Service

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Airlift Tanker Association 2010 Annual Conference in Orlando, FL. I signed up to go about a month ago and was looking forward to going, but at the same time didn't quite know what to expect. It's name implies it is just a 'pilot's' conference, but I knew this was not the case as there were many of us attending from different career fields.

The days were spent attending seminars, listening to speakers, to include the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and perusing vendor booths, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, during meals. Some things I heard were somewhat frustrating, such as the seminar on 'Air Refueling Optimization.' It seemed like the gist of this one was that we are just now starting to try to do this (coordinating missions in order to waste less fuel, minimize missions, etc)...really? How long have we been doing air refueling? I'm sure that there is more to it that I don't understand (or maybe not?), but regardless I was surprised. And a little disappointed.

Or the 'Medical Lessons Learned 2010- Haiti and Afghanistan.' The Vice Commander of the Medical Embedded Training Team spoke about their experiences at the Kandahar Regional Military Hospital, and how we can enhance the medical mentoring mission. We are faced with many obstacles and met with resistance when mentoring the Afghan National Army in the hospital, which is difficult to accept when we are far more advanced in our medical practice. Sometimes this results in the unneccessary loss of lives. On our dime.

But then there is Haiti. Disaster relief ops are a core capability of the airlift community, and it was awesome to hear what the Air Force did to get there as quickly as possible and provide medical support (following the 10 Jan earthquake).

We heard the story of an Airman, a flight engineer, who returned from a deployment to find out that he had cancer in his foot, resulting in an amputation of his lower leg. He asked the doctor the quickest way he could get back to flight status, and after a lot of biking along with the support of his unit, he was back with his team in the jet in no time.

One of our very own KC-135 aircrews was recognized for one of their missions in Afghanistan...the critical refueling of an A-10 engaged in a ground attack. Not that this is an irregular occurrence; just the opposite, the fact that it is such a regular occurrence makes you start to realize how important teamwork is and how much we really take care of each other. In so many ways.

I chose to attend a seminar about EOD. The pamphlet said "This briefing will illustrate how these EOD technicians perform this critical duty." Because I have such a great appreciation for this career field, I figured I would learn a little more about it. But I heard something completely different. I heard stories from 2 NCOs. Stories about the teammates they had lost on their deployments, and how they keep going and performing their job in the midst of these losses. It was painful fighting the tears and eventually a few slipped out. I was overwhelmed with emotion on this one, and when I went to shake their hands and thank them after, I could barely keep myself together.

We heard Joe Jackson speak. Out of his hour and a half presentation, he only talked about his 'Medal of Honor' actions in Vietnam for about 5 minutes. He flew his C-123 down into a fire-fight to rescue 3 combat controllers left behind during the evacuation of a post. He assumed the risk. A huge, huge risk. To save his brothers.

Regardless of whether or not we 'should' be in Afghanistan, currently or at all. Regardless of what anyone's view is about this war, whether they support it or feel similar to the majority who disapproved of the Vietnam war...there is no denying that the AF, along with our sister services, is an amazing team, capable of doing amazing things. Working together to protect each other and serve others.

Very fitting for the somewhat rejuvenated, prideful state I was in, we had Dr. Ken Pitetti, a Vietnam Veteran and currently a professor at Wichita State University, speak to our 'Exercise in Health and Disease' class on Monday evening. Dr. Pitetti has a lower leg amputation. He lost his leg in combat operations in Vietnam. He returned from Vietnam and soon after got involved with research that would help in understanding exercise for those with lower extremity amputations. He said he didn't feel qualified when he was being encouraged to take on the study ('Aerobic training exercises for individuals who had amputation of the lower limb'), but decided that he wanted to do something for those returning from the war. He wanted to continue to serve others. Especially during a time when America 'literally and figuratively spit on veterans.' He now works with developmentally disabled children. I had already decided that if Physical Therapy is in my future, I would like to work in a rehabilitation setting, including individuals with prosthetic limbs. He shed light on a different way to help them- through exercise. Just another option.

He is very passionate about exercise for lower extremity amputees. He is very passionate about those people taking care of themselves and not feeling sorry for themselves. He feels passionate about others around those individuals not enabling that to happen.


'Life isn't fair or unfair; it isn't good or bad. It just is'


He says life is about adjusting. The better you are at adjusting to what happens to you, the better off you are. Who can argue with that? Not me. Served as an important reminder for me when I feel like things just suck.

He finished by sharing his feelings on service. Not enough young people serve others, serve their country. Not necessarily just through the military, but period. Not enough have the desire to or understand the importance of serving. Who can argue with that? I can't. That is why I joined the Air Force, so no matter what else happens and no matter how many things frustrate me day to day...no matter how much a service member agrees or disagrees with our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, they step up and say 'where do you need me?' and they go. Dr. Pitetti said he spends so much time working out in the base gym because he loves being surrounded by people who understand what it is all about (although I will argue that there are those in the service who don't share this same understanding and seemed to have joined for more personal reasons). This idea, of doing something bigger than yourself, is very important. I agree with Dr. Pitetti and I made sure to thank him for HIS service after he thanked me for mine.


It's what it's all about.