Manning encourages CAFB’s newest aviators

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Lile
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Retired Col. Scott Manning, prior Commander of Yale Reserve Officer Training Corps, spoke during the Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 15-14 graduation Sept. 11 in the Kaye Auditorium.

Manning began his speech by talking about the exciting opportunities that await the Air Force's newest aviators.

"Seeing new aviators today I see a wonderful career full of excitement in front of all of you because having this opportunity to fly airplanes is absolutely fantastic," Manning said. "You all have exciting careers in front of you. It is a wonderful job; I can't think of anything else I would have rather done. If any of you young people do not want to do this I will get back into physical training shape and will trade places with you."

Manning continued to stress not only the excitement but the seriousness of their training.

"I don't know what is in front of you, you're leadership doesn't know what is in front of you, but I promise you this, they have given you the basic tools and the basic skills," he said. "Now you're going to go and you're going to hone those a little bit further and you're going to use those to do whatever you have to do."

Even with all of the new pilots' new skills, Manning urged them to continue to be humble throughout their careers.

"The biggest thing I would like to stress is humility," Manning said. "Any pilot that is going through the program right now needs to keep humility at the forefront of their training process. There is a very distinct line between arrogance and confidence. If you are arrogant you are going to make mistakes. If you are confident that means you are doing things because you were trained properly and you will do them well."

With all of Manning's accomplishments, he explained to the graduates that he still feels he never arrived at the finish line.

"I don't feel like I have ever arrived anywhere," he said. "I don't feel like I have ever walked into a unit and said 'hey I know everything.' I don't want you to do that when you arrive anywhere either. This entire journey you're on right now is a complete journey, but I don't know if there is a destination at the end of it. Because if you have some mystical place that is the end of this I think your focus is wrong."

Manning concluded his speech by giving the graduates simple advice on how to navigate through their careers.

"I think what you need to do is go on this journey and just work as hard as you can, help your teammates out and always ask the question what can I do next," he said. "If you start feeling like you have arrived somewhere, start looking over your shoulder and see if anyone is there with you, if not you are probably in the wrong."