The perfect Airman

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Thomas Keyser
  • 8th Logistics Readiness Squadron
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  I'm the perfect Airman ... let me explain.

Throughout my career, I've always come in to work on time. Well normally anyway. My uniform always looks sharp, though sometimes I could use a haircut and I might miss a spot shaving.

I have a spotless record, unless you consider that I have received a few letters of counseling, at least one letter of reprimand, and I was even given an Article 15 at one point in my career, all for doing things I really shouldn't have done.

I've gotten an excellent, a good and a satisfactory on my PT tests. That satisfactory was awfully close to a fail ... but I squeaked by! I've sent emails I probably shouldn't have sent. Sometimes I type faster than I think, and I should have waited a day or two before I sent out that angry email.

I pretty much spell everything correctly, except when I spell things wrong. My grammar could use some work. It wasn't my favorite subject in school and these days, Microsoft Word does all the checking for me, but sometimes it doesn't speak Air Force.

I am an above average public speaker, but I don't always make eye contact and I say "um" a little more than I should. I've gotten "DG" in all levels of my professional military education -- I have proof because I have certificates that say I "done graduated" hanging on my wall!

Out of the millions of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who have ever served in this great military, none were perfect. The troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy, those who Liberated Kuwait, the ones who fought for Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and Vietnam; none were perfect. That's what makes us great. We are all individuals with our own past, beliefs, problems and ideas who all come together to make a perfect team. You see, no one is perfect and no one ever will be ... all we can do is do our best every day and hope it's good enough.

What I try to do perfectly is take care of the people who work with me and for me, and to leave wherever I am a little better than it was when I got there. I always come to work and try my best. Sometimes I've made mistakes, and sometimes I let people down, but I try.

I wear my emotions on my sleeve; I don't make excuses for being who I am. It's just who I am, and I can't change it. If you ask me a question, I'm going to give you an honest answer. You might not like it, but it's what I believe is right at the time.

No matter what rank I've made, I'm the same person I was before I made it. I treat people the same and I don't talk down to people. To me, that's as perfect as I'll ever get, and I hope it's good enough to be the perfect Airman.