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  • Airmen Powered by Innovation program launches new site

    Fellow Airmen,Your enthusiasm and ingenuity continues to be our Air Force's number one weapon system! In April of this year we launched the Airmen Powered by Innovation program aimed at turning your ideas into real cost savings for our Air Force. Since coming online API has received and reviewed

  • How did we lose this young Airman?

    She was an Airman Leadership School distinguished graduate, earned staff sergeant her first time testing, received all 5s on her enlisted performance reports and took part in two deployments. Clearly she was a high-performing Airman.But, in her words, the Air Force had made it clear it didn't want

  • Online vigilance helps reduce risk

    I received at least five emails last week warning me to secure my social media settings and be aware of what I post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Why? Do you not like to see what I had for dinner last night? Too many #selfies? Are photos of my dog eating a Popsicle offensive? (In my defense,

  • Airman wages war against breast cancer

    "You have cancer." The three words no one, no matter their age, wants to hear. I happened to receive these words at the age of 29.Though I knew from the moment I found the lump in my breast it was cancer, I was in no way prepared to hear those words Oct. 4, 2013, -- the day that forever changed my

  • Why I became a victim advocate for fellow Airmen

    (Editor's note: Though the author chose to remain anonymous, this is the real story of one Airman's experience with sexual assault. Be mindful that no two sexual assault stories are the same. If you, or anyone you know, has been or is currently a victim of any sexual crime, contact the Sexual

  • The day America lost its innocence

    I was nine years old. I looked up into the blue, September sky, and saw a plane flying overhead. I thought about the people inside, who they were, where they were going, and why they weren't about to go to school like me. I often looked at planes; this was not out of the ordinary for a child who had

  • 15 seconds: A rude awakening

    Gut-wrenching screams, the shattering of glass, and the unforgettable sounds of metal twisting and bending all around me as my truck rolls over and over again. I thought those were going to be my last memories.April 12, 2012, started out like any other Thursday for me. I woke up early enough to take

  • Understanding sergeant's words: 'I've got your back'

    Seeing the newly selected staff sergeants recently brought back memories of when I was selected for staff sergeant.Actually, my thoughts went to the night I graduated Airman Leadership School. As I crossed the stage after receiving my completion certificate, my co-workers gathered to congratulate me

  • Lessons in compassion

    (This story is part of the "Commentaries" section on AF.mil. These stories capture the experiences of Airmen from a first-person perspective.) "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." - Quote from Kenji Mizoguchi's 1954 film, Sansho the

  • Finding light through darkness

    Keeping a secret that defines you, that has shaped your life for nearly three years now and is sure to shape the rest, a secret that you go to sleep with every night and wake to every morning is sometimes hard to keep trapped inside.I could probably go my entire life without revealing the sad truth