(distorted audio effects) - Roger 807 approaching runway seven bravo. - The Air Force has announced the creation of a new information operations technical training school. - The first command simply must arm our Airman to out think, out perform, out partner, out innovate any potential adversary. - Air Force facing military training has an updated curriculum with a new focus on readiness and lethality. - The first Command, the Air Force Starts Here. (intriguing music) - Hey everybody, welcome in to the episode 33 of the today. Thanks for the subscribes for me. Or download, however you might be listening in. We're on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Podcast, on the AATC website. So no matter where you are you can give us a listen and of course, we appreciate you tuning in. I'm Dan Hawkins from the AATC Public Affairs office and your host for your professional development podcast dedicated to bringing total force big A Airman insight, tips, tricks, and lessons learned from the recruiting, training, and education world. On the pod today, we're diving into Developmental Special Duties specifically at the 37 Training Wing for military training instructors at Air Force basic military training and this is actually the first of two episodes. The next episode will deal with military training leaders and their experience at the 37 Training Wing. So kind of a two part series here and of course everybody knows that the 37 training wing also known as the Gateway Wing, the first stop in the Air Force journey for a good chunk of our total force. As the Airmen culminate their time at basic military training in that march down the bomb run. At least they did in the non COVID-19 era, of course. And we'll get back to that at some point. But the wing with a change in leadership recently. They welcomed Colonel Rockie Wilson as their new commander and his mantra is the word "train". T-R-A-I-N. Which stands for "Trust our Resilient Airmen" "to Innovate and Nurture Warhawks". Train to win. And so Air Force basic military training in that environment of nurturing and innovating to make sure that we remain absolutely vital from a BMT perspective to renewing our Air and Space forces and under riding the ability of the Air Force to help defend the nation. It's interesting, because valuing force generation is a key line of effort for us as we strive to enhance lethality and readiness here in AATC. Chief Master Sergeant Erik Thompson, who is our new AATC Command Chief in his first interview with us talked specifically about insuring the men and women who are doing the everyday business of recruiting, training, and educating exceptional Airmen. That that's very high on his to-do list. And so to dive deeper into what being a military training instructor is like in the world's greatest Air Force, we have a special pinch hitter on the interview today. Chief Master Sergeant Stefan Blazier, he's the command chief for the Gateway Wing. And he got the chance to sit down with some of his NCOs and senior NCOs in the Wing to talk about their experiences in the military training instructor world as part of that Development Special Duty experience. So these DSD assignments in particular which are for staff, technical and Master Sergeants and which by the way, MTI and MTL, which we'll talk about in the next episode are just two of the ten specialties that fall under the DSD program. Provide huge opportunities for Airmen to develop through service and roles outside of their core Air Force specialty for periods of up to three to four years and to ensure that we got the highest quality Airmen assigned to these positions. There's a nomination process, which ultimately provides commanders through their prospective match coms an opportunity to nominate their beset Airmen to fill in these critical positions, while providing a development career path for our leaders. So Chief Blazier talks with his MTIs about how quickly they learn that the roles that they were in, were more important to the Airmen they lead and to themselves. More so then they probably ever really imagined as well. Is how the DSD assignments as an MTI has directly resulted in their personal leadership growth. And the mentorship lessons that they've learned along the way. So let's go direct to the authorities on life as military training instructors episode 33 of "The Air Force Starts Here", takes off right now. (jet engine) - Hey afternoon everybody. Welcome everyone who's' tuning in. I just want to take this time to introduce to some of my amazing teammates here in Warhawk nation. So I have to my left and right some of our military training instructors from the 737 training group. Better known as Air Force base military training. One thing I think is important is, we talk about a lot DSD and the developmental experience. But I wanted to get everybody out there to give a direct accounts of what it's like to be here, to lead here, and to be an NCO making things happen here. And this happens to be I have