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Who do you play for?

  • Published
  • By Maj. Kyle Hurwitz
  • 375th Logistics Readiness Squadron commander
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  If you would have asked me 15 years ago what my favorite movie was, I probably wouldn't have had a Disney movie anywhere in my top two or three. Now when I get asked, "What is your favorite movie," a Disney film comes right to mind. That movie is the 2004 classic, "Miracle," which is about the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey team. In the movie, Herb Brooks, played by Kurt Russell, the player-turned coach, leads the team to victory over prohibitive favorites.

In one particularly poignant scene, Brooks has the team of hopefuls at try-outs in a particularly painful conditioning session. After each set of sprints, Brooks asks one of the players, "Who do you play for?" Each time the player responds with the name of his college, and Brooks blows the whistle for the next set of sprints. After several hours of conditioning, Brooks asks the team captain, "Who do you play for?" The captain responds, "USA, I play for USA." Right then and there, Brooks ends practice. My description doesn't really do the scene justice. If you have seen the movie, you know how profound of an impact that single event had on making that group of players into a team.

Brooks' point was playing as a team was the only way the USA would be able to compete with the more talented Soviets. In 1956 and at each of the Olympic winter games between 1964 and 1980, the Soviet Union won the gold medal. But that 1980 U.S. team went on to upset the Soviet Union in the first of their medal round games and ultimately beat Finland in their final medal round game to win the gold medal.

If I were to walk up to a random Airman on Scott and ask them, "Who do you play for?," I probably would get a lot of blank stares and responses along the lines of, "I play for the Force Support Squadron, or I play for the Comm Squadron, or I play for Security Forces Squadron."

One of the things I am constantly trying to impart on the folks in my squadron is they don't "play" for the Fuels Management Flight, they don't play for Vehicle Operations or even for the Logistics Readiness Squadron, they play for the United States Air Force, which is even more of a force to be reckoned with than the Soviet hockey teams of the 1960's and 70's. The U.S. Air Force is undefeated in 63 years of service!

We are the only Air Force in the world who can deliver millions of pounds of food in Haiti on one day and then turn around and deliver munitions on target in Afghanistan the next day. Much like that 1980 men's hockey team success, our ability to execute Global Reach and Global Power is only made possible because of our great teamwork. I submit that half the battle of making your organization great is getting the players on your team--the members of your unit--to recognize, "Who they play for."

Next time someone asks you, "Who do you play for?" What are you going to say?