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  • Fourth of July message

    With the 233rd birthday of our great nation's independence rapidly approaching, we prepare to celebrate our freedom with family and friends. Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we have been vigilant in defending our ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Air

  • Doing what matters most

    It is interesting to note that cement crews often do their work very early in the morning before the other workers arrive on site. They follow a plan, calculate what is needed, and begin to pour the material that will stabilize the entire effort. However, the final determination of the cement crew's

  • A promise made is a promise kept

    Anyone who thinks about Sept. 11, 2001, will likely remember exactly where they were when they heard the news on that fateful fall morning. It is an event seared into our collective national and global conscious, one that marks the end of one era and the start of another. Within minutes of the

  • What we can learn from studying the Great Wall of China

    The Great Wall of China was built over a 2,200-year period. It was started in the 5th century B.C. and was not finally completed until early in the 17th century A.D. This great structure was originally designed to protect the various reigning dynasties of the era from raids by outside invaders and

  • Training day: a process through the mind of a medic

    Since the clinic opens late Fridays, we normally spend a few hours training before patients arrive. Often it's a quick refresher taught by the Airmen, or sometimes, a presentation from our NCOs on tasks we'll be doing in the near future. Nothing fancy, nothing to sweat about. However, May 15's

  • Delivering hope

    The most dramatic rescue operation of the twentieth century was the Berlin Airlift--a mission that saved over 2.5 million people from starvation and served as the single most significant event in stemming the rapid Soviet expansion across the post World War II continent of Europe. In 1948, Berlin

  • The courage to lead

    There is a tale from the Far East that tells of a mouse who was so terrified of cats he would rarely risk stepping out into the world. Then one day, a local magician agreed to transform the terrified mouse into a cat. This curtailed his fear and the mouse-turned-cat was happy. That is, until he met

  • Hitmen in our midst

    A thousand years ago, in the early part of the 11th century, a rebellious Shiite Muslim sect called the Nizari seized control of a mountaintop castle in Teheran, the capital of modern day Iran. This was the first in what would turn into a series of attacks conducted against political leaders of the

  • A lesson in humility

    When I was younger, around my high school years, I didn't care about history. In fact I didn't really care about anything in high school. I wasn't what you would call a model student. My general attitude toward history was, "Who cares; it's in the past. When am I ever going to need to know this

  • A butterfly in Baghdad

    Ugliness was everywhere In this city of war and despair Death was all around me Hanging so heavy in the air The buildings lay in rubble There were remnants of exploded cars Each day I felt new death occur Carving more emotional scars To feel the tremble of a bombing And know life just ended for many