senior NCO's in the house. So we'll talk about their experience. Did all of you come here as senior NCOs? - No sir. - All right, so we'll get into that a little bit more but I want to go ahead and if you could just introduce yourself ma'am. Where are you from, hometown, if you have family with you, and favorite food. - Hi, I'm Master Sergeant Botten and I am from Mobile, Alabama. I'm here with my husband and my two kids. They're ten and six. And my favorite food, I'm gonna have to go with pizza. - Pizza. Safe one, safe one. Awesome. - Hello and good afternoon everybody I am Master Sergeant Erik. I'm originally hail from Bosnia and parts of Medina. I also grew up in Colorado as well. We were in Colorado right outside Buckley Air Force base. I work in MTIS. I have family here. Me and my significant other hang out a little bit. And I've been in BMT for about three and a half years now. My favorite food is chicken wings. - Chicken wings? Is it like a certain spot here in San Antonio? - Just chicken wings. - Oh, you don't discriminate. You want them all, okay. All right, awesome, Sergeant Mitchell? - I'm Master Sergeant Mitchell. I'm from the 320 Training Squadron and I'm here with my wife and twin boys who are four years old. And I'm originally from Wayland, Michigan. A little small town a little south of Grand Rapids. And my favorite food is... Pizza and chicken wings are great, but I'm gonna have to go with cheeseburgers. Just to change it up. - Okay, okay. - My name is Master Sergeant Marcus Thompson. I'm originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm here at Lackland with my wife. Who's actually a military training instructor. I've been here since June of 2017. I have a dog and my favorite food is legitimately pizza. I love pizza. You can't go wrong-- - You can go wrong. - Well you can. - If you put pineapple on it. (all laughing) - But the odds are it's still some what safe. - Yes. - Yeah. - Like chicken wings you could mess those up. - Yeah, it's gotta be good. But anyway, so yeah, you guys are a power couple. No doubt. I think in my first month here I had a chance to meet you both just in different settings. So we'll talk about that. Anybody else billed to mil? - Me too. - You are as well? Okay, so we'll talk about maybe the demands of what it's like here, you know, in serving both at the same time. - Okay, so first question I have for you, what was it in terms of what you thought it was gonna be like being a military training instructor before you got here and what the reality is? As far as the demands, and maybe just some rumors you heard versus what the facts are. - I'll go first. - I heard other people who have been MTIs before that we had that 10 hour cap. So I, in my mind, that was like all right well it'll be easy. I can manage the 10 hours. But what happens is, I know at least with me I became so invested in the job that the 10 hours eventually turned into maybe 12. And then now I'm towing the line and of course, it was hard on my family. So I had to kind of reel back on it. But it was an eye opener as to just how quick the time goes during the day and just how caught up you can get in the job. - To be honest, I didn't know coming down here, Chief. I didn't ask about my wife and I. We didn't ask to be MTIs, but we also knew that we were apart of the Air Force so this is what we had to do. So we took it with a positive attitude. But as far as-- - Was it one of those surprise notifications? - No, it was not. No, our chief at the time. He's a retired now, Chief Marshall Monroe. He sat us down, and gave us you know, a talk. And told us, "Hey, I'm putting you down". "I know you weren't on the original list" "but this is what I'm gonna do." And he gave us the opportunity to pretty much tell him, "Yes this is what we wanna do." - He saw that potential. - Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I was nervous, my wife was nervous as well. But being, as far as coming down here, I knew what was going to be first things first, it's gonna be hot. It was going to be hot and there was going to be a grind as far as not knowing what the job was and being Security Enforcements for 13 years and going to do a new job. That you have your new, you're brand new. You might as well be an Airmen arriving to their first duty station. But I think that anybody who comes down here they have to have a positive attitude and a positive outlook. And I think that's what helped my wife and I I guess itself, at the job. - I'll say just from both of you. You both have that attitude no matter what. That's just what you bring to the table. You get both part of defend your nation if I'm not mistaken. - Yes, yes. - With a lot of pride? - Yes sir, yeah big time. - Okay. - Anything to add on that? - I didn't want to come down here, either. I was already here 'cause I was at Lackland. So it was just a PCA for me it wasn't really a PCS. So I wanted to leave Lackland, and I was hoping to get some orders. I was already here for four years. I ended up getting orders just across the street. Instead of going left, I just now go right at the gate. But the one thing I did learn in this job is that it's every rewarding. And I'm very glad that I got a chance to come down here. I told my chief, Chief Chapman at the time, she's retired now. But she called me here. She's either gonna call me or you're gonna give me a kudos that I deserve, or your gonna call me and you're gonna really tell me how you feel. So it just happened to be a year later at her retirement ceremony I went and told her, I thanked her. I said, "Thanks for the opportunity" "for letting me come down here." 