What did you do during the war?

  • Published
  • By Col. "Tip" Stinnette
  • 39th Air Base Wing Commander
I am struck by the opening scene in the movie Patton where George C. Scott is giving a speech as General Patton and telling the troops that they should be proud because years from now they will not have to tell their grandchildren that they were shoveling &%@! in Louisiana during the great war.

Years from now none of us will have to tell our grandchildren that we were watching the events of the days from 3,000 miles away on a TV ... rather we will be able to stand proud and tell them that we were at the "Tip of the Sword" making it happen!

Take a drive out to the north side of the base and you will see an amazing thing ... you will see people doing their jobs. However, what I see are heroes doing amazing things. From the security forces Airman standing on post, to the ammo Airman moving munitions, to the logistics readiness Airman washing munitions, to a combination of Airmen packing containers, it is all in a day's work. The sun beating down hard, blazing hot, crackling dry conditions fit for creatures of the desert -- all in a day's work.

As I watch and marvel at the work of these intrepid Airmen, it dawns on me that none of us see what we do as particularly heroic ... it might take a movie or music video to show you that you are heroic. But the shear fact of it is, each of you are heroes ... my heroes ... people that I am proud of, doing what it is that you do, all in a day's work and doing it safely and smartly.

Intelligence is more than smarts ... on one hand it is being smart and doing things safely and on the other hand it's the insight into things that cannot be easily seen.

In this issue of the Tip of the Sword we are going to show you some of the heroes that provide us with this insight every day of the week.

I am sure that they do not see themselves as heroes just like our warriors on the north side of the field, but they are every bit heroes who stand along side the rest of Team Incirlik and can proudly tell their grandchildren that they were at the "Tip of the Sword" ensuring freedom's future!