Are you ‘In?’ Published Dec. 10, 2014 By Lt. Col. Tony Cole 45th Mission Support Group Detachment 1 Commander CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- The college football season is on the home stretch and it's been exciting. As the inaugural year of the national championship playoff system, the country was infused with a spirit of optimism ... maybe your team could make it into the playoff. Maybe, with a great deal of effort and some luck, they would be "in." We all know that being lucky isn't enough. I was recently reminded of a terrific quote from golfing great, Ben Hogan: "It's a funny thing. The more I practice, the luckier I get." In football, teams practice fundamentals in order to set the conditions for success -- blocking, tackling, route running, and special teams. Fundamentals are equally important when you launch rockets. We have learned, through success and failure, that certain fundamentals are absolutely essential to our mission of successfully launching the country's most prized space assets. We must commit sufficient and stable funding for space programs, we need a healthy and competitive industrial base, and we must always have a mission success focus. The 45th Space Wing plays a role in all of these areas, but our most valuable player continues to be our focus on mission success. Program management, engineering and budget planning help move the mission success "ball" down the field, and it's our job to punch it in for the score. The 45th Space Wing operates and maintains the launch range and provides critical mission assurance oversight during launch processing. We also provide world-class security, infrastructure maintenance, an unwavering commitment to public safety and so many other things. Here, at the 45th Space Wing, we've had nearly 20 "national championship launches" this calendar year, and we've won them all. Keep practicing your fundamentals and keep your eye on the ball, Sharks. You are -- without a doubt -- "in!"