'Cause it has definitely helped me grow. Not only as an NCO, and now a senior NCO, but also as a leader. I have better people skills. I have better weekends because of this job, I'm just a better overall Airmen because of this job. - That's good, so both of you are saying that your Chief's are now retired, right? - Yes. - You know I think that's exactly how we want to be able to, right. Where we have leaders out there you see different potential in someone who doesn't see it in themselves, you know? Because I got it, like as Airmen we got pride in our operational communities. There's not many times if you're job of the missionary day and you have those teams, especially if you've been given as an NCO for many years. You don't really want to come off the line. You don't want to come off the battle field a lot, right? But you understand how crucial it is down here to also have operationally minded and focused Airmen down here, building the next generation here too, right? So is there anything you wanna add on that? - So very similar situation, retired chief who's like I want you to go for DSD and goes here's my couple thoughts" and he kind of gave me that old school, "Now, if you're gonna do it" "you're gonna go all the way" "and be that MTI". I was kind of thrown back by it. I remember our MTI's. Working those 18 hour days. In bed being in the flight office, all this, that, and the other. I was like, "I don't think I can do this with my family" I got out on the line and did a little more research and saw it was much more family originated. The 10 hour, definitely 12 hour cap, things like that. But yeah, I look back and thank my Chief for putting me up for it. It's like Sergeant Erik said. It definitely enhanced my leadership capabilities being down here. - I thank them all too. Big time. I tell you what. You know, COVID has been a big demand on all of us. - Yeah. - And I said over and over again, you know, we recruit for talent, but this situation has tested talent, right? When I go around and just see the different dynamics and you know every single week, we kinda got a new challenge and new evolution. But it's because of you and the trust we have in you that we are where we are today. So I thank those Chiefs as well. Okay, so we're talking about being in developmental. How have you grown as leaders, NCOs, or what have you learned kind of about a bigger prepositive in the Air Force since being down here. - I'll say it. The deliberate development courses that we go through. I didn't know how to necessarily take those. And when I went to my first one I was still fresh and improving my hat finish things by us. And I'll be honest, I had a mind set of "Oh I mean, what can they teach me about leadership?" I had just came from sever forces. I was doing X, Y, and Z. - Like, I'm already a pretty good NCO. - Exactly, exactly but I had to... I needed to take a step back and take a look in the mirror and say no you don't. The book that they give us it talks about leadership and growth. And it talks about that anybody who thinks that they are done growing. They will be stuck in that mindset. So not only did I take that thing back from the reading. But I also took it from the senior NCOs some of them been in the military long enough and warned me at the time. And I learned from them. Not just from being MTI's but just from being... just from being highly experienced from being down in BMT. - I would say, as far as development when we've think back to ALS. All those weird conversations they made you have about the kid who doesn't shower. The person, the suicidal person, that you will have every single one of those conversations as an MTI. You're gonna get people from all different walks of life who just don't wanna be here. They came for the wrong reasons. This, that and the other. Some say they're suicidal for this reason. Some just are uncomfortable showering in front of people and you just learn to grow as a leader. Now any conversation that any of my Airmen are gonna have when I go back, I've already had it. I have a hard time thinking I won't have a problem with one of those conversations when I go back. Now I've had all those conversations. - I think that is such an amazing point you bring up. And that's really in the whole portfolio at DSD. What we're trying to do here. You know, as Chiefs we always try to listen to the concerns of