This I Believe

This I Believe

          When I joined the Air Force, and arrived at Basic Training, my life changed forever. I was expecting the change of moving, being away from my family and friends, being told what to wear, what to do and when to do it. But, what I wasn’t expecting was for my values to change. The first day we got there, we were all brought to an auditorium and went through a lot of presentations. The presentations were about the history and traditions of the Air Force, the structure, what we have done, what we’re doing now and where we’re going. Then there was one about being an Airman and what that meant.

          An Airman is a soldier in the Air Force. Everyone in the Air Force, from the newest recruit in Basic Training, to the highest ranking General is an Airman. All of us had the same core values. Our first core value is; Integrity First. Integrity is a character trait that says you are going to do the right thing, even when no one else is looking. The second is; Service before self. Your duty takes precedence over everything else. Your personal desires are secondary. The third core value is; Excellence in all you do. We are all striving to do better and be better in our service and in our lives.

At the time, I thought these were just words. I didn’t realize how much of an effect these would play in my life. Then, I arrived at my first base. Every day I would be reminded of these three core values, whether they would be on posters in the dining facility or, be brought up every time we had a squadron meeting. They would be posted in various places all over the base. And even as I did my job, I would think about these values and made sure I had these in mind when I would make every day decisions.

          It could be something as small as seeing someone drop a dollar bill out of their pocket as they are paying for something. Was that dollar going to make a huge difference in that person’s life if they didn’t have it? Probably not, but the right thing to do is to pick it up and give it back to them. When I was working on aircraft; if I was conducting an inspection and noticed that one of the hydraulic lines was a little frayed, but not yet leaking, I could either fix it then and there, or wait until the next time I worked on that aircraft. There could have been a million reasons for me not to replace it; it was hot that day, I wanted to get out of the sun, maybe the Red Sox were playing the Yankees on National television and it was one of the few times I could watch a game. I could just close up the aircraft and say I’ll change it next time. But what if the pilot took that aircraft up that day and that hose failed and that pilot died, just because I thought I could get away with doing a little less work that day. I needed to live by those core values every day I was in the Air force.

Now, it is ten years later and I still find myself living by these three core values. I have adopted these values from my military life, to my personal life and my work life. I know they have helped to mold me in to the person I am today.

          I believe in core values.