Commentary - Rock Solid Core Values: You should see them everyday Published Nov. 4, 2008 By Command Chief Master Sergeant Benson S. Futrell 315th Airlift Wing CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Rock Solid Core Values: You should see them everyday Our core values were instituted by General Ronald Fogelman in 1995 as a guide for all members of the Air Force family: officer, enlisted, civilian, active, reserve and retired to live by. Integrity First: Our words and actions that define who we are, our moral courage. Our inner voice that tells us what the right thing to do is, even when no one is watching. Service Before Self: Our service is our sacrifice and commitment to duty. To be willing to give what it takes to accomplish our mission. Our profession takes precedence over our personal desires. Excellence in All We Do: Our commitment to excellence must be an overriding factor in every thing we do. We all have a part to play in the mission of the Air Force. There is no second place in mission accomplishment. What was our guide to the core values before they were written down for us? Were they present? These questions led me to think about instances where I had seen our core values being practiced in the past. I thought back to one of the first supervisors I had while stationed in Germany in the early eighties. Master Sergeant Richard Roberts, a flight line supervisor or "line chief". Master Sgt. Roberts was well known to all the airman and noncommissioned officers simply as "The Rock." He was a no-nonsense, old school type crew chief. You always sat up a little straighter in your chair when The Rock walked into the room. If you were too relaxed, you obviously didn't have enough to do. The German word for work is arbeit. The Rock used it in almost every sentence. The Rock had some rules on his flight line. At the end of the shift, your work area and aircraft were to be squared away and bedded down. Your aircraft forms would be transcribed and placed in line with the rest of the aircraft forms, ready for him to inspect and sign-off. If there was anything out of place with your aircraft or anything not done correctly with the forms, you would be hearing from The Rock-Excellence. The mission came first. The aircraft were inspected, fueled, fixed and made ready to fly. The rain, snow, wind or cold did not matter. Everyone worked together, and no one left the flight line if there was still a plane to be worked- Service Before Self. At the end of the shift, if you had finished transcribing your aircraft's forms and had signed-off all the open discrepancies, The Rock would ask you specific questions about each one. Your response had better be the correct answer because your signature in the "corrected by" block was your word that it was done by the book- Integrity. The Rock was governed by a set of values and he instilled those core values in a group of young airman that worked for him. There were no gray areas. Everyone that worked for him knew where he stood. Those were some simple examples of our core values, values that have always been present in our Air Force, even before they were written down. Look around daily at examples of our core values in practice. Hopefully, you only have to look in the mirror.