Page 2 - Nellis Creech NTTR Bullseye 1-29-16

2 January 29, 2016
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Qualities of Leader
By Senior Master Sgt. Jason Chiasson
39th Communications Squadron
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey — As I
walk around Incirlik and speak with Air-
men or attend professional development
seminars, Airman Leadership School or
First Term Airman’s Center briefings, I am
usually asked the question, “What makes
a good leader or what do I have to do to
make it in the Air Force?” process; they would be a leader others would
If you were to ask that question to 20
different people I am sure you would get
20 different answers, but for me it comes
down to three principles. These principles
are not the, “winning lottery tickets” or
the, “secrets to ultimate success.” These are
principles that have served me without fail
for the 21 years I have served in the greatest
Air Force the world has ever seen.
The first thing a person needs is to care!
Sounds simple enough, but when I say
The devil inside: deployment, divorce, attempted suicide
By Anonymous
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany —
Any service member who signed up after
9/11 did so knowing that they would likely
deploy to a hostile environment.
We all do so willing and eager to serve our
country with honor. We read the stories of
our courageous brothers and sisters standing
up for what they think is right and just, and
we gladly follow in their footsteps, fueled by
inspiration and ready to take on the world.
What we aren’t prepared for, or at least I
wasn’t prepared for, was the little devil that
I took home with me after my tour; post-
traumatic stress.
It’s been years since I came back from
Afghanistan, but like many returning ser-
vice members, part of me will always still
be there, and my mind brings me back there
more often than I would like. Fortunately
for me, my doctor classified me as having
“deployment related mental issues,” which
is not quite full-blown PTSD, but has had
catastrophic effects on my life.
In late 2011, my career took me to the
International Security Assistance Force
Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. I
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Commentary
care, I mean caring more about the patch
above the left breast pocket of the Airman
Battle Uniform. For instance, if an Airman
cares about the voluntary oath they took to
enlist, or reenlist in the United States Air
Force, then they should care about the core
values. Integrity First, Service Before Self,
and Excellence in all We Do; these values
form our foundation. If a leader cares about
these values, applies them to their lives, and
uses them to guide their decision making
want to follow. When an individual cares
only about themselves, they can become
selfish and toxic; these are not attributes of
a good leader.
The second thing is to be informed! With
the daily changes that are impacting the Air
Force, change is life’s only constant. It is im-
portant for leaders to be informed; otherwise
ignorance guides decisions, which can lead
to irrevocable consequences. The Air Force
spent several months as a convoy leader and
distinguished visitor escort, which took me
to just about every region of the country.
Seven months, several sticky situations
and one earth-shattering, nearly fatal trau-
matic experience later, and I was more than
ready to come home to my beautiful wife
and three phenomenally patient children.
As a matter of fact, it was all I could
think about, but not always in a good way.
Deployments are not only stressful for the
service member; they take a significant toll
on the entire family. This stress not only af-
fected our day-to-day lives, but also drove a
wedge between my wife and me. We fought
with each other; we struggled to talk about
anything real and just couldn’t shake the
depression of being separated.
Counting down the days to my return,
I was excited, afraid, anxious, nervous
and sick, but mostly excited. I was afraid
of how my relationship would be with my
wife because of the distance that had grown
between us in my absence. If it wasn’t for the
unconditional love I share with my children,
I would have been more afraid than excited.
Even with my fear of how things would
be, I never expected things to be the way
they were.
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has done a great job of utilizing all forms of
media to answer the one-thousand and one
questions that arise with recent policy or
procedural changes; however, despite this
effort, many leaders are uninformed. They
expect their commander, chief, first sergeant
or supervisor to spoon feed the information
to them. There is nothing stopping any in-
dividual to be self-informed by using the Air
Force Portal, MyPers, or any other trusted
information source.
Finally, to act! I cannot tell you how
many people fail to act when they are in
the best position to take action. It could be
as simple as walking by a piece of garbage
and not picking it up; this is a failure to act. era of the USAF, it will be imperative for
How about pencil whipping the Airman
Comprehensive Assessment? How about
walking by someone who is in clear viola-
tion of standards or not holding your own
Airmen to the standard you levied upon
them? Any one of these examples consti-
My relationship with my children was
great, and there were never any issues
there. I expected my wife and me to still
express affection toward one another and
genuinely be able to spend time together,
but I was sadly disappointed.
For the first few weeks being home, it
was like I was invisible. She spent most of
her time reading books and doing her own
thing. Most conversations were one-sided
and never went deeper than “what do you
want for dinner?” Even when they did, she
expressly refused to talk about my deploy-
ment. She didn’t want to know what I went
through because she couldn’t handle it or
the thought of me going again.
This left me to deal with my issues
alone.
That’s ok though, right? I mean, my
problems aren’t that bad. So I’ll avoid
fireworks displays and heavily crowded
places. That’s not the worst thing in the
world. I’m strong; I can handle this, no
problem—that’s what I thought anyway.
Little by little, the rift between my wife
and I began to grow. She grew distant
and cold, while I became depressed and
resentful. Every time we ended up in a
situation that made me uncomfortable,
status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other
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tutes a failure to act. The United States Air
Force has empowered individuals to act
and given them the authority to do so; so
when in the position, take action!
These attributes, by themselves are
useful, but to maximize your leadership
potential, they need to be exercised in
coordination with one another. If you
care, but are uninformed and do not act,
your ability to care is useless. If you are
informed, but do not care and do not act,
then your knowledge is useless. Finally, if
you act, but do not care about others or
are uninformed; your actions can have
devastating consequences. In this new
all Airmen to be effective leaders. It will be
your inherent responsibility to be a leader,
but the decision to be a good or bad leader
will rest squarely on your shoulders, it is
the hope of this old crusty senior that you
will be a leader other leaders want to eulate.
I handled it poorly. She couldn’t under-
stand and would get angry with me.
After three years of struggling on my own
and an increasingly damaged marriage, I still
didn’t see the impact my issues were having
on my life. I refused to get help because I
thought it was a sign of weakness. Then, my
wife said four words to me that have changed
my life forever ... “I want a divorce.”
After 15 years together, my marriage was
over and my children were moving 5,000
miles away. I couldn’t help but question if I
could have done things different. It all leads
me to wonder, if I had sought out help ear-
lier, where would I be? Would it have made
a difference?
There are so many great resources for
military members who struggle with deploy-
ment issues. The only thing we need to do is
reach out and use them.
Unfortunately, I chose a different path,
which lead to me eventually attempting to
end my life.
Editor’s Note: This article is part one of a
three-part commentary depicting the struggle
of an Airman with returning from deployment,
divorce and attempted suicide. The names of
individuals have been changed or removed to
protect the identities of those involved.
articles must include a byline (author of the story).
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person to contact must be included in the event questions
arise.
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and conformity to the Associated Style Guide, to include
military ranks and proper writing etiquette.
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