For so many times in our lives and in our careers, we attach ourselves to our duty title, to the positions we've had, to the rank we wear, especially as military members. And when you ask the question like that, it's actually unsettling because we have a difficulty, sometimes, I think attaching who we are professionally to who are we really in the sense of not wearing the uniform, but the person that shows up every day, um, in the job that we do.
You know, I, I consider myself a pretty simple guy. Um, I came into the Air Force, not knowing really what I wanted to do except to pay for college. And then I realized over time, I really enjoyed the vibe that the military had, and that kept me serving without even thinking about whether it was four years, six years, 10 years, 20, or now, now 26. And so, you know, I enjoy helping people. I enjoy seeing them succeed in what they do, whether it's militarily or not.
I'm a big Netflix fan – I'll binge-watch shows when I have nothing else to do or to decompress. I work out to do the same. I'm an introvert, even though the Air Force has turned me into a functional extrovert by the things I've had to do, but I'm happier being alone and quiet, and that's how I recharge. So after a full day of things I do at work, I'm so happy just to be alone sometimes and just sit and think and relax, which is not obvious, I think, based on, you know, when I watch peers of mine that are in the same boat where we do that.
I like to travel. Uh, I'm a big scuba diver. And so my guilty pleasure, a couple of times a year, is to travel with friends around the world and just, you know, cut connection to all electronic devices and just, you know, go out and do something and see something that I would never get to do any other time in my life. I so wish I had started it earlier. I was introduced to it about six years ago and I wish I had done it 26 years ago, but had no idea, um, what it was like. And I think, you know, overall, I just, I'm just trying to find ways to be better, and not in a professional sense – just as a person.
I think so many times we get wrapped up in excelling or achieving in our professional lives, but we forget about what we're doing personally to take care of ourselves, and I've realized this more as I've gotten older, where working longer hours is interesting and maybe more productive in the things that are expected of me at work, but not as healthy for me as a person. And so I really prize the time that I have when I'm not at work to do things that interest me, whether it's reading, working out, you know, watching some, you know, completely mindless show on TV that just allows me to disconnect, or certainly connecting with friends, uh, that where, most of them are, are here – uh, are not here, actually – are somewhere else in the world.
And so when you get to a job like this, you know, even though there's, you know – no one's going to want to listen to you complain about having the opportunity to command a wing as a one star, but there's no one, there's no peer for me on the base. And so these jobs are lonely, right? And so a lot of my interpersonal social connection is outside of Texas, it's outside of the job, and it's people that I've met over time that are no longer in my professional circle, but now in my social circle. And so I really have to spend time on how to, how to balance all of that, I think, um, because I have no problem when I'm comfortable working a lot. And the hardest thing I have to do is unplug sometimes, and I realize that's probably the healthiest thing for me to do personally. And so, yeah, who am I? I'm someone that is still trying to figure out who he is, I think, like all of us. I don't have all the answers, even though I sit at the head of the table and every meeting I go to now, I certainly do not know everything that is going on. I'm just trying to learn a little bit more every day and just to provide value in what I do.
You know, it's, it's been a great opportunity to serve in the military because it's fed into, I think, a desire I have to serve. My father was a Marine in the Korean War, so never knew him in a military capacity. And so he was the one that really pushed me into going in with no real understanding of what I was doing. And I remember telling him shortly after he passed away and I got to be the wing commander at Robins (AFB, Georgia), I said, little did you know the impact that you've had on my life by just pushing that book across the table, where it had all the colleges that had all the ROTC units, and really I had no, no background or interest in doing it. And it just sparked something in me that really, I think, fed this idea to serve. And in a multitude of capacities, whether it's, uh, you know, in the traditional sense of the military, but certainly, uh, I love volunteering in the community that I live in when I have the opportunity to do that and just helping people grow.
And so, one of the questions I ask, you know, as I go around now, and certainly when I got here, um, you know, what's your favorite song? And for me, it's simple, it's Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," right, because I think you have to have some hope that tomorrow is going to be better than yesterday, and that hopefully you're trying to make a difference, not just for selfish personal gain, but because you're trying to make someone else's life a little bit better. And I think if I can do that every single day, I can go home happy, regardless of how many emails stay in my inbox or how many packages I have to review or sign – that's all ancillary, I think, to what we do. And so, yeah, just trying to be a better version of me.