Airmen. one thing particular just calling it as it is. If I'm already one of the best of the best in my operations communities and you bring me in here with a bunch of other people like these. Hey, I'm probably not gonna get as promoted as fast. That's just the real thing that comes up, right? You know, but the thing is, what were trying to do in the Air Force is play the long game, you know? And I will tell ya, I whole heartedly believe in iron sharpens iron. So if you're great, you have to be around other people that continue to push you that continue to grow to be the best you could possibly be in your potential. But the point I'm saying is that I've met mas sergeants who've never seen a single person like that. Right? And a lot of times we talk about supervision as I rate on you and I figure out where I'm gonna put these squares I figure a bulletin right. When I talk about supervisors I'm talking about like the number of people that I interact with that I have to make crucial decisions on on how to teach, coach, and mentor them to motivate them to a goal. Everybody took-- You all have probably supervised more people than I have as a commission. In your jobs here. If you think about it all like the experiences, the people that come from all different walks of life. And how great of a senior NCO will you now be? How better will you be as chiefs from this opportunity? That's what we're betting on, right? That you'll be more prepared and ready to lead, because you can't, when that situation comes out in the operational Air Force you really don't want to be starting from a position with no experience. You want to have some things that you can relate on to help you make the best decision possible and that's really what I think a DSD is all about. Do y'all have anything to add? What you've learned here? - One thing I've learned is its probably been the coolest part about this job for me, is the fact that I got a chance to work with all other, pretty much all other career fields in the United States Air Force. Now we're all here in one place, under one roof, trying to accomplish the same mission. You kind of get to see how other people think, how other career fields think, how other Airmen think, and then you also, and everybody has your back. That's like the greatest thing about this job. No matter what you're out for today someday needs somebody to watch your flight 'cause you're not feeling well or you have to drop off your kids here or some family stuff that's going on I mean, me and Mitchell were in the same squadron for a long time and we relied don each other a lot prepping for eval's. And some people helped me out a lot. And we just always no matter what, no matter where we're at if we're wearing a hat and we see each other we're always fist bumping. Its nothing but just love. BMT's are all about love. All about most other instructors and stuff like that and other Wingman. No disrespect to any other DSD but to my opinion basic military training and being in A bravo is the greatest DSD that the Air Force can has because you just impact people with hundreds and hundreds of people on a weekly basis. It's awesome. - Sir, for me I've learned, coming down here that just because you meet the standard, it's not always acceptable. You always have a set of eyes looking at you and if you just go for like, I'll use as example PT. I was not at all as strong runner and we all know the run is 60% of the PT test. So I was just making it. And then I come down here and thinking I'm good to go and it was real quick like no ma'am. If you have Airmen looking at you, what are you gonna tell them? What are you telling your trainees by just meeting the standard? So one thing I learned about myself is that it's okay to be uncomfortable for a while I was definitely pushed to my limit a lot of days. But it overall made me a better person. So what I've learned from it is like meeting the standard is not always okay. Yes, we have that 75 on the PT test that we have to meet but it's not something we should just go for and settle there. - Yeah, cause think about it right? As a leader, that bar goes up. - Yes sir. - Right. - Like the Air Force might have a certain standard, but you know when your Airmen are looking at you. And I think like some people... Some people don't like necessarily how direct the people who are coming in are today. There's a line right to appreciate it. Right, there's always a respectful way but in terms of challenging us to not necessarily regress and because at this level, senior NCO level we're supposed to optimize excellence, right? Like they're supposed to see that every single day. And you're right. Like you gotta be able to check them. That's awesome, you know. Because you gotta hone yourself too in that whole process. Yeah, that's cool. Okay. My question then next, would be how is this duty actually made you a better human being? A better person? What do you think? - Definitely the time management piece for me. - Okay. - I mean, before