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Lt. Col. Koaalii C. Bailey is a United States Air Force Combat Rescue Officer at present serving because the Commander on the 308th Rescue Squadron, a place he has held since July 2022. His job is actually to Command and lead warriors to save lots of lives when known as upon.
“Being in command means I have an opportunity to serve more people. My job is to lead, organize, train, and equip, Pararescue Warriors to be their best when things couldn’t get worse for a service member in need Rescue”
Clearly, the husband and father of three should keep prepared and in prime form to carry out his job to the very best of his skill, which requires him to be “Ready to Fight Tonight”. Fortunately for him, that’s one thing he has cultivated right into a behavior and way of life.
“If you’re going to call yourself a warrior– fitness is not optional,” mentioned the previous faculty soccer participant. “Demanding your absolute best of yourself will make the difference when chaos and uncertainty surround you in combat. As Aristotle said, ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act but a habit.’”
There was a great probability that Bailey would discover his means into service ultimately as a result of it runs in his blood of his forefathers. He shared that he had males in his household service in our nation’s conflicts going again to the Civil War.
“It’s definitely something that is valued and appreciated in my Tribe.” His title Koaalii actually interprets within the Hawaiian language to Royal Soldier. In a way form or type Koa was going to serve, shield, battle, and rescue others.
Upon faculty commencement, he was searching for a brand new problem and he discovered it in Special Operations of the army. There was a pararescue crew in his residence state of Alaska the legendary Rescue Team 212 Rescue Squadron, which is what led him down the trail he has been on since. In Alaska he and his teammates had been all the time prepared to go away in a second’s discover to rescue each army pilots and Alaskan out of doors fanatic that discovered the ragged fringe of the place life and loss of life can rely immediately on Pararescuemen being prepared and match to reply.
“I like to think I would stay in shape, even if I wasn’t in the military, but the cause of Freedom and Love for country adds an intensity to my workouts that might not be there to the same degree if I didn’t know that I had teammates depending on me being ready.”
This ardour for excellence has been useful as a result of he’s been in difficult, horrible fight conditions throughout his a number of fight deployments the place he has performed a essential function in saving American and Partner Nation lives in hurt’s means who had been all experiencing their most painful, scary, scary day of their lives. In Bailey’s eyes, health is about greater than lifting weights and working. “When you can do something through your physical preparation or mental capacity that resulted in saving a human life it is an amazing feeling”. In each sense of the phrase, army service members are fighters and preventing (hand at hand) is essentially the most visceral a part of struggle. Bailey devotes lots of
focus and dedication to combatives, he believes the going through the worry of being knocked out or choked out elicits a cathartic expertise that’s essential in molding a Warrior Ethos. Fight, flight, or freeze could be a acutely aware Response and Choice as people; if we take time to develop the talents required to behave not simply be acted upon. To accomplish his combative primarily based coaching session targets together with his crew he incorporates drawback fixing whereas underneath stress situations, anaerobic exhaustion, and a remove that immediately faucets right into a airmen’s want to by no means quit Resiliency.
“The goal is time efficient, cost effective, sustainable training, that helps every teammate become a stronger warrior and better decision maker.”
Bailey leads by each instance and instruction. That’s why he’s been striving to create for each airman in his squadron, Special Operator or Support Airmen to have a deep reference to the rescue mission and on a weekly foundation. His technique to do all of the above is what he calls “Dilemma Focused Warfighting,” or DFW for brief. Bailey described it as dynamic drawback fixing whereas going through stress.
“Technology is not the answer to everything in the future fight—yes critically important but if you’re going to call yourself a warfighter you should probably know how to fight and protect yourself and your family.”
Bailey works with Pararescuemen, who’re warfighters in each sense of the phrase. Their talent set is world-class. He additionally works with many different folks in supporting roles whereas they’re on missions. The probabilities of them partaking with a enemy is actual. The objective is to have a spectrum of choices to guard and defend freedom and love. Combat and hand at hand expertise are simply an choice we don’t wish to neglect.
“A human based weapon system is what It could come down to.”
For these causes and extra, Bailey’s DFW system is one thing he’s growing and constructing on so the folks he leads can shield themselves and one another by fixing issues underneath these anxious situations. He cited the artwork of JIU Jitsu preventing as a key part in serving to teammates perceive how you can successfully and effectively acquire micro advantageous over an enemy till you may basically take their will to withstand or battle again leading to them tapping (quitting), napping (getting choked out, or snapping (breaking a bone). Any transfer or technique that may exploit a weak spot of that opponent to make your state of affairs higher and theirs worse—It turns into a human primarily based chess match that in a really possible way ends in checkmate. Being match and ready to battle may also assist enhance self-confidence as a result of the warfighter is aware of they did all they may to be prepared.
“That concept of fitness in relation to combat and using it on a regular basis is what I am so passionate about, not just in my military career, but in general.”
Bailey hopes that the work he’s carried out and continues to do will affect youthful Americans to contemplate the Air Force of their futures. Aside from having the ability to serve their nation. Bailey feels they’ll profit themselves in some ways.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to freedom and love. If you have the desire to preserve freedom and have a love for your fellow Americans, having those concept means serving in the Air Force is an absolute option for you, whether you want to serve a full career or do a tour. It’s something that you can look back on and value the experience. Contributing to something greater than yourself that hopefully helps you become a more capable and resilient human is a win/win situation. I hope anyone who chooses to serve will experience that.”