Photo By Senior Airman Keith Holcomb | Col. David Gordon, 2d Operations Group commander at Barksdale Air Force Base,...... read more read more
Col. David Gordon, 2d Operations Group commander at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, was the guest speaker for Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 18-12’s graduation July 27 at Columbus AFB, Mississippi.
Gordon earned his silver wings in the same auditorium roughly 20 years ago. He remarked his excitement to be back and noted the base felt comfortably familiar during the graduation festivities.
“It was 20 years ago last December that I was sitting in these very seats,” Gordon said. “Bursting with excitement and energy at the thought I was going to fly Air Force jet aircraft, and they were going to pay me to do that.”
He recognized each student’s determination to get to this point in their career regardless of their path, and expressed his confidence in their abilities. Gordon also recognized they had many struggles through pilot training, but noted them graduating was a testament to their strength and ability as officers and aviators.
“It’s the ability to adapt, change course, to bounce back and keep charging forward that defines these aviators that will put on their wings today,” Gordon said. “You can’t take a timeout at 30,000 feet, you can’t pull over to figure out what is going on in the situation, you have to keep charging forward … and these students have proven they can do that today.”
He recounted a story sitting with his first pilot training instructor and two other pilots and listened to the instructor explain the difficulty of the training they were about to begin.
Gordon later realized the instructor gave him his first lesson of pilot training that day. It showed you have to have the will keep moving forward no matter the situation. Resolve and resilience is in every U.S. military aviator he said, it’s a few of many universal traits in all of those who wear wings he explained.
“The folks that graduated today all have that strength, fortitude and resolve that they learned throughout pilot training,” Gordon said. “Those are also reflected in our core values to do what’s right: Integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do, are part of all our characters … its part of all Airmen’s heritage.”
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2018 10:53 |
| Story ID: | 287956 |
| Location: | COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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