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Commentary Search

  • Leaping forward

    Welcome to an "intercalary" year, also known as a Leap Year. The designation of a Leap Year has a long and interesting history, mixed with science and religion. Our calendar, the Gregorian calendar by name, measures the time and seasons for us in days, months and years. Because a solar year is six

  • More morale, please

    Morale. Our leaders want it to skyrocket through the roof, our co-workers prefer to work with someone who increases it and hopefully every Airman is leaning toward the positive end of it. What about those days when the morale meter is falling a little below comfort level? At about that time, it

  • Military Saves Week: Not just another slogan

    I hate to accept it as much as anyone else, but the fact is, the quickest way to financial freedom is rarely through the lottery, a get-rich-quick plan or an inheritance. Most of us main-streamers are limited to one way of creating a worry-free financial situation for ourselves, and that way is

  • A little consideration

    We all like to know how we score on various tests and scales. How are you at the McLandress Coefficient? Never heard of the McLandress Coefficient? Neither had I. Herschel McLandress was a professor of psychiatric measurement at Harvard Medical School, and he developed a way to measure a person's

  • A Letter to the Editor

    I have just had the privilege of returning to Iraq and more specifically to Al Anbar Province for my third tour. I say privilege for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to again serve with young Americans -- the best of their generation -- in combat. A second reason is

  • Letter to Airmen - Reflections for the AOR

    To our warriors stateside and around the world, I salute you! I just returned from my third trip to the Central Command AOR, and once again I am both re-energized and incredibly impressed by the consistently motivated, innovative and professional Airmen I had the privilege to meet. I am truly

  • KIT: Keep in Touch

    During a visit with my family in December, we found ourselves discussing the whereabouts and statuses of high school friends - who was married, had children, was pregnant or had moved to another part of the country. Eventually, the yearbooks came out and as we flipped through the book filled with

  • No need to judge

    "Don't judge a book by its cover." This is an old axiom that has stood the test of time. But what does this mean? Does anyone read books anymore, or even look at the covers? Covers on books often carry an inviting representation of the contents inside, revealing the truth of another axiom: "a

  • When the going gets tough

    Many have heard the popular saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But, in actuality, how many people have actually seen this verse put to action by those around them? We may not always realize it, but every day Airmen make the decision to continue on their journey to provide

  • Taking the point

    Have you heard the honking? I don't mean the painful and sometimes alarming rasp of a car horn, but rather the distinctive honk of geese flying overhead. My home state of South Dakota is a natural flyway for thousands upon thousands of geese flying south for the winter - Snow, Blues and Canadian