Promote the General Welfare

>> Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lintker: My name is Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lintker of the United States Space Force. I have been on active duty for 19 years, and I am a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution. As a military officer, I volunteered to serve my country, and I have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I view my service to this country as a privilege and continually strive to achieve the values and ideals outlined in the Constitution in order to secure freedom and democracy for my children and all future generations. From an early age, my family instilled in me a strong sense of community and a commitment to a greater good.

Growing up on a farm in rural Southern Illinois, life revolved around working until the job was done, whether that was getting up before school to milk the cows, or feed animals in sub-freezing temperatures. While this rural upbringing was challenging at times and demanded responsibility from me at an early age, it also taught me the importance of community.

I feel very fortunate to have grown up in a close knit community where people truly cared about the welfare of their neighbors, especially in times of need. In the spring of 1995, a tornado struck our community, I was only in the 6th grade at the time, but I can still remember all the children huddled in the hallways of the grade school.

We were fortunate that day as the tornado narrowly missed the school. However, due to the nearby destruction, all the kids stayed at the school late into the afternoon while neighbors checked for downed power lines and cleared the roadways. Like many rural communities across America, first responders are not full time employees standing at the ready, they are your neighbors, your relatives, and your friends who volunteer their time to assist others.

That day, I saw this firsthand. Once home, my dad and I, along with my uncles, drove around the country roads late into the evening, using chainsaws and tractors to remove downed trees and debris from the road. I helped in every way that I could, picking up smaller branches and clearing the road bit by bit.

Once the roads were cleared, neighbors went from farm to farm to check in to see if aid was needed. In the end, it was the relationships within the community that proved stronger than the tornado. We were fortunate to escape without major damage, and I will always remember how people stopped what they were doing and, regardless of their own situation, stepped up to help those around them.

There was an unspoken understanding how important it was to protect the welfare of our community. Events like this, ones that demanded responsibility and highlighted community, are foundational to who I am today. The drive to protect the health and welfare of my community stays with me, even in my military service.

It is only the scope of my responsibilities and the scale of my community that has grown. Like many in my generation, I joined the military immediately after the events of September 11, 2001. I felt the country was in need, and I dropped what I was doing in order to serve a much larger community.

It was that exact same feeling I had experienced only six years earlier. Now, in the United States Space Force, I am afforded the opportunity to help others on a global scale. Whether it is providing first responders with precision navigation and timing via the global positioning system satellites. Or ensuring the global space domain continues to be free and accessible for countries around the world.

I feel honored that every day I am able to help promote the general welfare of people across this country and across the globe. By choosing to serve my country, I feel that I am honoring the ideals outlined in the constitution and creating a better future for my children and for all future generations.