united-states-air-force-people

".. life is not merely about self-preservation. Instead, it’s about enriching society through acts of altruism and meaningful contributions."

"There is no magic pill that will cure you. You only have to look at the outcomes."

"Embrace Learning: Always be curious and open-minded. Seek out opportunities to learn and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone."

"I witnessed some events that forced resilience in me."

"We have to take a bold step and dictate what is right for the patients, not just give them medications...Yes, medication does have a role, and I am not downplaying that role, but let’s look at a holistic approach to treating people. Let’s include meditation, appropriate diet, exercise, medications . . ."

"I knew I was destined for the stars."

"Health and wellness begin with your mindset. Living a healthy life starts with a healthy mindset."

"I take a break: I’ve found that occasionally stepping back from a stressful situation, even if it’s just for a few moments, can help clear my mind and alleviate feelings of overwhelm."

"Be Adaptable: Understand that change is a part of life. Instead of resisting it, learn to adapt and see it as an opportunity for growth."

"Continuous learning, adaptability, and empathy have been the most impactful qualities in my journey."

"So that’s what I’m doing. I am trying to do the best I can to enrich other people because somebody did it for me."

"I saw death, suffered hunger and torture, and lost members of my family ... Giving up on life was not an option."

"Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back; it’s about growing stronger through adversity."

"I had to learn to forgive and let go."

"The three things that propelled me forward and soaring were: my faith in God, my determination to excel, and my parents’ words of admonition that I could do anything I wanted to."

"I found my passion and I can tie it in with my quest to improve humanity, to make things right, to make things worthwhile for somebody, regardless of who they are."

"Why do people who meditate, exercise, and take care of themselves feel better?"

"Cultivate Empathy: Try to understand things from other people’s perspectives. It not only helps in building strong relationships but also enriches your own understanding of the world."

"When you see someone in a military uniform, you run the other way."

"People who meditate sleep better, think better, and cultivate good habits. They gain serenity and calmness."

"My achievements are not for my personal gain, but to uplift those who need help the most."

"Medicine has taken a trend where we are treating disease[s] when they occur because we ignored the preventative measures in treating them before they occur."

"The panel said they look at how many years of experience a candidate has in terms of helping other people."

"We join the military because we want to join something bigger than ourselves."

"When I was a kid I used to try and fix little animals. When there was a frog that was hurt, I would try to splint the leg."

"I existed in a space that defied simple labels. I accepted myself. I embraced me."

"So, we need to include a non-medicinal approach for treating disease."

"We're losing lots of business, lots of customers, lots of tourists."

"The Constitution gives tariff authority to the Congress. We've given the president emergency powers, but I think it's being abused in this case. And it's creating a lot of damage."

"It would be a total mistake to invade an ally. It would be catastrophic to our allies and everything. It's just the worst idea ever in my view."

"Nebraska is an export state, one of the biggest export states in the country, and tariff war is not good for us."

"In Nebraska, the GDP here has decreased by 6% over the last year. And it's all about trade. It's all about getting corn and soybeans out the door."

"I spent 65 years in air force cockpits and fought in four wars, but I never looked at it as an adventure. It’s duty. You could say that the most important thing I did was break the sound barrier. That’s the reason we’re on the moon. But it was my job to try. That’s the way I looked at it. Whatever the outcome, it didn’t really make much difference to me."

"I don’t dream. I don’t have nightmares. I’m gifted in that I can lie down and sleep within a minute anywhere I am, any time of day."

"Hey, man, get a job you like and you’ll probably be quite good at it. And make your lifestyle fit your income. Don’t try to make your income fit your lifestyle. It’s that simple. Guys who like their job, they’re very good at it. I don’t care what it is."

"In my opinion there’s no such thing as a natural-born pilot. A pilot’s ability depends on experience, and the more experience a pilot has, the better he is. It’s that simple."

"I felt like all my buddies were still in this squadron, those who hadn’t been shot down, and I just felt I hadn’t done my job. I’d been taught to do my job, and that’s the reason when I went back I felt good about it. And I said, “Hell, if I come home as a flight officer, with one airplane, I’ll be a flight officer the rest of my life.”"

"You like the P-51 because you flew it in combat. It was a good airplane. But today, the newer the airplane, the better it is. It's just like a car. You get a 1991 Cadillac, you got high tech, a lot of computer technology in it, versus a 1980 Cadillac. It's just better and more fun to drive."

"I recall, we had—all of the guys, though, that got to be aces over there, you can pretty well pick the guys out. They were guys that weren’t cocky or conceited. They just had a job to do, and they trained themselves the best they could to the job right. And I think you can pretty well pick the guys out. They’reall—they like to have fun. They’re not a bunch of pessimists or optimists, either one. They’re pretty average people when you start looking at the cross-section of all aces we have."

