years of military service, I have moved 12 times. It is more frequent than most service members, but yet not that unusual. Along the way in my career, I picked up a spouse. She has moved a total of nine times in our 13 years of marriage. Our children are just breaking into double

  • Surviving the storm: My journey to recovery

    Last fall, I felt like I was losing my foundation. Within a short time frame, my best friend got a new assignment to California, and my supervisor, who had become my biggest mentor, left for a deployment. Soon after, I found myself significantly struggling to find my place as a new Airman, and

  • The OSD Logistics Fellows Program: A glimpse from inside

    Nearly 3 million men and women make up the Department of Defense; how few truly have opportunity for gaining insight and understanding of the origins of legislation, budget, policy, and oversight? The Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Logistics Fellowship provides selected logisticians the

  • Remembering Desert Storm: Where we are today in the Total Force Continuum

    A quarter of a century ago this week marked the opening salvo in Operation Desert Storm. The operation was an American shock and awe campaign to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and displayed airpower that the world had not seen since Operation Linebacker II over Vietnam. I was honored to be part of

  • EVERY AIRMAN COUNTS: Treating each other with dignity and respect

    When I was a young Airman, during the heat of an intense intramural flag football game, a fellow Airman, who was frustrated that he could not stop me from advancing the ball, yelled the “N” word out loud. I was shocked and confused. Having been raised in Southeast Washington, D.C., I was certainly