SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Within the Air Force, technical sergeants hoping to promote to the rank of master sergeant and above must create a promotion package to give to board members for review.
To help prepare Team Scott’s technical sergeants for this tasking, six chief master sergeants met with thirty technical sergeants to go over their packages during Scott Air Force Base’s first ever “Meet the Board” event, March 25 at the Scott Event Center.
The chief master sergeants had one week to look over each technical sergeants’ package, which included their single unit retrieval format, physical training score sheet and their last five enlisted performance reports. The chief master sergeants made notes beforehand about specific things to cover during their 15 minute meetings.
“I had the chance to receive valuable feedback from someone who has already reached the highest enlisted grade,” said Tech. Sgt. Larry Ketchum, 375th Force Support Squadron manpower analyst. “The chief opened my eyes about keying in on some areas in writing my EPRs and things to continue to strive for.”
Ketchum said the event was helpful because he was given advice about what he has done well and what he still needs to work on, which is exactly why Master Sgt. Kelvin Miller, 375th Civil Engineer Squadron infrastructure superintendent, introduced the idea to Scott.
Miller has plans to host “Meet the Board” once every quarter in the future, especially with all of the positive feedback received from the first meeting.
”It is very beneficial for us young NCOs who really don’t understand the board process and want to gain knowledge about the process to pass on to others,” said Ketchum.
Miller said he hopes the event will motivate technical sergeants and staff sergeants to be more competitive.
“It will benefit the Air Force in the long run because we are helping them with this review process,” said Miller. “We are making people get outside of their bubble and giving them the advice and tools they need to use within their careers to be more competitive.”