• Wing commander reviews 2005

    Congratulations Team Vance on a very successful year. As we close out the year and you prepare to celebrate the holiday season, I hope you take time to reflect on the successes of the year as well as areas to improve. You succeeded in so many ways -- you completed a rigorous 55,000-plus sortie and

  • Deployments can come any time -- Are you ready?

    The current world situation makes it more important for you to be prepared for deployment. The most recent time I was deployed, I didn't know it was coming until I got a phone call a little before noon on a Saturday, "Can you get to (combat arms training and maintenance) by noon?" I didn't get there

  • Oklahoma winter weather provides anything but ordinary

    If you had told me on Jan. 20, 2002, I'd be cooking macaroni and cheese in my fireplace on the evening of Jan. 29, I would have laughed. But as Jan. 29 got closer, I became rather mortified as I sat in the weather station analyzing weather data concerning this now "infamous" day. You see, Jan. 29,

  • Force shaping: planning for your future

    As a new lieutenant in the early nineties, I remember all too well the uncertainty and fear members of our force faced under reduction in force conditions. Officers and enlisted members with anywhere between seven to 15 years of service were asked to accept separation incentives, early retirement or

  • Four-month Peruvian deployment leaves patriotic impression

    As I approached the end of my latest deployment, I found it difficult not to reflect on how great it is to be an American. The South Americans, particularly the Peruvians, share this same sentiment. Simply put, the history of Peru is quite amazing. It could be called the cradle of South American

  • Flexibility -- is it the key to airpower?

    I'm sure you've all heard the oft-stated euphemism, "Flexibility is the key to airpower," but have you heard that "indecision is the key to flexibility"? In the old days, way back when I was a young lieutenant, we said that a lot. We said it because we felt the leadership rarely stepped up and made

  • Determine your need for supplements before taking them

    Vitamin and mineral supplements are sometimes an issue for Airmen and their families. Many people ask if they should take a supplement. Some of their concerns are addressed in the following three questions. Are there any vitamins or minerals that will boost my energy level? Vitamins and minerals do

  • Attitude crucial to transforming opportunity into success

    Helen Keller is credited with the statement "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." I believe the same is true of opportunities for success. Every day we are presented with many

  • Include everyone by calling winter gathering a 'holiday' party

    While we all work to accomplish the same mission of "Preparing Tomorrow's Joint Warriors to Fly ... Fight ... and Win," we all may not share the same religious faith or ideology about life. The Air Force and our country are unique because we are diverse, yet unified. We must accept our diversity and

  • What does 'Fit to Fight' mean to Vance Airmen?

    Fit to Fight. What does that mean to you? In the July 2003 Chief's Sight Picture with that title, then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper highlighted that we "deploy to all regions of the world, living in tent cities and working on flight lines in extremes of temperatures." He went on to add