JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
This week we bid farewell to Command Chief Master Sgt. Mike Ivey and his family. Saying farewell to family and friends at a retirement ceremony reminds us of how much sacrifice and dedication is required for service in the Air Force. A slide show usually captures the lengthy career with funny inserts from the most junior years of service, deployments, various assignments, promotions, wedding celebration and other memorable events. The officiator of the ceremony will also peruse performance reports to glean tidbits of information which capture many accomplishments and major awards earned over the years. I have noticed that a retirement is perhaps the only ceremony were there is a guarantee of extended family such as parents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters in the audience, who are eager to hear, see and celebrate the accomplishments of their loved one in uniform. They are usually awed by the experience.
Why wait for the end of a career to provide this opportunity? We should find ways to recognize sacrifices as they are being made and thank our Airmen and their families throughout a career. Serving in the Air Force comes at a high price of service before self. Think of the stress from a permanent change of station move in which children are uprooted and transferred to new school systems, suffering through the trauma of lost friends, new neighborhoods, a different curriculum and many other changes. Spouses lose their jobs and must seek new employment, obtain childcare and settle the family with schools, neighborhood, support network and months of unpacking boxes. Furthermore, deployments, hectic mission schedules, shift work, training classes, temporary duty assignments and countless duty related requirements complicate our lives throughout the years. Indeed, serving in the Air Force is very challenging, even if we grow accustomed to the demands.
Let's not wait until the end of an Airman's career to capture and share the accomplishments with family and friends. These loyal wingmen are the ones holding our families together through tough deployments and support us during good times and bad. They have earned the right to be present and celebrate alongside the military member whenever and wherever possible. Let us find ways to encourage, include and insist on family member attendance to events such as promotion ceremonies, graduations, decoration ceremonies, picnics and all occasions at which we have opportunities to recognize accomplishments.
These celebrations are important in strengthening the bonds of our extended military family and help to motivate our Airmen to strive for even higher levels of achievement. Please help me in finding ways to bring more families out to share in these accomplishments. Thank you for your military service.