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U.S. Airmen across Tyndall AFB recently received the opportunity to immerse into various units’ mission during the Emerge Team Tyndall program, an initiative started by the 325th Medical Group.
The program, which ran from April to June, brought 32 Airmen from various career fields into a team, which spent several days over 12 weeks getting hands-on experience and mission overviews from flights they would not normally be involved in.
“Emerge Team Tyndall is very important because it helps people who will be future leaders get that breath of experience of knowing what units do, which is something they usually wouldn’t get until later in their careers,” said Tech. Sgt. Micajah McCollough, 325th Medical Support Squadron medical information flight chief. “A lot of senior enlisted leaders don’t really get to know what people in other units are doing until they’re sitting in that seat, so they are learning as they get into those leadership [positions]. This allows them to learn what everybody else is doing before they get there.”
Airmen who have been in the service for two to six years are the focus group to participate in Emerge, but any service member is open to be involved, as the goal is to bridge understanding. McCollough explained they target these specific ranks because they have a little of experience and are hungry to learn.
During the program time, Airmen dedicated a full day, approximately every two weeks, to learn a new unit’s mission. In total, the members visited seven units, including tenant units, flights and group levels. This allowed Airmen to see not only the levels of missions they are familiar with but understand operations from a different perspective.
“Being in the [medical] group, it seems like we do a lot, but we don't really see the nitty gritty details that everyone does,” said Senior Airmen Maiesha Buford, 325th MDG public health occupational health technician. “Being able to actually participate in some of the stuff that [other units] do on a daily basis gives us a better understanding, or gave me a better understanding, of the hard work they do, how often they have to do it and the conditions they have to work in.”
Master Sgt. Anna Olson, 325th MDG first sergeant, brought the idea to Tyndall after seeing something similar at a previous assignment. She was able to see the benefits of integrating Airmen into other mission sets there, and with support here, she was able to get a team together to lead the initiative.
“My biggest hope that Airmen take away from Emerge Team Tyndall is camaraderie, friendship, [and] a better understanding of the overall mission… what it actually means to be an Airman connected to Tyndall Air Force Base [and] an Airmen in the Air Force regardless [of career field],” Olson said.
With the first iteration complete, the Emerge Team Tyndall leads are taking the lessons learned to strengthen the program for next year. With more than 20 tenant units at Tyndall, they hope to garner more Airmen and unit participation within the program, installation wide.
“I would never know [the] majority of the stuff that I've learned in Emerge Team Tyndall because I would have no reason to go over [to other squadrons] and look and see what they do,” said Burford. “To give that other perspective of… how the operational Air Force works together and how everyone contributes to a mission, whether it’s big or small, Emerge Team Tyndall is the perfect way to do that.”
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2024 13:01 |
| Story ID: | 476056 |
| Location: | PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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