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Senior enlisted leaders strengthen international bonds

  • Published
  • By By Capt. Rose Richeson
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Senior enlisted leaders from nine countries met in the San Antonio area for a closer look at Air Education and Training Command programs and processes during a visit May 12-15.

As part of the 2009 Senior Enlisted Leader Summit, international enlisted leaders from Australia, Bulgaria, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania and Singapore partnered with command chiefs from U.S. Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and AETC while they visited Randolph and Lackland Air Force Bases.

"The overriding purpose for this visit was to provide a 'cradle to grave' look at the career development of a U.S. Air Force enlisted member to our senior enlisted leaders from some of our partner nations," said Chief Master Sgt. Pamela Derrow, USAFE command chief.

The two-week summit began in Hawaii and moved to central America with stops in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.

"Building Partnership Capacity is USAFE's business in the European area of responsibility," Chief Derrow said. "Since 2007 we've been working with these countries to help them build their respective Air Forces, with a lot of focus also on their enlisted forces."

The AETC portion of the summit focused specifically on Air Force recruitment, transitioning enlistees from civilians to Airmen, developing Airmen technically and professionally, and retention benefits for Airmen and their families as part of an all-volunteer force.

"In general, the programs that the U.S. Air Force demonstrates provide them with a very professional career from day one of military training and academic qualification," said Master Warrant Officer Balbir Kaur, Republic of Singapore Air Force Air Surveillance and Control Group chief warrant officer. "It's excellent because you really want to develop the Airmen to not only function in their trade but be able to lead at the same time. This two-level type of training provides a very holistic training approach to develop the Airmen."

The Singapore Air Force already has leadership programs embedded in their noncommissioned and warrant officer training but they also have exchange programs with the U.S. to attend NCO and Senior NCO academies to learn and share best practices, explained Warrant Officer Kaur. Likewise, one of the PACAF chief master sergeants traveled to Singapore recently to attend one of their leadership programs.

By way of institutionalizing international training and education in the Air Force command structure, U.S. and partner nations conduct numerous exchange programs annually, said Col. David Snodgrass, AETC International Training and Education director.

"In 2008, AETC provided training to 144 countries around the world instructing close to 5,000 students," he said.

Not only do partner nation members travel to the U.S. for this training, but AETC also sends teams to overseas locations to conduct observations and training. Last year 133 teams traveled abroad and trained more than 4,300 personnel from 55 different countries, Colonel Snodgrass said.

"Besides programs already developed at the officers' level, we are eager to share and to start good projects and programs at the NCO level too," said Chief Master Sgt. Clementin Ispravnicelu, Romanian Air Force NCO advisor. "We are eager to improve our process for preparing our NCOs for the future. If we don't start now it will be too late for the years to come."

One lesson learned for the Romanian Air Force attendees was the U.S. Air Force instructors' ability to pass their knowledge to the younger Airmen.

"Sharing with them the strong will to do what they have to do," said Chief Ispravnicelu. "We'll try to train our instructors in the same way you're training yours in order to pass this knowledge on to the next generation of training instructors and our healthy NCO corps, keeping the proportions."

Warrant Officer Kaur got the same sense of ownership and belonging from Airmen in technical training at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., during a question and answer session.

"Recruits found training very physically and mentally challenging," Warrant Officer Kaur said. "They said that the training had given them a good perspective of what is expected of them and their future in the U.S. Air Force. Overall they found [training] very enriching and are looking forward to their new assignment."

Chief Derrow is convinced all the objectives of the summit were met mostly because, "They told me they are going to take back many lessons learned to improve the education and training in their countries. It was not a one-sided exchange - I learned many lessons from them as we shared ideas and techniques."

This is also just the start of a cooperative effort that Air Force officials hope will continue to evolve and serve to strengthen the bonds between allies, Chief Derrow said.

"By coming here we can understand how the U.S. Air Force functions," Warrant Officer Kaur said. "In the two weeks I've been here a few things I will take away are the professionalism, the commitment and the passion I've seen not only from the chief master sergeants, which is a given, but also from the other Airmen. The way they portray themselves and the professional way they carry themselves actually translates back to the training they've been given."