What I learned in the Air Force

Stephanie Patterson

Earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to be included in one of the Forum’s regular feature profiles of local community members. However, I thought that the representation of my four years in the Air Force didn’t reflect my true feelings about that experience.

Serving four years in the active duty Air Force was the best decision I ever made. And frankly, the only good decision I made as a teenager. I credit my military training with providing me tools I still use on the job every day.

Here are my biggest takeaways from military service:

Only your momma thinks you’re special.

Military training begins with neutralizing your individuality and all of the petty concerns that come with it. When you can let go of the self for a bit, you can come together with others as a team. That’s how you erect a fully operational Air Transportable Hospital in the desert within 24 hours.

The support staff members at the Maryville Public Library consistently make personal sacrifices to provide service above and beyond what we’re funded to do. They pull together when problems arise. They keep doing more with less. They are one lean and mean librarian team.

Know your mission.

The military taught me to define a mission and cleave to it. In the civilian world, trends will come and go. So will buzzwords and ideas. There will be shifts in power and funding. Anchor yourself to something timeless. Otherwise you’ll wind up wherever the wind blows. Your team’s energy will scatter like dandelion seeds.

At the library, we’ve dedicated ourselves to the vision of Maryvillians of all ages enjoying the ability to never stop learning. Learning will never go out of style, so we don’t intend to either.

When battle breaks out, triage.

I was on a primary mobility team for three of my four years in the Air Force, and we “played war” regularly to stay ready for deployment. Triage was another invaluable skill we learned as military medical personnel.

If you’re going to be decisive at work, you’re going to have casualties. Sometimes those casualties are projects that didn’t work out, or other people’s expectations. Let them go and move forward.

At the library, we’ve handled above average use with below average funding for years. If we need to lose more blood, it will be the early literacy support and the online learning opportunities for adults that we protect to the end.

Shallow differences like race, religion, politics and class can disappear when they need to.

When you all wear the same uniform, and your team sets to its task, those things fade away. In the military, you live and work alongside your team members so there’s no choice but to get along, and you feel a sense of camaraderie that is seldom matched in the civilian world.

Big Bonus: I met my husband of 18 years in the military. Like I said, best decision ever.

The military was good to me and I’m grateful.

Stephanie Patterson is the director of the Maryville Public Library.