LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF ATTILA THE HUN (Mr. Wess Roberts, Ph.D): A majority of warriors perform their duties well but are not potential chieftains. They provide the stability that distinguishes outstanding tribes.

MILITARY EDUCATION (AFPAM 36-2241, Vol. I, Chapter 9): Individuals may be found guilty of a misdemeanor and fined up to $5000 for willfully maintaining a system of records that has not met the public notice requirements.

KUDOS:

- Congratulations to A1C Breaux for his 11 May promotion to Senior Airman.

- Congratulations to A1C Rodriguez for his 17 May promotion to Senior Airman.

- Good luck to MSgt Hill as she heads off to the Senior NCO Academy next week. We�re all behind you (about 400 miles and 4 states)!

MONTHLY CALENDER:

NOTES:

- There will be a Wing Top Three Social on 4 Jun at 1600 in the Gateway Club. The cost (at this point) is free. Contact MSgt DeVaughn if you plan to attend.

- I�ll be out Wednesday through Friday of next week. MSgt Rady will be sitting in for me for that time period.

- If you�ve ever seen the painting "Reflections" of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, you�ve seen the man standing there with his hand on the wall, mourning his dead father or brother who was killed. What he doesn�t see is the reflection from the other side showing that relative with HIS hand on the wall, touching the hand of his survivor. That painting inspired this story.

"There are so many things that are written about the Wall but never anything of being on the other side. I was inspired by the picture Reflections that I use as wallpaper on my PC and a recent story, Autumn Wall."

At first there was no place for us to go until someone put up that Black Granite Wall. Now, everyday and night, my Brothers and my Sisters wait to see the many people from places afar file in front of this Wall. Many stopping briefly and many for hours and some that come on a regular basis. It was hard at first, not that it�s gotten any easier, but it seems that many of the attitudes towards that war that we were involved in have changed. I can only pray that the ones on the other side have learned something and more Walls as this one needn�t be built.

Several members of my unit and many that I did not recognize have called me to the Wall by touching my name that is engraved upon it. The tears aren�t necessary but are hard even for me to hold back. Don�t feel guilty for not being with me, my Brothers. This was my destiny as it is yours, to be on that side of the Wall.

Touch the Wall, my Brothers, so that we can share in the memories that we had. I have learned to put the bad memories aside and remember only the pleasant times that we had together. Tell our other Brothers out there to come and visit me, not to say Good Bye but to say Hello and be together again, even for a short time and to ease that pain of loss that we all share.

Today, an irresistible and loving call comes from the Wall. As I approach I can see an elderly lady and as I get closer I recognize her.......It�s Momma! As much as I have looked forward to this day, I have also regretted it because I didn�t know what reaction I would have.

Next to her, I suddenly see my wife and immediately think how hard it must of been for her to come to this place and my mind floods with the pleasant memories of 30 years past. There�s a young man in a military uniform standing with his arm around her......My God!......It�s...it has to be my son. Look at him trying to be the man without a tear in his eye. I yearn to tell him how proud I am, seeing him standing tall, straight and proud in his uniform.

Momma comes closer and touches the Wall and I feel the soft and gentle touch I had not felt in so many years. Dad has crossed to this side of the Wall and through our touch, I try to convey to her that Dad is doing fine and is no longer suffering or feeling pain. I see my wife�s courage building as she sees Momma touch the Wall and she approaches and lays her hand on my waiting hand. All the emotions, feelings and memories of three decades past flash between our touch and I tell her that it�s all right. Carry on with your life and don�t worry about me......I can see as I look into her eyes that she hears and understands me and a big burden has been lifted from her.

I watch as they lay flowers and other memories of my past. My lucky charm that was taken from me and sent to her by my CO, a tattered and worn teddy bear that I can barely remember having as I grew up as a child and several medals that I had earned and were presented to my wife. One of them is the Combat Infantry Badge that I am very proud of and I notice that my son is also wearing this medal. I had earned mine in the jungles of Vietnam and he had probably earned his in the deserts of Iraq.

