Autograph your work with excellence

  • Published
  • By By Brig. Gen. Edward L. Bolton, Jr.
  • Commander, 45th Space Wing
Autograph your work with excellence

By Brig. Gen.
Edward L. Bolton, Jr.
Commander, 45th Space Wing

Well, you did it again. And you were flawless ­ again ­ as you supported the launch of the 16th flight of an Atlas rocket from the Cape Tuesday evening and the 15th overall launch just this year from the Eastern Range. 

It¹s great to be the commander when I have folks like you I can count on to "do the right thing."
Every single day. Every single mission. Every single launch. 

You never take a short cut, because you all understand the importance of what we do and why we do it. 

And what makes this even more remarkable is that we are keeping this
remarkable pace in the midst of an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) designed to test our capabilities all across the board. 

Like I said at the ORI in-briefing, telling the inspectors about our world-class capabilities is not enough. We have to show them we know what to do and how to do it. Over the past few weeks, I think you have been doing a first-class job of that. As a matter of fact, I know you are. 

But this inspection isn't a sprint ... it¹s a marathon. We are not done yet. 

Keep your spirits up; help one another. I want to hit the finish line of this ORI at the same speed as we started. 

Also, let me remind all of you about the military customs and courtesies I want you to render when the music plays in the morning and the afternoon. 

Rendering a salute or placing your hand over your heart is an honor. I mean that. An absolute honor. You can spare the time to remember those who served before us, and the tens of thousands who paid the ultimate price so that we can live in the greatest nation the world has ever seen. 

It has often been said that "every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence." All I can say is your signature is the best I have ever seen and the envy of all in the space business and I can¹t thank you enough. Keep it up!