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  • Change only constant in world

    Change ... it has been said that the only constant in the world is change. We have all experienced significant change during our lifetimes, whether it is due to getting married, having children, or PCSing halfway around the world. One would think that with the amount of change we experience in the

  • Bepples At The Lik

    Have you ever known the mad-inventor type; you know, the person who is always devising clever schemes; the person who goes into the bathroom and comes out with a revolutionary idea for toilet paper? One afternoon a couple was driving in the country when they noticed strange round balls hanging from

  • Soccer in Turkey

    Question: Mehmet, the other day I was looking at a Turkish newspaper sports page that a Turkish co-worker was reading. I do not speak Turkish, but from the pictures on the page, I understood that the whole page was covered with soccer news. My question is; don't you practice any other sports in

  • First shirts morale visits, reminders

    A couple of weeks ago, our first sergeants decided to do late night "morale" visits around the base, which included the dorms, the club and the area near the front gate (during the curfew hour). The purpose was not to search for alcohol-related incidents or rain on anyone's parade. The shirts wanted

  • Getting "Lik-ed" By Bears

    The Yellowstone National Park ranger joined a crowd of people, cars, trucks and motor homes that had congregated to watch a bear. One woman and her little boy caught his attention. She was smearing something unidentifiable all over the boy's face. He asked the woman what she was doing. She answered,

  • Pride in work helps quality of life: Recognizing Airmen

    Quality of life has nothing to do with how nice your conference room is or how cosmic your cell phone is. It is not even about pay raises, which may put a few more beans in your pot but does not fundamentally alter quality of life. When you wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and

  • Airpower comes from Airmen

    This issue of the Tip of the Sword marks the sixth week since I joined the Incirlik family. In the first issue, after joining the team, I told you I would attempt to spell out what I thought was important about being and leading Airmen or, more simply put, "What I Believe." I went on to point out

  • Your Own Private Idaho

    A builder was working on a construction job with an apprentice electrician. The builder was wearing a pair of worn-out pull-on boots. On this particular day a pebble got into his boot and he steadied himself with a hand on the wall and proceeded to shake his foot vigorously in an attempt to free the

  • Complacency can kill

    I recently reflected on my experiences during Desert Storm. Aside from some mildly interesting flying stories and being introduced to my wife in the chow tent (we all have to make sacrifices during war ...), my most vivid memories involved the SCUD missile attacks. Saddam Hussein used SCUD missiles

  • Thanks for all you do

    I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of our outstanding Team Incirlik members for what you do. We have been on a pretty fast pace the last few months, dealing with everything from end-of-year close-outs, deployment preparations, and hosting distinguished visitors to Staff