1. Courage -- A person of integrity possess moral courage and does what is right even if the personal cost is high.
2. Honesty -- Honesty is the hallmark of the military professional because in the military, our word must be our bond. We don't pencil-whip training reports, we don't cover up violations, we don't falsify documents, and we don't write misleading operational readiness messages. The bottom line is we don't lie and we can't justify any deviation.
3. Responsibility -- No person of integrity is irresponsible; a person of true integrity acknowledges his/her duties and acts accordingly.
4. Accountability -- No person of integrity tries to shift the blame to others or take credit for the work of others; "the buck stops here" says it best.
5. Justice -- A person of integrity practices justice. Those who do similar things must get similar rewards or similar punishments.
6. Openness -- Professionals of integrity encourage a free flow of information within the organization. They seek feedback from all directions to ensure they are fulfilling key responsibilities, and they are never afraid to allow anyone at any time to examine how they do business.
7. Self-respect -- To have integrity is to respect oneself as a professional and as a human being. A person of integrity does not behave in ways that would bring discredit upon himself or the organization to which he belongs.
8. Humility -- A person of integrity grasps and is sobered by the awesome task of defending the Constitution of the United States of America.

SERVICE BEFORE SELF -

Service before self tells us that professional duties take precedence over personal desires. At the very least it includes the following behaviors:

1. Rule following -- To serve is to do one's duty, and our duties are most commonly expressed through rules. While is may be the case that professionals are expected to exercise judgment in the performance of their duties, good professionals understand that rules have a reason for being, and the default position must be to follow those rules unless there is a clear, operational reason for refusing to do so.
2. Respect for others -- Service before self tells us also that a good leader places the troops ahead of his/her personal comfort. We must always act in the certain knowledge that all persons possess a fundamental worth as human beings.
3. Discipline and Self-control -- Professionals can not indulge themselves in self-pity, discouragement, anger, frustration, or defeatism. They have a fundamental moral obligation to the people they lead to strike a tone of confidence and forward-looking optimism Specifically, they are expected to exercise control in the following areas:

   a. Anger: Military professionals, and especially commanders at all levels, are expected to refrain from displays of anger that would bring discredit upon themselves and/or the Air Force.

   b. Appetites: Those who allow their appetites to drive them to make sexual overtures to subordinates are unfit for military service. The excessive consumption of alcohol casts doubt on an individual's fitness, and when such persons are found to be drunk and disorderly, all doubts are removed.

   c. Religious toleration: Military professionals must remember that religious choice is a matter of individual conscious. Professionals, and especially commanders, must not take upon themselves to change or coercively influence views of subordinates.

4. Faith in the system -- To lose faith in the system is to adopt the view that you know better than those above you in the chain of command what should or should not be done. In other words, to lose faith in the system is to place self before service. Leaders can be very influential in this regard: If a leaders resists the temptation to doubt "the system", then subordinates may follow suit.

EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE DO

Excellence in all we do directs us to develop a sustained passion for continuous improvement and innovation that will propel the Air Force into a long-term, upward spiral of accomplishment and performance.

1. Product/service excellence -- We must focus on providing service and generating products that fully respond to customer wants and anticipate customer needs, and we must do so within the boundaries established by the taxpaying public.
2. Personal excellence -- Military professionals must seek out and complete professional military education, stay in physical and mental shape, and continue to refresh their general educational backgrounds.
3. Community excellence -- Community excellence is achieved when the members of an organization can work together to successfully reach a common goal in an atmosphere free of fear that preserves individual self-worth. Some of the factors influencing interpersonal excellence are:

   a. Mutual Respect: Genuine respect involves viewing another person as a individual of fundamental worth. Obviously, this means that a person is never judged on the basis of his/her possession of an attribute that places him or her in some racial, ethnic, economic or gender-based category.

   b. Benefit of the doubt: Working hand in glove with mutual respect is that attitude which says that all coworkers are "innocent until proven guilty". Before rushing to judgment about a person or his/her behavior, it is important to have the whole story.

4. Resources excellence -- Excellence in all we do also demands that we aggressively implement policies to ensure that best possible cradle-to-grave management of resources.

   a. Material resources excellence: Military professionals have an obligation to ensure that ll of the equipment and property that ask for is mission essential. This means that residual funds at the end of the year should not be used to purchase "nice to have" add-ons.

   b. Human resources excellence: Human resources excellence means that we recruit, train, promote, and retain those who can do the best job for us.

5. Operations excellence -- There are two kinds of operations excellence - internal and external.

   a. Excellence of internal operations: This form of excellence pertains to the way we do business internal to the Air Force, from the unit level to Headquarters Air Force. It involves respect on the unit level and a total commitment to maximizing the Air Force team effort.

   b. Excellence of external operations: This form of excellence pertains to the way in which we treat the world around us as we conduct our operations. In peacetime, for example, we must be sensitive to the rules governing environmental pollution, and in wartime we are required to obey the laws of war.