I can tell that they are preparing to leave and I try to take a mental picture of them together, because I don�t know when I will see them again. I wouldn�t blame them if they were not to return and can only thank them that I was not forgotten. My wife and Momma near the Wall for one final touch and so many years of indecision, fear and sorrow are let go. As they turn to leave I feel my tears that had not flowed for so many years, form as if dew drops on the other side of the Wall.

They slowly move away with only a glance over their shoulder. My son suddenly stops and slowly returns. He stands straight and proud in front of me and snaps a salute. Something makes him move to the Wall and he puts his hand upon the Wall and touches my tears that had formed on the face of the Wall and I can tell that he senses my presence there and the pride and the love that I have for him. He falls to his knees and the tears flow from his eyes and I try my best to reassure him that it�s all right and the tears do not make him any less of a man.

As he moves back wiping the tears from his eyes, he silently mouths, God Bless you, Dad...... God Bless, YOU, Son...... We WILL meet someday but in the meanwhile, go on your way...... There is no hurry.......There is no hurry at all.

QUIP: INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE

LIFE TIPS:

- Date all documents and drafts; doing so will minimize confusion.

- Periodically hold town meetings with your staff members. Let them write down questions anonymously. Then answer the questions at the meetings.

- Doing aerobic exercise regularly may improve your hearing. It increases your sensitivity to soft sounds by up to 75%.

RIPOFFS AND FRAUDS (how to avoid and how to get away): As a matter of convenience, many consumers give their credit care or checking account number to vendors so that regular monthly fees may be automatically charged, or debited, to their accounts. If charges come directly out of a checking account, a problem may occur because your money is going and it is hard to get it back. Consumers do have protections form electronic debits to their bank accounts under the Automated Clearing House (ACH) rules governing financial institutions. After receiving a statement, consumers have 15 days to tell their bank that the charge was unauthorized. It is then the bank�s responsibility to prove the validity of the charge, or reverse the debit. However, there are no protections for consumers for paper debits. Alternatively, if you permit charges to a credit card, you have the protections of the Fair Credit Billing Act that allow consumers to dispute an unauthorized charge up to 60 days after it occurred.

OLDIE, BUT GOODIE (excepts from previous editions): Family Services maintains a food closet for personnel needing assistance.

MESSAGE TRAFFIC:

What�s Operationalizing Quality? The Air Force has made great progress in our effort to integrate quality principles and practices into our daily tasks; but over the next several years we are going to take several steps to make our quality program even better. We are going to "operationalize quality." First, we will simplify the program. Second, we will move away from a stand-alone program, and embed quality principles and practices into our daily tasks. Third, we will clearly define the tasks that allow us to accomplish the mission. That way the Total Force will know what it�s supposed to do, how well it�s supposed to do it, and exactly how all our officers, enlisted, and civilians contribute to the mission. These tasks will be referred to as mission essential tasks (METs). Fourth, we will create a new system to measure how well we are accomplishing these tasks. This system will replace Quality Air Force Assessments and Unit Self Assessments. Finally, we will continue to challenge the Total Force to improve how it accomplishes its tasks using the tools and techniques we stress in our current program. Action workouts, integrated work teams, and use of best practices will continue to be key elements to improving performance by making the associated processes more efficient. Successfully implementing these steps will "operationalize quality" and improve overall Air Force performance.

