HomeNewsCommentaries

Commentary Search

  • The OTS advantage

    This is my Officer Training School story.My journey to the United States Air Force actually began when I was in college. No, I did not participate in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Oklahoma. Instead, I was a "normal" student recruited by OU's College of Engineering. I became a non-scholarship athlete my freshman year. I

  • Know your rights: Basics of landlord tenant law in Alabama

    Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, Summer at Maxwell means it is PCS season. Knowing some of the basics about Alabama Landlord Tenant law can really save you some headaches and potentially a lot of money as you get ready to move in or out. Here are some things you need to keep in mind if you are renting in the Montgomery area.Landlord ObligationsUnder

  • Operation Overlord after 70 years

    For most Americans today, what they know about Operation Overlord, which began in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, 70 years ago, is probably what they glean from two movies shown mostly around Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. The 1962 docudrama, "The Longest Day," based on the 1959 book by Cornelius Ryan, covers the 24 hours from evening June 5

  • Be proactive to prevent active shooter incidents

    The news seems to be flooded with one horrific active shooter incident after another. Every time we hear of these tragedies, we ask ourselves why these incidents occur and what can be done to prevent them. As we try to make sense of these crimes, let's remain mindful that all active shooter incidents and the damage they cause can be mitigated or

  • Moral authority: Internally generated, always tested and fragile

    All leaders require authority to act or to tell other people to act, particularly in the profession of arms. Early on in a leader's career, authority, granted by the institution, is emphasized through one's commission, the Constitution, the U.S. Code, rank, position and orders. Over time, however, good leaders begin to establish their own

  • ‘Nurses lead the way’

    National Nurses' Week begins May 6 and ends May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. Nursing's role since Nightingale's time has changed tremendously; still, with all the changes taking place around us, nurses continue to lead the transformation of our health care system to meet the ever-growing demand for prevention, wellness and primary care

  • How I nearly became the ‘next fatality’

    Risk management does not entail the absence of risk, but may be the closest thing we have to 20/20 "foresight." Whether in our daily operations or personal life, risk management calls for you to review the task, conditions, resources and equipment; assess all the risks involved; determine if there are ways to mitigate those risks; and, ultimately,

  • Calibrating your ‘moral compass’

    The analogy of a "moral compass" as representing a person's ability to reason ethically and act morally has been used to the point of triteness. Although the terms "ethics" and "morality" are not the same thing, for the sake of brevity I will use them interchangeably. My goal is to resurrect the moral compass theme by underpinning this worn-out

  • Adopting a stepchild

    Adoption is the process by which two individuals create a parent-child relationship recognized by law. A stepparent adoption is a legal process where the stepparent becomes the legal parent of the child. This relationship becomes permanent and cannot be reversed by a subsequent separation or divorce from the biological parent. Once the stepparent

  • Air Force core values: More than a poster on the wall

    Peer pressure is a powerful force, almost as powerful as command pressure. The need to fit in, combined with the weight of perfection, significantly contributed to the recent instances of cheating in the Air Force's missileer community. After considering recent accounts, I asked myself, "Why didn't someone speak up?" It is important to note that
RSS