Commentary - An attitude of gratitude

  • Published
  • By Col. Brian Hastings
  • 47th Flying Training Wing Commander
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  As my tour here as the 47th Flying Training Wing commander begins, I felt it was important to present my vision, goals, philosophy and expectations to all members of Team XL. Recently, I was fortunate enough to address all the Airmen and civilians on Laughlin who attended my first Commander's Call. While developing the brief, I was reminded of the importance of a personal document I created long ago, "Perspectives of the Commander." I use it as a guide when speaking to Airmen to deliver a consistent message, and I think it is fitting to share it with you again during these interesting fiscal times.

I am a social person and one of the main points I discussed with the Airmen and civilians of Team XL was to always be courteous and say "thank you" often. I believe greetings and being thankful are critical to building healthy organizations. While preparing for the Commander's Call, I referenced an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal Nov. 23, 2010 titled, "Thank You. No, Thank You" that has always resonated with me.

The article addressed all the issues the Air Force is struggling with right now with regards to building resilient Airmen. The author, Melinda Beck, reported that an "attitude of gratitude" leads to a better balance of psychological, emotional and physical well-being - tenets of resilient Airmen.

I had always believed that gratitude was important, but I had no idea that scientists had studied the effects so extensively. Beck added, that people who "...feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness ... They ... sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly, and have greater resistance to viral infection."

The article goes on to describe gratitude as a "demanding, complex emotion... [that] requires self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon others, and the humility to realize one's own limitations." I never understood how great the power of gratitude was, but long ago I realized it was working for me, so I went with it.

Air Force leaders often talk about needing to strike a balance between spiritual, mental, physical and social well-being. It seems like someone is always developing some program to fix a problem or computer-based training to help us, but I wonder if we have forgotten to leverage a simple, yet powerful component needed to build resilient Airmen - being thankful. In a culture where a sense of entitlement runs rampant, sometimes we forget what is really important in our lives. Leaders can enhance mission accomplishment by incorporating an "attitude of gratitude" into their unit culture.

Developing this attitude can be difficult because it is related to realistic expectations. Managing Airmen's expectations requires engagement by savvy supervisors and active commanders, and is often very uncomfortable to accomplish. It requires time and a level of effort that is more difficult in an Air Force that is very lean and filled with units where leaders are often deployed. As the saying goes, "We form bad habits in good times, and good habits in bad." Times may not be that "bad", but they are definitely not good fiscal times, and we need to change our habits.

Regardless of the challenges provided by our current environment, if you have to have an attitude, why not have a good one--one of gratitude. On that note, it is my honor to be serving as your commander and I wanted to say, "Thank you!" Thank you for what you have done, what you do, and what you are going to do, to continue making our Air Force the envy of the world and Laughlin our home.