• Team Vance is excellent in all we do!

    Watch any professional athlete and you will see them exhibit focused precision as they practice and prepare for their next challenge. Team Vance has shown that same focused precision as we prepared for our upcoming Compliance Inspection.On May 16, more than 115 inspectors and augmenters from

  • You don’t have to be royalty to have a royal marriage

    There has been a lot of preparation and publicity building up to the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Experts on the British royal family have, for months, been explaining many of the complexities involved in a royal wedding.But in a matter of hours the royal wedding will be over and

  • Freedom of speech is not freedom to speak

    "Just because you can say it, doesn't mean you should." That's a great motto to live by and one that has served me well for my first 28 years of military service -- when I was smart enough to follow it.The military not only recommends refraining from certain forms of speech, it expressly prohibits

  • Keeping people safe -- even when their actions defy logic

    You can't fix stupid... or can you?In the safety business, I am constantly exposed to mishap reports that describe how people become involved in accidents. In some cases the individual does something that defies all logic and clearly does not pass the common sense test.Unfortunately, as French

  • Know your opportunity cost

    Everyone knows how to calculate the cost of buying something. First, you want an item. Then you shop around, find the best price, buy it, and add sales tax if necessary. Then it's yours, with the numbers on a receipt that show how much you paid.What the receipt doesn't show you is "opportunity

  • Every Airman brings a skill set crucial to the Vance mission

    "There's the snap. The quarterback steps back, turns to his right and hands off to the half back. He dives up the middle. He scores!!"Those words are repeated any number of times during a football season and at any level of the game from Pop Warner to the pros. Invariably, the focus of attention

  • A cut above all others

    One of my fellow squadron commanders recently wrote an outstanding article on the importance of being both a strong leader and follower. He was right on the mark.The traits of leadership and followership are gained through training, experience and lessons learned as we encounter both success and

  • It is your responsibility…

    In the last month or so I have come across several violations of AFI 36-2903, Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel. These were not just subtle violations, like hands in the pockets during cold weather, that you do without really thinking about.The violations I am talking about are

  • What about followership?

    Twenty-five years ago this summer, I started basic training at the U.S. Air Force Academy and was quickly taught how to adjust to military life. I learned about marching, wearing a uniform and military customs and courtesies.Each and every lesson learned seemed to come back to the importance of

  • Fight the fade

    At the end of his esteemed military and political service, one of the Founding Fathers of America, George Washington, wrote to Alexander Hamilton, "I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of 'an honest