Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Standards

I thought this commentary I found at af.mil was particularly fitting:
Whether you are active-duty military, Guard or Reserve, civilian or contractor, you are subject to many rules and standards. Regardless of whether you personally agree with or like the rules and standards, our leaders have determined these rules and standards are required by the mission and special demands of operations.

<...>

It is important to know what the rules and standards are from the start and make a commitment to follow all the rules all the time (even the ones you don't like). If you don't understand a rule, don't guess and ask for clarification. Try to remember that leaders see a bigger picture (a rule may be based on things we are not aware of). We don't have a right to understand why a particular rule exists (it is nice if we do, but it is not a right). If you don't like a rule, try to change it through proper channels (but follow it). And most importantly, the rules and standards apply as much on the last day of deployment as they do on the first (no freebies for being on the way out).

(Emphasis mine.)

I'm not (yet) willing to publicly discuss why I found this commentary fitting, but I'll give you a hint: it has to do with this post.