Commitment and determination key to commander’s varied Air Force journey Published Aug. 4, 2015 By Col. Doug Hall 436 Operations Group commander DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- I recently wrote an article for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets about my Air Force career. So many people reached out after they read it and told me it was a great story and that I should share it with the Airmen I serve alongside. Virginia Tech's motto is "Ut Prosim" which is Latin for "That I May Serve." In the spirit of that motto I share my Air Force story with you here. I've wanted to fly airplanes for as long as I can remember wanting to do anything. As the son of a career Air Force officer, I grew up watching airplanes on bases throughout the world. I remember my grandfather giving my brother and me savings bonds for our birthdays and saying that he wanted me to save money so I could buy him a 727 aircraft and fly him around the world. With that goal of becoming an Air Force pilot in mind, I enrolled at Virginia Tech in the Corps of Cadets and Air Force ROTC in the fall of 1988. The world was a rapidly changing place during my time in college. The Cold War ended during my second year at Virginia Tech and was no longer the subject of our military lectures. Change was the constant theme as our national leaders tried to understand what a peace dividend might look like and what the role of our military would be following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia looked as if it would become a friendly nation that the U.S. could have a productive relationship with, instead of being an adversary. Desert Storm quickly came and went; and with the coalition's victory over Saddam Hussein, the national debate on the size and scope of our nation's military continued. The Corps helped me focus on being a good student, and I was able to earn a full Air Force scholarship, categorized as a navigator candidate. Although the categorization was not exactly what I'd hoped for, I accepted the challenge and committed myself to performing well academically. With my Corps of Cadets and Air Force ROTC training, I was hopeful I would be rewarded with pilot training upon graduation and commissioning, as was routinely the case. At the same time, the Air Force began to downsize, and pilot training was scaled back significantly. Pilots were offered incentives to leave the Air Force early, making my goal of becoming a pilot an even bigger challenge. The Corps of Cadets showed me the value of setting goals and that those goals could be achieved--with persistence and leadership. As commissioning and graduation drew near, the Air Force changed my plans again. Navigator training was scheduled to move from California to Texas, and that transition would halt new training classes for at least a year. When asked what I wanted to do after commissioning, I reiterated my goal of becoming a pilot. At that time, however, pilot production was so small that there would be no chance for me to attend training. After I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in political science in 1992, the Air Force determined that I would train to become an intelligence officer. Following four months working for the Corps' then-Commandant of Cadets Maj. Gen. Musser, I entered active duty at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. Entering active duty as a second lieutenant was an incredible experience, and over the next seven years, the theme of change continued through my life. I completed intelligence training, worked as an intelligence analyst at Headquarters Air Combat Command, and deployed to Saudi Arabia. When navigator training opened in Texas, I completed eight months there with the Air Force before moving to Florida to complete my training with the Navy. I started my navigator time at Hurlburt Field, Florida, as an electronic warfare officer in the MC-130H Combat Talon II. When I met with the squadron commander for my initial interview, he asked me about my future goals and of course I told him I wanted to attend pilot training. He told me that the Air Force was struggling with pilot manning, having underestimated how many pilots would leave and, at the same time, not producing enough pilots to meet mission requirements. He told me to strive to be the best I could be in the MC-130H mission and that he would support me wherever he could. I did my best in our special operations mission, and deployed to Italy to support the war in the Balkans. Two years after arriving at Hurlburt, I was able to apply for pilot training, and with backing from my wing leadership, I was selected! All of my focus, persistence, and hard work had finally paid off, and after seven years in the Air Force, I entered pilot training in Texas. Pilot training was amazing, and my experiences as a navigator suited me well with flying. Many of my classmates were also former navigators who had commissioned at the same time as I and had dealt with the same Air Force pilot-production challenges. An intense, yearlong performance based syllabus, pilot training is full of competition with your fellow students. In many ways, it's like being a new cadet in the Corps. The strong bonds we formed at pilot training are exactly the same as those formed with my buds in E-92. Eight years after commissioning, I earned my pilot wings and started my new career as an Air Force pilot in the C-141B Starlifter at McChord Air Force Base, Washington. Flying was everything I had imagined it would be--and much more in Air Mobility Command. Our mission was global airlift operations, and within a year of flying, I saw almost every corner of the world. The missions were long, but the destinations were amazing. And even though the world was still changing, the missions were fast paced enough for me to upgrade to aircraft commander in just two years. One rewarding aspect of Air Mobility Command's mission is that the wartime mission and the peacetime mission are one in the same: safe delivery of cargo all over the world. Disaster-relief operations were frequent, as we delivered cargo to countries after earthquakes and hurricanes. Thankfully, during that time, we did not fly any combat missions other than cargo deliveries to Saudi Arabia to support no-fly operations in Iraq. During one mission as we crossed the ocean, I recall talking with another pilot about our extensive training to fly into combat, but wondered if we might be a generation of pilots never to fly into harm's way. We knew we'd be ready if the call ever came, but based on the predominately peaceful world we were flying around, we wondered if we'd ever do anything other than train for war. That sortie was on Sept. 1, 2001, just 10 days prior to the terrorist attacks that would dramatically change our mission--and the world. Combat and combat-support missions all over the world dominated the rest of my time at McChord. In late 2001, I was selected to transition to the C-17A Globemaster III, and my first mission in the new airplane was to Afghanistan. During multiple deployments over the next three years, I flew to every airfield in Afghanistan and Iraq and to our forward operating bases in the Middle East. The flying was challenging and dangerous, but also extremely rewarding, especially during those deliveries to forward operating bases in both countries. I spent five years at McChord and flew missions to every continent except Antarctica. I spent the next six years teaching at the C-17A schoolhouse at Altus AFB, Oklahoma, attending the Air Force Institute of Technology for graduate school, and working two staff assignments at Headquarters Air Force in the Pentagon. Five years without flying was frustrating for me because I had worked so hard to become a pilot and had spent almost half of my pilot career in school and on the staff. Deciding it was time to work on a new goal, I focused on getting back to flying, but this time as a squadron commander. I had tremendous mentors in the Pentagon who helped me not only successfully complete my assignments there but also compete well when Air Mobility Command formed a selection board to pick squadron commander candidates. I met the board and was selected to command the 6th Airlift Squadron following my Pentagon assignment. Squadron command was the most rewarding experience of my career to that point. The 6th Airlift Squadron is the oldest airlift squadron in the Air Force, and I was honored to have the opportunity to serve with so many amazing pilots and loadmasters as we executed the squadron's global mobility mission in the C-17A. Combat airlift operations in Afghanistan and Iraq were our primary missions, though we continued with supporting missions on almost every continent. Although executing our mission was important, helping people was the most rewarding part of that command experience. Almost every experience in command was firmly grounded in leadership lessons I learned in the Corps of Cadets. In fact, I base all my success as a commander on the solid leadership foundations I experienced as a cadet at Virginia Tech. My most recent assignment was as an exchange officer at the National Defence College in New Delhi, India. I spent a year learning national security policy and global issues from a prospective very different from that of the United States. My time in India was an incredible experience, and I am grateful not only for what I learned there, but also for the friends I made among the Indian and other foreign officers. I hope to one day use my experiences to help shape international policy and engagements with India, as well as other nations in South Asia. My Air Force story is one of challenge and change, very much like Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" It is also a story of creating a goal and sticking to it, no matter the obstacles faced. With commitment and determination to achieve your goals through a record of outstanding performance, you can achieve anything you set out to achieve.