Hello, shipmates Published Sept. 14, 2010 By Lt. Col. Shawn Smith 6th Space Warning Squadron commander CAPE COD AIR FORCE STATION, Mass. -- As a very young captain in 1999, I was assigned to United States Space Command - a unified, combatant command that no longer exists. I looked forward to the assignment because, having spent my entire career to that point in single-service U.S. Air Force units, I wanted to learn more about joint operations and the joint team. I thought I would learn by training, self-study and by working projects and staff tasks. I was right that I'd learn about being joint, but wrong about how. Like many great lessons, I didn't immediately recognize I'd even been taught. It happened this way: one day at our headquarters building, as I sprinted around a corridor corner, focused on the task at hand, I nearly ran head-first into our Deputy Commander-In-Chief, Vice Admiral Herb Browne, U.S. Navy. Given my unsafe conduct and our difference in rank, I expected that he'd make it into a "significant emotional event" for me. Instead, with a broad, genuine grin he said two words that took days to sink in, which I have never forgotten: "Hello, shipmate!" He and I had never before met face-to-face, and although I'd nearly literally corrected that, he chose a response that spoke volumes in just those two words. First and foremost, he told me that regardless of the different uniforms we wore, six pay grades and 29 years of service difference between us, he was on my team and I was on his. In two words, he told me that we were shipmates on the same "vessel" - sharing burdens, successes, and most importantly, obligations to our nation and responsibilities toward one another. I think he knew I was hustling, meant no harm and was probably working on something that would cross his desk. Without chastising, he reminded me what I owed him and told me he was there for me, too. In the Air Force, we call that concept being a "Wingman," but; a Wingman is a Shipmate is a Ranger Buddy. Our uniforms and our jargon do not define the boundary of the team. As the lesson sunk from skin-deep relief to bone-deep principle, I've come to understand that as leaders and teammates, we have countless opportunities to make "Wingman/Shipmate/Buddy" an active verb. Here on the Massachusetts Military Reservation, we have a patchwork of different uniforms, chains of command and administration, jurisdictions and legal authorities; as well as, Active Duty, Reserve, Guard, DoD, federal, and commonwealth status. And yet, as we saw with a memorial service for U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Sean Krueger, who was killed in a Coast Guard aircraft accident July 7, and with the support for the president's recent visit to the MMR, we are teams within a team. My wife, Elisabeth, and I have already witnessed first-hand the hospitality and cooperation of not only my 6th Space Warning Squadron team, but our U.S. Coast Guard, Army and Air National Guard, The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment and Army Environmental Command neighbors, the local civic community, and even broader Cape Cod and New England community partners. As we enter fall, with hurricane season, deployments, the joys and challenges of the holidays, unforeseen crises and successes ahead of us, I hope you'll join me when I say "Hello, shipmates!"