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AF done with ‘Above All’ for motto

The search is on for a new Air Force motto — one that ranks above “Above All.”

“Aim High” got jettisoned in 2008 because it missed the mark. And “Above and Beyond,” another oldie, begs the question: Above and beyond what?

What the Air Force is looking for is a short phrase that has the staying power of the Marine Corps’ “Semper Fidelis,” Latin for “Always Faithful.” A few good words that sum up all that you are — and can be; words that ring out “Air Force.”

When word about the motto went out this spring, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Howie Chandler told you that the brass wanted to hear from you about what the Air Force represents, how you identify yourselves, what you think the service stands for.

Information service researchers conducted focus groups in June and more are scheduled for early fall.

There’s a survey online you can take right now and another servicewide one is in the works that will be posted in the coming weeks.

If all goes as planned, the four-stars should have recommendations for the service’s new motto at their Corona meeting in late September.

The Air Force isn’t saying how much the search will ultimately cost. And spokesman Maj. Mike Andrews made clear that all the focus groups and surveys aren’t “a pure search for a motto, though it may lead to that.”

“[The] intent is to talk to people to get a feel for how airmen identify and think about themselves as part of the greater Air Force community. We are interested in hearing from airmen about Air Force culture…,” Andrews wrote in an e-mail to Air Force Times.

“We don’t want people coming in thinking about taglines.”

Like the service, Air Force Times reached out to airmen for their thoughts about the Air Force and how it should identify itself. You sent in nearly 300 suggestions — old recruiting slogans, a few unfit to print, a fair share of Latin phrases and new acronyms.

The more impressive submissions:

• “Aim High.” More than 20 readers asked airforcetimes.com why the service couldn’t use its former recruiting slogan. “That is what everyone should do in life is set their goals high,” said Master Sgt. Stephen Cagle, a California-based recruiter. “It is simple while letting all know we are willing to go the extra [mile] to reach our goals.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton agrees. The two-word slogan has impact and is easy to remember, he contends. Aim High also “focuses upward, is aspirational and inspirational, won’t be misinterpreted and is our heritage.”

• “Above and Beyond.” Staff Sgt. Matthew Heckman hears the phrase used almost daily but thinks it truly applies to the Air Force.

“We use it all the time in our daily duties and noticed that when push comes to shove, we really do go above and beyond what is expected, not just personally, but also professionally,” wrote Heckman of Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. “On just about every occasion we are challenged and presented a standard or duty and we ALWAYS take the initiative ourselves and make it bigger, better, faster, than the norm. It’s a huge part of our culture — we can function independently or have the support of a unit — either way, we’ll figure it out, and go above and beyond.”

Staff Sgt. Andre Bowser of Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass., believes “Above and Beyond” captures the aviation-centric nature of the U.S. Air Force as well as the technological strides made by the branch of service.

“Also, the word ‘Above’ points to the [former] Air Force motto, ‘Above All,’ building on that established slogan and taking it a step further in the direction of the future,” wrote Bowser, a public affairs specialist. “The word ‘Beyond’ points to the future and the advances in technology demonstrated by the U.S. Air Force.”

• “ Fly, Fight, Win.” Senior Airman Alexandra Strzelczyk of Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and Senior Airman Brandon Pellowe of Langley Air Force Base, Va., want the motto to represent “air superiority” and these three words do it for them.

“We have paramount aircraft, leading the way globally,” they wrote. “And not only that, but we also have the finest technicians to work on them. No one in the world comes close.”

“Fight” represents the spirit and courage of airmen, they wrote, and “Win” symbolizes the common goal toward which the service works.

Capt. Gregory Bollrud of Hurlburt Field, Fla., believes “Fly, Fight, Win” could become as synonymous as “Semper Fi,” “Army Strong,” “Currahee,” and “Rangers Lead the Way.”

“It succinctly captures what our Air Force has been renowned for ever since its creation in 1947,” wrote Bollrud, assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command. “Also, the specific choice of these three words is that it can be interpreted as an order as well as embodying what we do and how we do it (fly), our commitment to defend the nation (fight), and our ultimate goal & our successful history (win).”

• “Global Strike.” Lt. Col. Michael Weber, a chaplain deployed to Afghanistan, wants to keep the motto short. He believes “Global Strike” is ideal because it describes the service’s ability to operate anywhere on Earth, and that any operation would be lethal and deter potential enemies from attacking the U.S.

“We have the reach to affect anyone on earth within a very short period of time, strategically, operationally and tactically,” he wrote.

Hal Smith, a retired master sergeant who recruits for the Air Force Reserve in Alabama, suggested a similar motto: “Global reach and lethal power.” For Smith, these four words epitomize the Air Force’s capabilities, whether it’s bombing runs, dogfights or humanitarian airlift.

• “Always in the Fight.” Senior Airman Aisha McDonald from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., believes the service is “literally everywhere. Whether it’s boots on the ground or our ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] assets in the air that no one knows about, we are there.”

• “Always Ready.” Staff Sgt. Timothy Montjoy of Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Ala., focused on preparedness because the service is “always talking about being battle ready and up to speed with training and job qualifications. Also, it covers every angle for all career fields within our force — not just cyber, support, or air crew.”

• “Around the Clock, Around the World.” Bob Hamel, a retired lieutenant colonel and now a contractor at Langley, believes this “encompasses every aspect of what the Air Force does – space, airlift, combat ops, cyberspace.”

• “No Limits.” Staff Sgt. AJ Pereira said his suggestion “defined so much of the Air Force,” especially its evolution as a part of the Army to a service with dominance in air, space and cyberspace. “Any limits that have been set have been broken,” wrote Pereira, of Westover. “The Air Force is a finely tuned machine that our airmen propel further and further ahead of our enemies.”

• “Victory from Above.” Gary Mead, a retired technical sergeant in California, points out his choice has a double meaning. “The first is air supremacy supplied by the USAF,” he wrote. “The second is a spiritual reference, typically associated with the sky.”

“Also,” he added, “I like that it is short and can easily by shouted at a rally.”

• “Fly High.” When John Bracy retired from the Air Force in 1991 as a technical sergeant, airmen strived “always to give our very best, to seek ways to improve our commitment to the Air Force, and to be the very best we could be, to fly high. And since retirement I have seen the Air Force continues to fly high, exceeding more things in more ways than I could ever have imagined.”

Jason Talarico, an Air Force veteran now working as an Army civilian employee, suggested "Fly High" because of the service's dominance in the air, its high standards among its military peers, the technological breakthroughs the service pioneered and more.

• “Higher, Farther, Faster.” Tech. Sgt. Ken Swortz of Homestead Air Force Base, Fla., offers up a bit of a homage to the 1983 film “The Right Stuff,” but he intends his motto to mean more than just how the Air Force’s pilots fly. It’s “about how we are expected to carry ourselves, and how outsiders should think of people who are in the Air Force,” he said.

• “Rise Above.” Col. Peter A. Markle of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency thinks his suggestion “captures many meanings such as fly top cover for our ground forces and continue our proud legacy that our forces have not suffered an enemy air attack since the Korean War, rise above our foe’s capabilities and deter and defeat them, rise above your own self interests and focus on the interests of the bigger team who’s counting on you, rise above the petty arguments and embody the Air Force core values of integrity, service and excellence, and rise above today’s challenges and create a better service for those who will follow after you just like those who came before did for you!”

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