John Boyd was one of the greatest strategist of the modern military era. In this case he was talking about working for a promotion versus working towards making the airforce better.

The full quote is here: http://www.lesc.net/blog/be-or-do-col-john-boydrsquos-words-...

Boyd is credited as coming up with the strategy for the kuwait war and is supposed to be the reason why so few American lives were lost in that war.

His papers on "Creation and Destruction" and "OODA Loop" are classics. A must read.

"Be somebody" = being famous, recognized & well-liked "Do something" = delivering deliverables, accomplishing tasks and moving the product forward.