Joint NCO/SNCO Panel provides mentorship for Airmen

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, CO, UNITED STATES

10.29.2018

Story by Staff Sgt. Emily Kenney 

21st Space Wing

PETERSON AIR FORC BASE, Colo. – Service members from the Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Air Force spoke on a joint non-commissioned officer and senior NCO panel Oct. 2 and 9 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
The joint service panels provided Peterson Airmen an open forum to interact with leaders from other branches, ask questions and gain insight on working in a joint environment.
“The objective for the NCO panel is to introduce our younger Airmen and NCOs to working with the other services and offer them the opportunity to learn how to work with and for supervisors and leaders of other services if they find themselves in a joint environment,” said Master Sgt. Justin Blackwell, 561st Network Operations Squadron NCO in charge of mission management. “An Army sergeant, a Marine sergeant, and an Air Force staff sergeant will have very different outlooks and ways of going about their mission and it can come as a culture shock to some of our Airmen.”
Some topics discussed during the open forum included different language across branches, abbreviations, rank structures, performance reports and deployments. It also gave Airmen and NCOs a chance to talk about their unit’s respective mission and what they bring to the fight.
“For the panel members, it's a chance to pass on what they've learned, what they've experienced, and help draw the services closer together into an even more cohesive team at the tactical level,” said Blackwell. “For the audience, it's a chance to learn how to work with the other services that behave so differently from ours. To be honest, I was in the military far too long before I learned what USWHATEVERCOM did and how they figured into the grand scheme of the Department of Defense. My goal with the professional development seminars is to pass on that knowledge to our younger folks sooner.”
The joint panels happen quarterly with the next one scheduled for early January.
“We are just trying to get as many people involved as possible,” said Master Sgt. Matthew Heenan, 21st Force Support Squadron career assistance advisor. “The best way to do that is word-of-mouth, whether that’s through organizations like the Top 3 or just having panel and audience members go back to their work centers and say that it was helpful and there was value added.”
For more information on the joint NCO and SNCO panels, contact the Professional Development Center at 719 556-9226.

• Date Taken: 10.29.2018
• Date Posted: 10.31.2018 10:01
• Story ID: 298041
• Location: PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, CO, US