I was that person that was maybe just five minutes early for a meeting. And I'd be like I'm good, I'm here on time. Now it's like 15 minutes. When we talk about the wasps and things that we have to stay in compliance with. They really hold you to that schedule and you can't get caught slipping. So definitely the time management piece. I even find it at home. Where I'm like, "All right, I'm gonna do this" "on this time at this time." I'm not gonna over and really be on time for this. And the time management piece is definitely gotten better for me since I've been in this career field. - So I would say Sergeant Erik's point earlier about being a good Wingman and even when we try to do some of the other things like get your Master's instructors badge sometimes we have to rebook and things like that when I read was "The Outward Mindset". And if you wake up each day thinking, "What can I do for others?" and if everyone else could do the same thing things just naturally get done. Whether it be at home. Like what can I do for my wife today? You go in and take out the trash, put away the dishes, do a couple of those things to make her life easier and as she sees that then maybe she does a couple of things to help me out and that's really what the Wingman's concept's about. Not just, oh let me just be a Wingman when you're struggling. If I had to show up everyday to say "What can I do to help you?" and that's I think the biggest thing in the MTI corp. We are here to help each other out in making sure that A I've never dealt with whatever situation, how would I handle it, and the next time I can get it, I can attack it. And I move forward. To that point that when you're a chief now you can handle it, no matter what conversation comes up. - Yeah. So "The Outward Mindset," was that recommended reading for y'all? Or is that just some book you picked up? - That's one that you can earn project hours towards your Master's instructors badge. - Right. - And that's a very eye opening book for myself. - I see you flashing the badge. I've got mine on as well. It's a pretty big deal at AATC no doubt. But I think that that mindset we're all called to be servants, right? And "The Outward Mindset" it just institute a lot of great content. You know that whole aspect of giving and how that actually is good for you and even when you're carrying stuff. It's really powerful and I think that's a good point. Anything you wanna add, as far as being a better human being? - For me, it just helped me realize that it's okay for me to step out of my comfort zone and that I would be fine. And that I would be able to succeed and it's mainly because of people here. And from the moment that I showed up everybody was just, from MTIS through TQ process to just being on the line and repeating flights and doing different things people have your back no matter what. If you don't know something you don't understand a certain drill, that's cause you just don't have experience teaching it, somebody's there quick to help you out, to show you out it's done. Its kind of have your back and I think there will be a day where you know no matter rank you hold in the United States military that you know that true people have your back and I think the outlook on life for you is gonna be way more positive and I think you'll be a better person overall. It definitely made me a better person overall and just more caring when it comes to the United States Air Force. I'm more caring with my family and more caring for things for myself. I've learned how to take care of my job, I've learned how to take care of my family. I've learned how to take care of myself. I've learned how to balance a lot of different things and still be successful and still keep a clear a headed mind and be able to still be here. And have great Wingmen besides me all the time. - Excellent. Patience, patience. We have the trainees that we come in contact with and a lot of the problems that they bring you have to realize that where they come from is not where we came from. It's not where we grew up. Some people show up with nothing or have nothing to go back to and this was their last ditch effort. So dealing with the trainees and their issues that they're bringing, some of them that don't even know how to call their bank and say "Hey, have I gotten paid?" "I'm trying to figure out if I've got paid." They haven't gotten their debit card. Just the small things that we look at it's like "Oh, why didn't you do this before you got here?" You have to be patient with them because they literally turned off their life to come here and they didn't have those skills that we now have to get ready to join the Air Force and say, "Okay this is what you need to do" to not only prep to come here, but moving past this. Where you're ready to the deploy. These are the types of skills that you need in order to be successful in those opportunities. - You know, Sergeant, one thing I heard in your reply right there. Is one thing we talked about as a