JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. -- To all Airmen, Sailors and Soldiers, be it known that Summer is traditionally known for two things: hot temperatures and a bevy of change of commands. This is a time of cleaning out your spaces and sprucing up the surroundings to put on a show of how perfect things are at your command.

Your old boss is ready to move on to their next challenge. They have worked hard and are coasting down-hill in their final days, so the tensions are likely low at command meetings and social gatherings. You have figured out the daily to monthly schedule or "battle rhythm" and the requirements are usually not much different than what was planned. Command morale is great and you are thinking of re-enlisting or extending in beautiful, perfect Charleston.

Charleston, your new boss says, "is where I am going to make my mark. It is where I am going to ensure I make flag. It is the place where I can make a difference and apply all my skills that I have attained prior to taking command."

That means that you are in for some change! Not just any change that you may be use to, but significant change from the once leisurely, comfortable command that you have grown to love and support for the past several years.

Days grow longer, requirements get piled on top of requirements, and you start watching your leave build up as you wait for a much needed vacation. The command suddenly needs to be "fixed," the font you use on Power Point is all wrong, the freshly painted buildings need to be repainted a different color, the pencils are not sharp enough, blah, blah, blah. Oh yeah - and we must do all of this with a 30 percent budget cut!

This is all new, but really the same when you think about it. New boss, new expectations, new missions, new budgets ... CHANGE! That is all we are really talking about.
The military is always changing and most of the time, it is for the better. We need change. We need new eyes, new ideas and new opinions. The Marines say it best,

"Improvise, adapt and overcome!"

"Too easy" my sergeant major tells me. "We've got to rise up and move on."
In corporate America, the evolving businesses are the ones that succeed. I guess they figured it out from the military.