Window Air Conditioning Units

Society of Air Force Pharmacy members,

It is an honor to be your new president.  I had a great time as president-elect working with and learning from Lt Col Shawn Garten and Lt Col Mitch Garnick this past year.  Now it is time to kick off another great year with some new leaders.  These leaders were announced at the 2009 Joint Forces Pharmacy Seminar in Reno, NV at the annual Jerry W. Ross service dinner.  The dinner was a huge success do to the efforts of Lt Col Libby Schindler and Maj Krissa Crawford.  The week was packed with great educational sessions.  There was also a touching memorial to a great pharmacy leader, CAPT (ret) Mary Fong of the USPHS who had passed just days before the seminar.  JFPS 2009 was appropriately dedicated to her memory.  To those of you who could not make it I want to thank you for the hard work you did back at your duty station while others were able to attend.

If you didn’t attend this year’s JFPS, maybe you can attend one of the other big conferences this year: 

I would like to close by explaining the title of my letter.  I don’t know if any of you have ever used the small window air conditioning units.  I grew up in the country in South Georgia.  We did not have central air so we used the window units.  I can remember late summer evenings sitting in front of the AC with the cold air blowing on me and reading Hardy Boys books.

Well, several years back, I bought a window unit.  Earlier this summer I put it in an upstairs window in my house.  At night after the kids were in bed I would go and sit in front of it with the cold air blowing on me.  However, I was not reading Hardy Boys books…I was working on my Master’s degree classes.  Regardless, just being able to sit there was a way to wind down and think back to the care free summer days as a kid and let the cares of the current day melt away.

You may be asking, “So what’s the point of this sappy story?”  Well, earlier I mentioned the passing of CAPT Fong.  And as I write this on 15 Dec 09, I am saddened by the news that I received a few hours ago.  Mr. Jerry Walker, another beloved of our pharmacy family, passed away around midnight last night.  I remember that he was the one that interviewed me over the phone when I came in to the Air Force almost 13 years ago.  I will never forget that even through a phone call I detected the excitement he had for life, his job, and the Air Force.  So, I really do not want to close this letter with discouragement.   I would actually like to challenge you.  I’d challenge you to savor every moment of the day with your family and friends.  Be thankful for your job and the Air Force.  And amidst the daily grind that we ALL have, find a way to temporarily put it behind you.  As for me, you’ll find me sitting in front of the air conditioner.

Dedicated to the memory of Mr. Jerry Walker and CAPT Mary Fong