Let me expand on a few key concepts:

The Air Force Mission and METs The Air Force�s mission is "To defend the United States through the control and exploitation of air and space." To make sure we can accomplish our mission both today and in the future we developed an Air Force Strategic Plan. This plan has four volumes: (1) Future Security Environment, (2) Air Force Performance Plan, (3) Air Force Capabilities Investment Plan, and (4) Exploring New Challenges, Opportunities and Concepts. The Air Force Performance Plan (volume 2) outlines what we will do to improve current performance and future capabilities. It contains Air Force goals, mission essential tasks with accompanying performance measures, and shows how Air Force goals support DoD goals. MAJCOMs will use the Air Force Performance Plan as a foundation for developing their own strategic plans with goals, METs, and performance measures. Once a MAJCOM identifies its METs, it will use the Air Force Task List (AFTL) to describe these tasks using a common Air Force vocabulary. This list then becomes the MAJCOM�s METL. Similarly, all numbered air forces (NAFs) and wings in a particular MAJCOM will use their MAJCOM�s METL to develop a METL for their specific NAF/wing. The METs then become the product each organization will use to focus its efforts and measure mission performance. At the wing level, once METLs are established they will form the basis for operational readiness inspections. Both the Air Force Performance Plan and the latest version of the AFTL will be published in May 1998.

Quality Air Force Assessment and Unit Self Assessment Replacement All commanders need assurance that their units can perform the mission, comply with Air Force directives, and execute tasks efficiently and effectively. Until recently, the Air Force used three performance assessment tools to provide critical feedback to commanders at all levels on how their units performed assigned tasks. Compliance inspections assessed "must do" areas like stan/eval, nuclear surety, and safety. Operational inspections (ORIs and tac evals) assessed "mission capability." Finally, management assessments, better known as Quality Air Force Assessments (QAFAs) and Unit Self Assessments (USAs), examined the way our processes were accomplished. We still use compliance and operational inspections; however, much work has already been done to reduce the inspection-related burden on units generated by these inspections. We have instituted a more restrictive definition of the term compliance, and inspection agencies have eliminated items that no longer fit in the new definition. In one MAJCOM alone, compliance inspection items were reduced by 80 percent. In addition, when feasible, MAJCOMs are conducting inspections in conjunction with real-world deployments and exercises, and they are using metrics and sampling to reduce the number of items being inspected. Earlier this year we did away with QAFAs and USAs because they were of limited use to commanders for the time and resources invested. We are going to replace them with a task assurance process that will measure a unit�s progress in meeting its METs. The measures will be meaningful to unit members and serve as an easily accessible management tool for all commanders in the chain-of-command. A team has been formed at the Air Force Center for Quality and Management Innovation to develop the task assurance process further. Its goal is to create a process that is less cumbersome than a USA, and more clearly connected to mission performance.

What�s ahead? "Operationalizing Quality" is not going to happen overnight. In fact, we do not expect the METLs to be actionable at the unit level before the summer, 1999. We hope to have a new task assurance tool online about the same time. We will provide periodic updates in future issues of the Commanders� NOTAM. You can also refer to http://www.xp.hq.af.mil/xpx/ for more information on our effort to "Operationalize Quality."

- Guardian Challenge security forces teams began competition by showing what they do best � force protection. The tactics exercise simulates scenarios where a four-man security forces team defends a resource against potential aggressive forces in that area. "The tactics competition is the essence of what we do," said Maj. Clifford Day, security forces evaluator. "Force protection is our function in life." The competition's purpose is to present a threat condition scenario and evaluate the teams' response to challenges, Day said. The scenario emulates real world conditions, as hostile forces would face them in a hazardous environment. An environment could require security forces to adapt to unknown landscapes. Applying tactics and defensive strategies to take advantage of natural defenses, such as trees and building corners helps teams to protect people, supplies, launch facilities and other resources from hostile enemies. "The tactical exercise is very good and realistic," said Staff Sgt. Ray Kelly after competing for the 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base. "The exercise ran smoothly and every action directly applies to real world situations." The security forces' primary mission is to protect Air Force resources. This includes deploying across the globe in peace and wartime situations, Day said. The tactics event, along with the obstacle course and marksmanship event, is designed to hone and test the teams' abilities to perform critical real word missions. Security forces from the 90th, 50th, 30th, and 31st Space Wings are competing at Guardian Challenge.