Command's top chief visits Duke Field's enlisted warriors

  • Published
  • By Dan Neely
  • 919th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
DUKE FIELD, Fla. --  The Air Force's top enlisted reservist visited with Citizen Commandos here May 5-6, where he thanked them for their service and urged them to benefit from current and emerging opportunities to achieve their military career goals.

Chief Master Sgt. Dwight Badgett, Air Force Reserve Command's command chief master sergeant for more than 60,000 Reserve and active duty Airmen at 66 locations, soaked up feedback from hundreds of 919th Special Operations Wing enlisted members throughout his whirlwind two-day visit. He spoke to an assembly in the base theater, visited with students in the wing's Noncommissioned Officer Leadership Development Course and later flew on a training mission aboard an MC-130E Combat Talon I.

"The two most important things I do is to bring the boss's (Lt. Gen. Charles E. Stenner Jr, Chief of the Air Force Reserve and commander of AFRC) message to you and take your concerns and problems back to the command to see if I can work them," Chief Badgett told each audience. "I want to work on your behalf, and I believe I can work out 99 percent of them on staff."

At his mass briefing in Spectre Hall the chief opened with remarks thanking the Duke Field reservists and all U.S. military warfighters for their unyielding efforts to defeat global terrorism networks.

"I personally believe you're one of the reasons we've been safe for the past 10 years, and that's because those people, when they're running, it's because they're scared to death of you," he said. "And every single member of the team here is important to your mission."

In remarks that concluded with a question and answer session, the bulk of the chief's messages centered on the topic of enlisted force development through a mix of education, training and experience. He emphasized that enlisted force development only works when Airmen focus on actively working to develop themselves.

"This is your career, and as General Stenner says, it's not forced development, it's force development," he said. "You pick what you want to do."

Chief Badgett cited a fact that the average enlisted reservist will retire as a master sergeant with 20 years of service, and he added, "That is outstanding. That is Airmen giving of themselves to their country to help defend this nation. But if you want to do a little more than that, if you want to look at the top two grades, we're going to ask you to do some things that are probably a little different, like looking at moving around, changing career fields and doing some special duty assignments. These are the types of things that I think our current and future leaders need."

The chief then asked, "Can I get everybody in this room to where they want to be some day -- as a chief? No, absolutely not," he admitted. "What I can do is to try to take everything out of your way that's an impediment to getting you where you want to be. For those of you aren't there, we need to help you get there. We owe you a pathway to show you how to develop yourself if you want to."

Chief Badgett said he and the command are deeply interested in helping those who want to pursue a path of growth toward the senior enlisted grades or "those who want to be the best they can be until they retire as a master sergeant."

A new approach to meeting such goals, he explained, can be accessed electronically via the Air Force Portal through a program called My EDP - My Enlisted Development Plan. "When you pull up your career field, it'll show you where you should be on the advancement timeline, according to training and experience."

The chief later challenged those desiring to climb to the top senior NCO ranks "not to wait until the last minute to pursue professional military education, such as Senior NCO Academy completed in residence. He also strongly encouraged those who hadn't already done so to complete their Community College of the Air Force degree.

"A lot of people will tell me, 'I've got a master's degree, so why do I need CCAF?' Well, unless you're very, very unique, it's going to be very hard for you to find an associates, bachelor's or master's degree that is in your job, and specifically in your AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code). Remember, 99.9 percent of the chiefs on active duty have a CCAF degree, but only 51 percent in AFRC do."

Closing out his remarks, Chief Badgett implored the reservists, "Go out and improve yourself, develop yourself and always look for ways to grow, because at some point, if it's meant to be, you'll be given the opportunity to move up if you take the challenge. It'll be your decision on whether you do it or not, not mine."