Conduct matters in all venues

With liberty comes sacrifice. There may be no finer example of the sacrifice that offers hope to those in need than the one offered by Air Force Reservist Senior Airman Kyle Ernst.

An Airman alongside soldiers, a stranger in an even stranger land, this part-time military mechanic from Niagara Falls, N.Y., pledged seven months of his life guarding convoys of food, fuel and supplies in Iraq. On the road from Baghdad to Balad, one of Kyle's convoys was the target of three explosions. The blasts injured him and two others.

Knocked unconscious, Kyle woke up and, on one good leg, tried to position himself back on the .50-caliber gun turret he had stood on 50 times before. His story is one of courage. It highlights his exemplary behavior and the discipline he learned from military training. Kyle followed the rules. He stood his ground, stayed alive, helped usher the convoy to safety and finished the job. Kyle came home Aug. 9. His country awarded him the Purple Heart Nov. 6.

This young man's behavior should be a model for our own. Wherever our duty may take us, we have an obligation to be viewed as infallible torchbearers of freedom and hope. To fulfill that purpose, our conduct as citizens and Citizen Airmen should be above reproach.

That conduct also carries over in dealing with other people. There is not a person in our Air Force who should be mistreated or abused. People volunteered for the Air Force Reserve because they wanted to belong to something bigger than themselves; to something that weaves the binding thread of democracy into the blanket of freedom we wrap around those who know only the chill of tyranny.

As Reservists, this call for exemplary behavior is a moral imperative of duty. It demands we have the courage to treat friends and strangers alike with dignity and respect. In short, none of us should tolerate unprofessional behavior.

Just as Kyle trained for and understood his charge in Iraq, we, too, must understand better the business of flying and fixing airplanes. Throughout the world, war-fighting commanders call on the Reserve for mobility aircraft, fighter jets and trained people. They want them to perform tough work. While we've set a new standard for excellence that has those commanders' eyes collectively watered, there is reason for concern.

We've had a number of incidents that make me worry about how we're doing our business. We're hurting friends. We're killing comrades. We're damaging equipment. We're doing this because we sometimes lose focus. We know how to fly and fix airplanes better than any of our peers. From time to time, however, we fail to follow orders, checklists and guidelines that are integral parts of our success. As a result, our level of discipline dips, and we get people hurt.

Our flyers are not left out of this equation. Any Airman who has the privilege of wearing silver wings, including me, must fly right. There are reams of rules to ensure we apply the right discipline. Ignored or forgotten, those standards do no good. Before any Air Force Reserve Command mission goes "wheels up," Air Force standards require every flyer on every flight, every day, to employ aerial discipline.

Aristotle had it right: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." If we expect "excellence in all we do," then we must do the things that make us excellent. We must do them by the book, checklist or technical order that helps make us part of the most powerful military force the world has ever known.

However, with power comes responsibility--and discipline. Our behavior must reflect the same standard of high conduct and discipline shown by one brave senior airman on a convoy 8,000 miles from home. We must not waiver from the responsibility of behavior. These traits--sacrifice, discipline and responsibility--are mandates of the profession of arms. Thanks for what you do to make us a more effective, professional team.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Air Force Reserves
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group