Air Force Warriors are defined by duty, honor, integrity Published June 29, 2009 By Capt. Emmanuel Matos United States Strategic Command PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- "Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, date to do our duty as we understand it." Abraham Lincoln ,Feb. 27, 1860, Cooper Union Address. "Warrior" - we hear the term often, but how many have stopped to think about what it means. Merriam-Webster simply defines a warrior as "a man engaged or experienced in warfare" or broadly as a person engaged in some struggle or conflict." By this definition, anyone who has ever deployed is a warrior, our veterans are warriors, and anyone who has ever served in the military is a warrior. There is more to being a warrior than simply fighting. For me the essence of warrior begins first and foremost in the heart. A warrior must have a clear and unequivocal determination, which Abraham Lincoln stated in his address to Cooper's Union. Courage, duty and honor are the bedrock upon which the pillars of the American fighting spirit are grounded and the essence of a Warrior. Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have produced hundreds of thousands of stories about Airmen living the "warrior ethos". It could be Capt. Dan "Clyde" Cruz, an A-10 Fighter pilot who provided close air support to coalition forces in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan or 1st Lt. Kyle Yates, a Security Forces officer who served as convoy commander on the highways of Iraq. It could be the Airmen working the front desk of the fitness center or the finance helpdesk. The sentinels guarding our freedom deep in the command capsules of missile fields of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota are also warriors as are the space professional across the globe monitoring our high frontier. What makes these men and women warriors is not whether they stand in front of enemy fire, but whether or not they have the courage to do their duty, no matter the cost. When the tough call comes, the warrior is ready. We all have sacrificed for the military. We may have missed a special day with our loved ones, traveled hundreds of miles from our family and friends to put the mission first. This is the essence of duty. We don't have a "job", we have a "duty". We don't work for a stock holder or for the" bottom line" but rather we do our duty for our country, for the men and women we live and work with. It is our obligation to perform our given task, to follow orders, to maintain standards. These are more than job requirements: they are the measures of performance that ultimately ensure the continued success of our nation. Lastly, it is our sense of honor. What is a warrior without honor? Throughout military history, honor has been the hallmark of a warrior. Roman centurions saluted each other with the mantra "strength and honor", Gen. MacArthur lived by the principles instilled in him as a cadet "Duty, Honor, Country". The Air Force has taken the principle of honor and broken it down to its most fundamental aspect and called it "Integrity". It is our first and, in my opinion, our most important core value. Living the "warrior ethos" means dedicating our lives to the mental and physical training required of our military profession. We must have the courage to do what is right and the sense of duty to follow through which will allow us to serve our country with honor. Only then, as President Lincoln stated, will we have the faith that right makes might, and the faith to dare to do our duty! (Editor's Note: This article is one of several highlighting the Air Force Space Command Year of Leadership and its focus on Warrior Ethos)