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  • A way out: My journey from the brink of suicide

    I recently celebrated two important anniversaries. On Jan. 30, 2010, I decided when and how I was going to end my life. The night before, I went to bed and slept for two hours, as I had for the previous nine or so months. Once I was sure my wife was asleep, I got out my laptop and researched how

  • Acting on Special Needs Summit objectives

    A year ago Team Hill hosted its first ever Families with Special Needs Summit. Our goals last year included identifying the bureaucratic barriers that make life far more challenging than it already is for these families and providing a venue for information and resource sharing. At the end of the

  • Thanks for your service when you're a recruiter

    As a recruiting group commander, my Area of Responsibility touches 24 states as well as the Pacific, so I travel a lot for my job. If I'm in uniform, I'm often stopped and thanked for my service. Especially where people aren't used to seeing military folks, someone will come up to me and thank me.

  • Back from AOR, AFMC commander refines strategic support priorities

    When asked if he returned home with a to-do list after visiting select Pacific Air Forces bases and Afghanistan, Gen. Donald Hoffman thumbed through a quarter-inch stack of papers before citing several examples during a March 25, 2011, interview."The purpose of this trip was not to solve

  • Reveille and retreat, customs and courtesies

    As I drive with my wife to grab a bite to eat I reminisce about the "good old days" with her. I often get the stare from her because I rant and rave about how girls' shorts are too short and boys' hair is too long nowadays. In her playful way, she tells me that I'm getting old and need to understand

  • Latest at Hill Air Force Base Commissary

    Change is something all of us face on a daily basis. Leaders need to flex and change with the changes. As you noticed one of the biggest changes at the Commissary was a store reset that was done in July of last year. We made two major changes, we moved the sodas and water to what used to be the

  • Budget cuts drive change-- are you ready for the challenge?

    At the present time, nearly 40 cents of every dollar spent by the federal government is borrowed. Similar to your personal budget, perpetual deficit spending is unsustainable. With a burgeoning budget deficit, lawmakers are looking to apply deep spending cuts across the Department of Defense,

  • Commander assesses state of AFMC

    Continued focus on the command's five priorities remains paramount in 2011, Air Force Materiel Command commander Gen. Donald Hoffman told his senior leaders in a memo sent March 1.According to the memo, AFMC's top priorities for 2011 are largely unchanged from 2010: Continue to strengthen AFMC's

  • Trust- the foundation of who we are

    Standing for hundreds of years as a symbol of strength and resolve, the Great Wall of China extends for a formidable 3,948 miles as the world's longest man-made structure.That's pretty impressive, but what does the Great Wall of China have to do with trust and the United States Air Force?It all

  • How Enhanced Use Lease will benefit YOU

    The Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park was developed under the federal government's Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) program that allows private entities to lease under-utilized military land. While the Air Force still owns the land, the developer will own the facilities it builds. As a part of