Never lose that winning spirit

Published Feb. 5, 2009
By Brig. Gen. Edward L. Bolton, Jr.
45th SW commander

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- I don't know if you are a football fan like I am or not, but I am pretty sure the vast majority of you know by now that the Pittsburgh Steelers nicked the Arizona Cardinals by scoring the winning touchdown with 35 seconds left in the game.

Less than two minutes earlier, the Steelers had gone behind when the Cardinals, seven-point underdogs going into the game, took a 23-20 lead on a 64-yard touchdown pass. And earlier, when Arizona had trailed at half-time by 10 points, most TV "experts" thought the game was "pretty much over."

So much for the "experts."

OK, I'm not here to do a re-hash or a play-by-play of the entire game, but what I do want to talk about is the winning spirit and fight both teams showed, right down to the final seconds of the game. Whether you enjoy sports or not, this game was the perfect example for what it means to "never give up" and it was there for all to see on the world's biggest stage.

I see that same kind of determination - that same kind of "never-give-up" mentality around here on an everyday basis. I don't care what the "score," is, or "how much time is on the clock," I have all the confidence in the world that when we come to a bump in the road, we'll find a way to go over, around, under or through it.

We always seem to find a way to score.

And score we did during the recent Hennessey Award Team visit, which was evaluating where our Riverside Dining Facility ranks in regards to other dining facilities at the Air Force level. (We already took first place in Space Command).

I have no idea if we will end up winning, but I can tell you that 11 superior performance certificates were handed out, more than twice the normal number, and eight "best practices" were identified.

That's just remarkable. In laymen's terms, that means the evaluators will take these practices back to the Air Force and say something like "hey, you might want to start doing what these Sharks are doing."

They even liked the Food Service in-brief so much that they requested a copy to be made for them so that they could take it back with them.

I told them they could take something else back with them too. Take back that the 45th Space Wing is a winner. And we never, ever give up. Thanks for all you do Sharks.