Flying in the Face of Fear

Chapter 10COMMAND AND CONNECTION

“Courage and fear are not mutually exclusive. Most of us feel brave and afraid at the exact same time.”

—Brené Brown

Figure 10.1 My change of command ceremony, taking command of the 355th Operations Support Squadron at Davis‐Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. My son decided he would prefer to sit with me on stage.

HUMBLE, APPROACHABLE, CREDIBLE

As I was learning to be a young leader in the Air Force, I had the opportunity to be trained and mentored by our weapons officer, Captain (now Brigadier General) Mike “Johnny Bravo” Drowley. When Johnny Bravo arrived at the 75th Fighter Squadron, he was recently graduated from Weapons School and had an immense amount of expertise and experience. The motto at the Air Force Weapons School, the Air Force equivalent to TOPGUN, is to be humble, approachable, and credible. He taught me the tactics, techniques, and procedures of how to lead a four‐ship of A‐10s, but more important, he taught me how to lead with humility and approachability. Johnny Bravo set the example for all of us. When I was upgrading to become an instructor in the A‐10, he spent hours of his time sitting down with all the new instructors in the squadron, helping us to improve. He was always available for a phone call to discuss attack geometry and tactics. It's no surprise that credibility was essential to being a flight lead or ...