Page 2 - March ARB Beacon 3-18-16

2 March 18, 2016
BEACONTHE
Volume 81, Number 11
452 AMW Public Affairs
14560 2nd Street, Bldg. 2640
March ARB, CA 92518-1852
DPZSDZRUNÀRZ#XVDIPLO to the phenomenon of the college basket-
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www.aerotechnews.com/marcharb
Let your “Madness” be purposeful
by Lt. Col. Bob Meissner
452 AMW Chaplain
This is not a reference to our Wing but
could have trekked across North America
ball tournament that begins this week and
will culminate in the Final Four and cham-
pionship game in April. It’s mad, not in the
sense of anger but intensity. Sixteen games
on Thursday, sixteen more on Friday, a
gradually shrinking field each week until
only one is victorious.
Whether you’re a fan of basketball or
not: the reality is, we as Americans spend
a “mad” amount of time engaged in some
kind of media whether it’s entertainment,
news, or sports. Estimates vary but the lat-
est I’ve seen say the average person watches
about 5 hours of TV alone each day. That av-
erages out to about 9 years of one’s lifetime. amination of our outward life provides us
For most of us, 9 years will be more than 10
percent of our lives. In that amount of time
Women’s History Month Spotlight:
Major Nicci S. Rucker, 954th RSS
by 954th Reserve Support Squadron
at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Major Nicci S. Rucker is currently serv-
ing as the Air Force Element Officer in
Charge, 954th Reserve Support Squad-
ron, United States Transportation Com-
mand Joint Transportation Reserve Unit,
Intelligence, Joint Intelligence Director-
ate, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
As the Air Force Element Joint Intel-
ligence Officer-in-Charge, she is respon-
sible for time-dominant intelligence in
support of the United States Transporta-
tion Command Deployment Distribution
Operations Center. She also serves as
Joint Senior Watch Officer, fo-
cusing senior leaders on strategic
level threats and impacts to global
deployment and distribution op-
erations.
A graduate of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Rucker earned her Bachelor of
Arts in Spanish and Communica-
tion Studies in 2000.
She entered active duty Febru-
ary 2001. Graduating from Intel-
she has had a broad range of intel-
ligence assignments ranging from
an operational tour in the Repub-
lic of Korea, to serving as Distrib-
uted Common Ground Station-4
facebook.com/TeamMarch
CHAPLAIN’S CORNER
Michelangelo could have painted two Sis-
tine Chapels, John Milton could have writ-
ten two Paradise Losts, and Lewis and Clark tradition Easter is approaching, a huge
event in the Christian calendar. We nor-
four times.
The question then becomes, am I mak-
ing the most of my time and engaging in
what’s truly important? In the book of
Psalms in the Old Testament, David asks
God to “teach us to number our days that
we may get a heart of wisdom.’ When we
understand and reflect on how much time
we truly have in this life and see how we
use it, we become aware that we need to
invest in the time we have wisely. Does my
schedule truly reflect those things that are someone to become an expert in their
most important to me? How we live is a
good indicator of what we believe. An ex-
with a view of the beliefs we operate from. spent watching TV over your lifetime. Let
Faith, family and friends are often the
most important and meaningful relation-
Mission Operations Commander, Deputy
Flight Commander, Imagery Operations,
She deployed in support of ongoing
operations in Southwest Asia and Europe
as a Geospatial Manager and Executive
Officer to the Director of Intelligence for
Air Forces Central, and as an Air Mobil-
ity Command Senior Intelligence Officer.
Rucker’s final assignment on active
duty was as the chief of Unit Support at
AMC Air Intelligence Squadron, Scott
AFB. She led a 17-person branch pro-
viding 24/7 global threat warning and
ISR support to 104 Active/Air National
ships and activities in our lives. How much
time are you investing in these? In my faith
mally hit record attendance at church that
weekend. But I often wonder where every-
one is the other 51 weekends of the year.
Where we spend our time says a lot about
what we value.
March Madness is not bad. TV is not
all bad. It’s often beneficial and provides
needed downtime in our busy lives. But
it’s an example of how we can spend un-
productive time if we are not careful. I’ve
read it takes 10,000 hours of practice for
craft. That’s over a year of nonstop prac-
tice. Imagine becoming an expert in 8 or 9
different things in the amount of time you
your “madness” be purposeful. One more
thing: Go Aztecs!
Guard/Reserve AMC units.
Rucker separated from active duty in
2011 and joined the reserves later that
year.
As a civilian from 2011 to 2015 she
served as the Threat Working Group Co-
ordinator for AMC, providing force pro-
tection and threat mitigation recommen-
dations to 18th Air Force commander.
Her awards and decorations include
the Meritorious Service Medal, Joint
Service Commendation Medal, Air Force
Commendation Medal, and Air Intelli-
gence Squadron Civilian of the Year (Cat
III), 2012, 2014.