Photo By Master Sgt. Nancy Goldberger | Chief Master Sgt. Jaimie Banks, the chief enlisted manager of the 116th Maintenance...... read more read more
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For the first time in Georgia Air National Guard history, the 116th Air Control Wing promoted a female within the maintenance career field to the rank of chief master sergeant in January 2019.
Chief Master Sgt. Jaimie Banks, the superintendent of the 116th Maintenance Operations Flight oversees a key support system to Team JSTARS’s maintenance and operations groups.
The flight provides maintenance scheduling, current operations and data analysis for the U.S. Air Force’s only E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems aircraft unit and works side-by-side with their active-duty counterparts in the 461st Maintenance Group.
As an Air National Guardsman, Banks shepherds almost 20 enlisted members, but she’s known for mentoring Active-Duty Airmen as well.
“Guard or Active Duty, we’re all her people,” said Staff Sgt. Segueda Everardo, a maintenance analyst in the 461st Maintenance Group. “She embodies that Total Force Integration spirit of one-team-one-fight. Anything she can do to make our jobs better and make us better at the mission, she does.”
Starting her career as an aerospace ground equipment mechanic, the chief has spent her entire military career in maintenance. Most of her nearly 18 years in the military has been with the maintenance operations flight, where her intimate knowledge of the flight’s processes have meant key improvements in the section.
“She makes things happen,” said Master Sgt. Charles Van Risseghem, the maintenance analyst NCOIC in the 116th MOF. “She’s really effective — a strong leader.”
Banks’s abilities were recognized earlier in her career, according to Chief Master Sgt. Russell Jenkins, the 116th Maintenance Group chief enlisted manager.
As a master sergeant, Banks and three other 116th maintenance senior NCOs were sent by the National Guard Bureau to inspect another unit, shared Jenkins. This particular event was her first.
The others were already known to be tough scrutinizers, explained Jenkins, but Banks held the unit to all standards, coming out with more improvement opportunities than all her comrades combined. She got a reputation for being one of the best plans and scheduling personnel in the Guard.
Achieving this level wasn’t Banks’s vision when she first joined the military.
“Making senior master sergeant and chief were beyond my expectations,” Banks said. “I was my biggest obstacle to my to my own success. I learned to be more diplomatic and choose my battles.”
“Don’t set yourself apart mentally because you’re a female,” she said, sharing advice to those following her footsteps. “You’re there to do a job. To anyone, I would say don’t ever give up. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2019 11:57 |
| Story ID: | 315174 |
| Location: | ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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