13 Mar 2017

Generation Why

  Last Friday, I sat in the Columbus Club bar and picked the brain of the 48th Flying Training Squadron commander, Lt. Col. Charles “Spanky” Gilliam.   He had one arm in a sling from an overzealous representation of his beloved Alley Cats flag football team, the other arm nursed a drink as he reflected on nearly 18 years of service and leadership.

3 Mar 2017

The best 50 cents I ever spent

All Airmen are the products of costly Air Force training programs which intend to influence behaviors and shape our character. Additionally, many of us spend considerable amounts of personal time and resources examining leadership lessons and character development. While I do not question or regret such investments, I found it rather amusing my

24 Feb 2017

Airmen, seek support with our resources

If you attended the 14th Flying Training Wing’s Annual Awards Banquet, you had the pleasure of hearing the guest speaker, Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, Commander, Air Force Recruiting Service, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. While speaking about the world’s greatest Air Force, he mentioned we all essentially joined the Air Force for the same

17 Feb 2017

Primary prevention and Green Dot -- a year in

Last year around this time, the Green Dot program made its way onto the scene in the Air Force.There was plenty of buzz about this new program the Air Force was adopting. I was often asked what this program was going to provide the Air Force had not already tried. Many were skeptical and some went as far as to say this program will make its debut

9 Feb 2017

Why should you donate blood?

There is no substitute for human blood, nor can human blood be manufactured.  Blood products cannot be stored indefinitely, therefore a constant need for donations is necessary.  Columbus Air Force Base schedules blood drives once a quarter. Average donations are at least 40 units per drive. Also, for every five units of whole blood collected,