VOL. 45 NO.10 MARCH 11, 2005 Inside COMMENTARY: Being a good leader, page 2 Most Excellent! NEWS: Iditarod musher, page 3 Academy makes clean sweep of compliance inspection One-year deploy- By Tech. Sgt. Gino Mattorano ments, page 4 Academy Spirit staff Academy launches The Academy is doing an “Excellent” new Web site, page 5 job of fulfilling its mission to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become 333-RIDE returns to tomorrow’s Air Force leaders of character, Academy, page 6, said unit compliance inspection officials Wednesday. SPORTS: Two The 10-day inspection encompassed juniors earn all-con- every aspect of Academy operations, rang- ference honors, ing from academics to air base defense. page 9 The Academy received an overall “Excellent” rating, as well as “Excellents” Boxing for all five of its major mission areas – the Championship, 34th Training Wing, the Dean of the Faculty, the Directorate of Athletics, the 10th Air page 10 Base Wing and the Academy’s Preparatory School. The Superintendent’s staff also Briefly received an “Excellent” rating. Both Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa, Academy 2005 Air Force Superintendent, and the lead Air Force inspector commented that they had never Assistance Fund seen an organization accomplish this feat. The Air Force Assistance “I’ve been doing this for a long time, Fund Campaign starts and I’ve never seen a clean sweep,” said The Preparatory School’s Husky greets attendees of Wednesday’s Unit Monday and runs through General Rosa. “I couldn’t be more excited Compliance Inspection outbrief in Arnold Hall. The Academy’s overall score is April 25. The goal for the or more pleased, and you should each be “Excellent.” (Photo by Charley Starr) 2005 Campaign is $64,000. proud of yourselves for the hard work you For more information contact rating scale. Many Academy organizations Inspector General coin. Coin recipients Maj. Mark Stephens at do every day. earned “Excellent” ratings. Additionally the were: Airman 1st Class Samuel Medellin, 333-2221 or Tech. Sgt. “We’ve had several challenges here at Academy received an “Excellent” in its abil- 10th Medical Group; Airman 1st Class Jennifer Isom at 333-9618 or the Academy lately, and while we still have ity to respond to contingency operations. Benjamin Sosa, 10th Communications your mission element points several areas to work on, this is a huge step “You spent a lot of time and effort prepar- Squadron; Staff Sgt. Kristopher Evers, 10th of contact. in the right direction. My hat’s off to each ing for this inspection, and we recognize the Security Forces Squadron, Staff Sgt. Angela and every one of you.” accomplishments you have made,” said Col. Proctor, Academy Preparatory School; Visitor closure General Rosa also expressed his thanks David Snodgrass, Air Force Inspection Master Sgt. Daniel Colwell, Dean of Faculty The Academy will be to the 160-member inspection team for their Agency commander. “That preparation was Staff; Cadet 1st Class Michael Carlson, 34th closed to all visitor traffic hard work and professionalism. very evident throughout our inspection, and Training Group; Maj. Anton Eret Jr., 34th Saturday until noon for a Ten Academy organizations, including you should all be very proud.” Education Group; Michael Jackson, training exercise. The clo- the 10th Medical Group and Academy Band, The inspector general team also identi- Directorate of Athletics; Sandie Miles, sure will not affect Academy received an “Outstanding” overall rating for fied 10 outstanding performers from across Office of the Staff Judge Advocate; and Dr. personnel. the inspection - the highest possible in the the base and recognized them with an Martin Carlisle, Dean of Faculty Office. Falcon Football Tickets are available for the 2004 Annual Awards Banquet set for Wednesday 2005 Air Force Academy Football season. Call the By the Academy Spirit staff This year will be the first it’s one team Academy with all and their spouses, and 24 com- Athletic Ticket Office at year that enlisted and officer the recipients together at one munity partners. 