Photo By Chief Master Sgt. Paul Mann | Sgt. Bethany Hendren, engagement control shift leader, 49th Missile Defense Battalion,...... read more read more
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — Nearly 50 senior noncommissioned officers representing citizen Soldiers and Airmen from across the state of Alaska spent a week together, enhancing and developing their “E-9” skills, as part of the first ever Alaska National Guard Joint Senior Enlisted Professional Leadership Development Training.
Chief Master Sgt. Paul Nelson, senior enlisted leader for the Alaska National Guard, hosted the event and used the opportunity to showcase some of the nation’s most remote military installations, Clear Air Force Station and Fort Greely.
Nelson took advantage of having most of the states’ senior enlisted leaders in the same room, or on the same bus, engaging with his fellow chiefs and sergeant majors in discussions concerning subjects enlisted leaders need to be involved with.
“You need to know about this, a lot of you guys have heard about this, and have heard me talk about this, our advisory councils within the National Guard,” said Nelson. “The three that affect the enlisted force the most are the Command Sergeant Majors Advisory Council, the Enlisted Field Advisory Council, and the Joint Enlisted Advisory Council.”
This was how Chief Nelson began the briefing on the first day of training at Clear, the first of four information-packed days that would see these enlisted leaders travel nearly 400 miles by bus, transporting them to two of Alaska’s most remote bases.
At Clear Air Force Station, in addition to the briefing they received from Nelson, these chief master sergeants and sergeant majors were familiarized with one element of the Department of Defense’s missile defense mission.
For many of these enlisted leaders, this was the first time they had seen the mission they had only heard or read about, but it represented only one portion of this critical role played by the National Guard, and achieved one of the goals Nelson had set for this leadership training – seeing Airmen in action.
Less than 30 hours later these same seasoned leaders were experiencing first-hand another critical role played by National Guard men and women at Fort Greely.
Lt. Col. Orlando Ortega, commander of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, welcomed the group to the installation, then handed the briefing over to Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Cunningham.
“I am honored, and am the luckiest E-9 in the United States Army,” Cunningham said. “To be charged with the mission and the Soldiers we have here at Fort Greely, this is a great, tight-knit community that takes care of its Soldiers.”
Following Cunningham was Staff Sgt. Caroline Domenech-Muniz, Delta crew weapons operator with the 49th Missile Defense Battalion, “this is how we fight the fight,” Domenech-Muniz said as she began a detailed mission briefing.
What followed was an explanation of the Alaska Army National Guard’s role in missile defense, another element of the Nation’s defense that many of these enlisted leaders were experiencing for the first time, and another goal met by the state’s senior enlisted leader – seeing Soldiers in action.
In the five days these chief master sergeants, sergeant majors, and enlisted leaders spent together, they covered enlisted issues that ranged from effective manning to state tuition assistance.
“Another area that we want to focus on is building and developing command relationships between SNCOs and officers,” said Sgt. Maj. John Phlegar, Alaska National Guard manpower and personnel plans, programs and policies sergeant major.
Phlegar led the group’s discussion on character development on day three of the training, a day heavy in content.
Other subject matter experts covered the Alaska National Guard Enlisted Association, the State Partnership Program, blended retirement, and the Armed Services YMCA of Alaska.
Maj. Gen. Laurie Hummel, the Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, was unable to attend the training event, but did call in to welcome Alaska’s senior enlisted leaders to the training event.
“I believe that noncommissioned officers are the key to a high-performing organization,” Hummel said. “We’d love to think that it is officers, but I know the truth, and the truth is that it is a combination of leadership.”
She encouraged Alaska’s senior leaders to take advantage of this training opportunity, then shared with them one last point. “Ethical fitness and character development are fundamentally important to me, and I believe that they are going to be the basis upon which we continue to improve the Alaska National Guard.”
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2017 21:21 |
| Story ID: | 257715 |
| Location: | FAIRBANKS, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 166 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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