Commentary>>You can't make this up

By Lt. Col. Reginald McDonald
19th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander

Have you ever taken the time to think about your life choices and how your steps have brought you where you are today? Can you look back on the sands of time and be proud of what you’ve accomplished, as well as put your face towards the sunshine as you look toward your future? If you’re wearing the uniform or if you’ve ever worn it, I challenge you to do so. Those questions remind me of my past and excite me for the future. As the youngest of 16 children, growing up in a small farm town in North Carolina, with little money, I never dreamed of working in such a dynamic environment. As I progressed through life and early in my military career, I would reflect on some of my past experiences and say, “You can’t make this up.” Maybe you had a similar upbringing and can relate to my story.

If we really think about it, traveling the world, meeting new and interesting people, experiencing cultures that most have only read about is a tremendous lifestyle. Of course, it doesn’t come without paying a price. Many of us must leave family behind because of deployments, take our children from school to school, counsel our Airmen that have chosen a wrong path, and work very long hours. A day can be filled with team members being seriously ill in the hospital, conflicts at home and in the workplace, and tough decisions. We may sometimes feel sorry for ourselves because we promised our children we would take a vacation or simply be at their T-ball game. However, the mission calls and we must put the event off until another day. At that moment, we may shake our heads and in some fashion say, “You can’t make this up.” Nonetheless, we still move on.

Have you ever thought that maybe you are the hope for your family. You’re the one they brag about when you come back to your hometown because you “got out.” I know that doesn’t apply to everyone, but it may apply to more of us than we are sometimes willing to admit. Many of us have or will see many parts of the world to include Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, etc. while others will spend almost their entire career in the good ole’ USA. This is the amazing life we choose – helping people experience what it feels like to vote for the first time, feeding the hungry of another nation, sacrificing so that the next generation can live a better life than us, banding together to achieve a mission that many – if not most – thought was impossible. Maybe you were the one that picked a friend up from the airport after a long deployment and drove him or her to the school to surprise their kids.

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned the past and the future. Our past is meant for us and others to learn from, no matter if we grew up on a farm, the suburbs or in a large city. We all have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the people we serve and the future we’re building lies in the last sentence of the previous paragraph. The pride we feel in those moments, well…“we can’t make this up” either. We are providing that for our country everyday and believe it or not, most Americans are grateful for our service to the nation and to the world.