I almost defrauded the government

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Nathan Gallahan
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
RAF LAKENHEATH, United Kingdom --  When I was a young Airman, I almost defrauded the government and thought it was a great idea. 

I was responsible for recycling all of the old pallets in my squadron, which we received our supplies on. Usually, I would just load them all onto a trailer and haul them to the wood recycling area where I would dump them off and forget about them. 

There were huge piles of wood that just sat there; I thought about how all that wood wasn't helping anybody. 

That's when I had my great idea. 

My office was saving up money for some quality-of-life improvements through different fund raising events and I thought I could contribute to the endeavor by loading up all of the pallets and taking them off base and selling them for hard cash. 

Before I loaded the pallets up, I talked with an NCO about my great idea. You should have seen the look of astonishment when I told him. He said they could reuse the pallets and if I had taken them off base, I could have gotten into some seriously hot water. I never intended to do anything bad; I was just young and didn't know any better. 

I've learned a lot in the seven years since that time. I know now that when I have great ideas, I need to step back and look at the larger picture. All too often I find myself focused in on the details, but I may not see the overall portrait. I also strive to be like the NCO that stopped me. If I walked through life with blinders on I may miss an opportunity to use the lessons I've learned in my career to teach others. 

The Air Force is all about finding new and unique ideas; we need to do that. Our resources and money are being stretched to the point we all need to keep Air Force Smart Operations of the 21st Century at the forefront of our minds. We must challenge and question the manner in which we use our resources, but we need to do it the right way. We need to do it without defrauding the government, wasting the government's resources and without abusing the power given to us.