HILL AIR FORCE BASE – With many of us enjoying a day of leisure on Labor Day, it’s worthwhile to remember the holiday’s origins and what it recognizes. The first Labor Day observance in the United States was not a government-sanctioned holiday but a labor union-organized event designed to get everyone, particularly business owners, to recognize and value the contributions of the industrial workforce.
Most of those who participated in that event in 1882 did so at their own expense—they willingly sacrificed a day of wages to make their point. In the following years, much of the country came to recognize the contributions workers made to America’s strength and prosperity but many workers still did not feel valued. President Cleveland’s designation of the first Monday of September a federal holiday helped to change that feeling.
However, it takes more than a day of recognition for people to truly feel appreciated. It takes regularly and routinely engaged supervisors and a clear and understood shared purpose. I hope all Team Hill members feel they have those ingredients in their lives and know how much their leaders, the community and the nation appreciate them.
Every member of Team Hill matters. It is the individual contributions that power our collective success in all five of the Air Force core missions: air superiority; global strike; rapid global mobility; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and command and control. I am proud of the hard work and determination of Team Hill’s Airmen—uniformed and civilian, active and reserve. Thank you!
As you celebrate this holiday, please do so safely. Relax, enjoy time with your families and recharge your batteries. I look forward to seeing you back after the holiday as we continue to create the future of Airpower for America and her allies.