CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Beneath the continuous flow of e-mail traffic that reaches me, an amazing level of personal accountability is in action. Missions are being launched while we sleep or while we're with our families and friends eating dinner. 24/7/365, hundreds of Airmen are working diligently, ensuring communication flows, working to prepare and load cargo, securing our base, making meals, fixing aircraft, alerting aircrew and an endless list of activities that go into daily operations at Charleston AFB. It is comforting to see each notification of a sortie that launched and know, even without continuous oversight, folks are out there making the mission move. They do this because they have a sense of higher purpose, they have been trained properly and they are accountable for their actions in keeping the entire sequence flowing.
It is by exception things go wrong and by even greater exception things are done wrong negligently. Never in my time at the command post have I seen an error intentionally accomplished. As our commander said to me when I first took this job, "No one comes to work wanting to make a mistake." But they do happen.
Our job as leaders is twofold in this cycle. First, we must make every effort to ensure the applicable guidance and training is in place for our Airmen to accomplish their jobs safely and effectively. Second, we must identify if there is a process problem or just a simple mistake that generated the issue. Our responsibility as Airmen -- at all levels -- is accountability for our actions along the way.
Although accountability is critical in accomplishing each task to move the mission, it continues to be imperative after mistakes are identified. No benefit comes from finger pointing and excuses do not solve problems. There is nothing more damaging than excuses instead of accountability. If you have made a mistake ... own it, fix it, move on. Let others learn, let the process be fixed and let new guidance be written if need-be. Let training be adjusted to ensure others do not err in the same way. And if the mistake was purely yours, raise your hand with integrity and own up to the mistake.
Owning your mistakes is not and should not be interpreted as getting blamed for everything. It is upholding the Air Force core value of integrity first. Webster's dictionary defines integrity as "1: firm adherence to a code of moral values: incorruptibility 2: an unimpaired condition: soundness" or my favorite portion of the definition, "3. the quality or state of being complete or undivided: completeness." Literally, integrity came from the description of a metal that is complete, pure and unflawed. And the full definition of integrity sets high expectations: incorrupt, undivided, unimpaired, sound, complete -- all very strong words to define a culture of the Air Force that demands, not just requires accountability, in what we do as Airmen. To constantly work as individuals and as an organization on this basic core value is to be complete to the best of our ability.
We are an organization that requires knowing where mistakes happen. We all make them, despite the perceived expectation of perfection. We can all improve how we do our jobs daily and we must openly and honestly account for actions both intentional and unintentional. Part of this is to ensure they do not happen again, but the most important return on accountability is the assurance that those mistakes do not impact the mission or cause serious harm in the future. Whether it is a checklist item missed at command post or a checklist item missed while replacing an engine -- both are the same errors and can have enormous impact. Never underestimate the importance or impact of each individual every day.
Our character as an organization expects the same accountability out of every Airman. It is part of who we are, part of wearing the uniform, part of striving toward completeness as both an individual and an organization. We see the results in a positive way as Team Charleston launches yet another mission ensuring the 24/7/365 blanket of air mobility is operational throughout the world.