472-1895, or visiting The 2004 Annual Awards award ceremonies are combined. time,” he said. The uniform for the banquet www.airforcesports.com. Banquet will be held at the In past years, enlisted awards Nominations for the awards is mess dress for military and Sept. 3 Washington Academy Officers’ Club March were presented at a formal din- were made first at the squadron black tie/semi-formal for civil- Sept. 10 San Diego State 16 from 6-9 a.m. ner, while officer and civilian level, and then worked up ians. There will be a social hour Sept. 17 Wyoming Fifteen winners will be awards were announced at a through the group and wing lev- and dinner, followed by the Sept. 22 at Utah announced in different cate- more informal luncheon. els until the final winners were announcement of the award win- Oct. 1 at Colorado State gories including civilian, enlist- Co-chair of the awards ban- chosen by an Academy board. ners. A post-banquet party will Oct. 8 at Navy ed and officer awards. The fea- quet, Senior Master Sgt. Dan Chair of the awards banquet, be held, also at the officers’ club. Oct. 15 UNLV tured speaker is Lt. Gen. John Williams, said having the awards 2nd Lt. Daniel Snyder, said “This year the awards will Oct. 22 TCU Rosa, Academy Superintendent. together this year is a definite more than 500 people are be combined into a really nice Oct. 29 at BYU The United States Air Force advantage. expected to show up for the formal evening affair, and I think Nov. 5 Army Academy Band will provide “Previously, we had two awards, including commanders, we’ll get a better event,” Nov. 19 at New Mexico entertainment. separate award ceremonies. Now first sergeants, award nominees Sergeant Williams said. Academy Spirit 2 COMMENTARY March 11, 2005 Seize the opportunity to be a good leader By Chief Master Sgt. Benjamin Harper Jr. can provide 40 percent of the airpower for this Area think of the medical folks when speaking of humani- 379th Air Expeditionary Wing command chief of Responsibility with the oldest fleet ever in the his- ty. Every customer they get never stops by unless he tory of the Air Force by luck or chance? No way, it or she is not feeling well; yet, they always take care SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) — I was out the takes dedicated leaders who ensure the combat main- of us. other day with some of the fine Airmen we have here tainers have the best tools and training available. Even so, it is a demanding environment for all of in the wing and one of them made the comment, “I They ensure the troops are intellectually prepared to us and mission accomplishment is critical to the can’t wait until I get the opportunity to lead.” face the challenges of the daily maintenance mission. AOR. Every day there is a risk of failure, and while There are many things about leadership that I The next characteristic is energy. Good leaders we have the best of plans and training, the outcome is don’t understand, but I do know you don’t wait on it get around; they influence the daily “battles” with still in doubt until we actually execute the mission. to come, you make it happen. In every forum in the presence. They follow their e-mail with their feet! The difference in victory and defeat often lies in the last 10 years, I have heard the statement made that we The very best of them have the uncanny ability to be faith the troops have in the leadership and the com- have a shortage of good leadership at all levels. What at critical places at critical times. They get out from bined perseverance to “hold the line.” makes a good leader and why is there a shortage? under the pressure of the calendar and focus on the To engender that faith, leaders must have a Leadership involves constant preparation. Vince human element of the organization. human touch and a feel for the troops. Lt. Gen. Lombardi, one of the greatest football coaches of all I think the greatest similarity between motiva- Walter E. Buchanan III, U.S. Central Command Air time, once said, “It is not the desire to win that is so tional energy and depression is that they are both Forces commander, says he would “rather talk than important but rather the willingness to prepare.” contagious. Good leaders get up and get ready. When type.” It is hard to relay humanity through e-mail. It So how do we prepare then, since we are all they are with the troops they are motivated. As a is hard to feel the temperature of the workplace or the expected to lead in this deployed combat environ- leader, the organization feeds off you. It takes a lot of distance to the bathroom from a Power Point presen- ment? Retired Army Gen. Montgomery Meigs identi- energy to keep this up, which is why the Air Force tation. fied four characteristics that we might recognize as places so much value on the new physical fitness pro- I have had several great lieutenant supervisors in common in what we view as good leaders. gram. my life who have really taught me some good lessons. The first characteristic is intellect, from which Let’s look at the troops in the operations group Lieutenant Derry, my best lieutenant supervisor ever, we derive the elements of decision and execution — for a minute. This dedicated group of men and was the kind of leader you would die for.