"Actually, when people tell you that, "I had my mind made up when I was two years old to do this," I think you should take that with a grain of salt. Because it's very difficult for a kid who is going through an educational process, and being exposed to the world, to decide what he wants to do. Because he really hadn't been exposed to that kind of a life yet. And I had no idea what I wanted to do, except exist and that was about it. I had no interest in airplanes; we didn't even know what an airplane was. We didn't even see them except flying in the air. So obviously, there was no interest in them at all."

"The more experience you have, the better you are. And that's true of anything you do in airplanes, dogfighting in combat, or anything like that. Your chances of coming out on top depend on your experience level. The more experience you can get, the better chance you have of surviving in a war, or in any situation where you are faced with an emergency."

"Well ... the point is, what does being a religious person mean? Does a religious person have to go to church all day and pray every night and morning? No, to me, if that's the description of a religious person, then I'm definitely not religious person. But that I definitely know right from wrong, you know, and what honesty is and because you were taught that in your family. But you don't have to believe that there is such a thing as a God who controls everything that happens because you are trained as a scientific guy. You know ... there are a lot of things, like you use the expression, the more I practice, the luckier I get."

"My father taught me to finish anything I started. And I think that carries throughout your adult life. Most people's personalities and moralities are formed when they are rather young, and that characteristic will carry out throughout their lifetime. We were disciplined as kids, quite severely, if you didn't finish your jobs, and I think that's what brought about a desire to finish what I start and do the best job you could. And that's probably the reason that characteristic has carried throughout my life."

"There is no kind of ultimate goal to do something twice as good as anyone else can. It's just to do the job as best you can. If it turns out good, fine. If it doesn't, that's the way it goes."

"In World War II, in combat in P-51s, during dogfights with 109s and 190s, for the first time we became exposed to the effects of the speed of sound on our airplanes. A Mustang, a P-47, or any of the other fighters that we were using in World War II, the fastest they would go was about 80 percent the speed of sound. They had very thick wings and canopies. That additional distance that the air had to travel to go around that wing that's going at about 80 percent of the speed of sound, brought its relative velocity to the skin of the wing up to the speed of sound."

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Lt. Col. Jackson distinguished himself as a pilot of a C-123 aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson volunteered to attempt the rescue of a three-man USAF Combat Control Team from the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc. Hostile forces had overrun the forward outpost and established gun positions on the airstrip. They were raking the camp with small-arms, mortars, light and heavy automatic-weapons, and recoilless-rifle fire. The camp was engulfed in flames and ammunition dumps were continuously exploding and littering the runway with debris. In addition, eight aircraft had been destroyed by the intense enemy fire and one aircraft remained on the runway reducing its usable length to only 2,200 feet. To further complicate the landing, the weather was deteriorating rapidly, thereby permitting only one air strike prior to his landing. Although fully aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, Lt. Col. Jackson elected to land his aircraft and attempt to rescue. Displaying superb airmanship and extraordinary heroism, he landed his aircraft near the point where the combat control team was reported to be hiding. While on the ground, his aircraft was the target of intense hostile fire. A rocket landed in front of the nose of the aircraft but failed to explode. Once the combat control team was aboard, Lt. Col. Jackson succeeded in getting airborne despite the hostile fire directed across the runway in front of his aircraft. Lt. Col. Jackson's profound concern for his fellow men, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country."

"A unique thing about this was that this is the only mission, the only activity that resulted in an award of the Medal of Honor where a photograph was made of it while it was taking place. I have that photograph. It was shot from the air. I don't know who took it. But it shows my plane on the runway, the wrecked helicopter, and you can just make out two little dots showing two of the three guys as they were running for the plane."

"I was three years old, maybe four, and one of my brothers and I, we'd been fishing, and we were walking down the road when this airplane flew over, and it started doing acrobatics in the sky, around the clouds. I looked up and thought that it would be the greatest thing in the whole world if I could do that. I remember that specifically. That was the first thing I remember in my life."

"I mentioned this happened on Mother's Day? Well, I'm the only guy I know of that gets Mother's Day cards. I used to get them from guys that were in the Army that were in that battalion that went in to reinforce. Last year I got one from a newspaper editor down here in southwest Washington."

"I never thought about it. I was sent there to participate, but they still wanted to know if there was anybody who would volunteer to pick these guys up. My answer is, 'It was the right thing to do. And I was the most logical person to do it.' By that time I was a military professional. My thoughts were: You should save your butt. The mission was to get the three guys, I got the three guys, and we got of there okay, and I'm happy. That's the limit of my thinking. If you start thinking about medals, you're gonna lose your shirt. I've heard of several people who set out to win, not win, but be awarded the Medal of Honor, and, to my knowledge, every one of them got killed."