COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Dr. Story Musgrave, Retired NASA Astronaut, entrepreneur, Marine Corps Crew Chief and neurosurgeon, visited Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, Dec. 4 to speak to Team BLAZE on a broad spectrum of topics.
Musgrave’s visit to Columbus AFB was made possible by the contributions of the 43rd Flying Training Squadron.
Throughout his presentation, he used photos from his collection as a photographer to help tell his story and drive home his lessons for success.
Musgrave’s uniting theme for his presentation is also an Air Force Core Value.
“Our topic today is excellence: being the best you can every second of the day,” Musgrave said. “It’s how you design a life for yourself. Let’s look at our playing field; T-1, T-6, T-38. Wherever you are, that is your playing field, and being excellent will put you on a lifelong path to perfection.”
He spoke about his life and the various trials, tribulations and successes he experienced. From every event in his life, he took a piece of that experience and turned it into a strength.
A product of child labor, Musgrave joined the Marine Corps, became a master mechanic, tank operator, neurosurgeon, systems engineer, a pilot, an astronaut and everything in between.
“I learn by doing things and figuring it out,” Musgrave said. “I am a radically pragmatic person. I find out what I’ve got to do to make this thing happen.”
His particular brand of learning goes to show his passion for any subject he chose.
“When I joined NASA, I continued to work on airplanes,” Musgrave said. “The way I understand airplanes is to take them apart and put them back together. Every time I see something I don’t understand, I ask them to show me. I learned the T-38 inside and out on that hangar floor.”
He learned about everything he could get ahold of and is passionate about being the best he can be.
“Give yourself to the system and that system is going to do what it does: educate,” Musgrave said. “That’s how you learn. Life is about the excitement of continuous learning. Never miss the opportunity for an aircraft, instructor or program to teach you something.”
After working on his parent’s farm and having many jobs through his young life, he joined the USMC. As a crew chief, he learned much about how to do things and to do them right.
“Doing things right is a concise process that involves procedures, checklists, standardizations, best practices, configuration control and continuous improvement,” Musgrave said.
He encouraged the crowd to use their entire potential.
“It’s all about perfection and getting things done the right way,” Musgrave said. “There are a lot of reasons to be the best you can be. There is no stronger way to stay safe than to keep the phrase ‘I’ve got to come home,’ in your head.”
Musgrave spoke about an instance where a commercial airliner crashed a flight before it even left the runway. He described the commercial pilot world as extremely professional, but attributed the accident to complacency and deviance.
“Complacency and deviance are my two big evils,” Musgrave said. “There can be no complacency. We live in an unforgiving world. It does not matter if you’ve done things right 1,000 or 10,000 times in a row, you can’t miss once.”
He said ownership and remaining vigilant helps to avoid mistakes like the mentioned airline accident.
“Own it,” Musgrave said. “Be part of that business. Be passionate. Get in the game. Vigilance and awareness is how you stay in the game.”
Musgrave related the path through life to a game or sport, albeit a complex game with high costs of failure.
“The world is a very complex system,” Musgrave said. “Everything you do in life is a massive number of variables. Life is not simple, ever. You have to control these complex variables to get to that finish line.”
As a man with many degrees in all different fields, he recommends to never limit oneself to a single area of expertise.
“Everything you ever did in life you have to leverage,” Musgrave said. “You leverage it to your current life and ask yourself, ‘How am I going to use this?’”
Musgrave’s varied areas of knowledge drove him in different directions; directions he never saw coming.
“Folks, you are going to run into forks in the road,” Musgrave said. “What you do is prepare for the unknown. People always ask me if I always wanted to be an astronaut. The answer is no. I did not want to be an astronaut at the time.
“Everything you do in life will prepare you for a life that you do not yet know. Just keep following down that path to perfection. You are developing that skillset to offer to a brand new world.”
He spoke on leadership and teamwork and how those helped in all he did, particularly in piloting and neurosurgery.
“Comfort is a great word,” Musgrave said. “When you are doing anything in a team setting, ask your teammates, your coworkers or your subordinates if they are comfortable. It empowers them to achieve greater heights.”
Though he avoids emphasizing the possibility of failure, he noted it was important to deal with it if it does appear.
“We do anticipate life happens,” Musgrave said. “Things are going to happen. Stay resilient and be ready for anything. Have a recovery process and be able to tolerate it when things get off the beaten path.”
Musgrave left the audience with a powerful line and gratitude for allowing him to impart his wisdom.
“It isn’t over until it’s over,” Musgrave said. “I wish you well on your journey, remember to pursue all opportunities and do it simply because the challenges lay there before you. Thank you so much for having me.”