hallmark. You talked about being caring a lot, right? But that point of empathy. Right? So a lot of times we could say, "My way or the highway." Right? We could say the way I do it you either come up between these lines or your out. But I really really appreciate the both of you response saying hey I got a heart. My job is to take you from wherever you are to a better place. And we talked about that we get everything from 39 years olds who are pilot licensed, lawyers, all these different backgrounds, to people that as Colonel Wilson says, "They birthed the ships." This is their last ditch effort. There is nothing. They show up here with a garbage bag. Like I've seen people where they've-- everything the own is in a bag. And they want nothing more than to be part of this team. Right? And a lot of times, we all have baggage in life. We all have things we come in with, but you all play such a critical role in getting them to trust and understand that you're in this environment where I just need you to push all out, right? And never give up. And that's really the goal. But you gotta be able to relate to that individual. That's the biggest thing. - And that was what I was gonna he just made me think about it. In MTIS we teach the instructors about 21st century and the biggest thing with them is learning how to speak their language. So when we grew up it was, you know, do it because I said so. - Right. - And for them, it's more of I need to know why I'm doing it, so that I can know my purpose. Like what role do I play? And it took me a long time to realize just how poorly I was communicating with those Airmen, those trainees that I was leading at that point when I was on the line. So it was eye opening to see like, I'm not doing a good job. I can't have this. I need to take a step back and have that patience. And communicate to them the "why" behind it. Maybe not right then, but definitely on the backend. Give them that since of purpose. - Awesome, awesome. Well hey, I know y'all's time is precious, but I guess final set of questions for you is there's probably some Airmen First Class that maybe you all pushed in the last couple years and now I was thinking about, "Hey I wanna come back here" and be an MTI. So what I'd like to ask you first is why did you all join? Why did you join the Air Force? And then the second thing I'd ask is, why'd you stay? - I just didn't want to go to school anymore. - You just didn't want to go to school anymore? - No, I didn't, I knew that-- - High school, college? - College, I didn't want to go to college anymore. I didn't want to go to college, I knew my sisters were in a lot of debt from college and my mom didn't have the finances to be able to send me. So I said, I didn't want to do that So I was either going to work or join the military. And my best friend was also in the Air Force as well so I said I'll join the Air Force. So after not being able to join the Marines because I have asthma, I went with the Air Force. - Be one of the Devil Dogs. (laughing) - My grandfather was a Marine. - I'm glad that I didn't, you know, shout out to the Marines. But as far as why I continued I think everyday that question is answered, because everyday it's something different there's more to achieve every single day. We don't always have, please don't misunderstand me we have these great days. Everyday being an MTI is a great day. Everybody has, you know, those days, where they're tired but I will tell you that as far being an MTI being an MTI, I get my energy from the trainees. This is by no means am I old. But at almost 35 years old, we can see why senior Airmen staff come down here. They were young. We're now in our mid 30's responsible technical Master Sergeants but the energy levels I don't know, I get it from the trainees. We will go 110% every single day. And I go home and get, you know, get 6-8 hours of sleep and wake up and do it all over again. And I think that's why I continue because there's always more to achieve and the look on everyone's faces when they graduate and see where they're going from civilian to Airmen. I think that's priceless. - Any time I had a rough day I just take it in for a for minutes. It's like fountain of youth. It's good, what about y'all? - I joined to get out of Mobile Alabama. - Okay. - (laughing) I didn't want to go to college at all. - Have you traveled the world? - No, Sir, just to get out. - Okay. - It wasn't-- At that point in time I was young, I was 18, I just knew I needed get away. There was nothing there at home for me. I knew college wasn't really an option because I was very self aware at that point in time, that I wouldn't have survive college. Just because of the way I was raised. My mom was very old school so I was sheltered and to have that freedom right off the bat it wouldn't have worked. So to come into the Air Force and still have that freedom but it's a little bit more supervised. You still have rules you have to follow. That was what I needed, was that structure, but yet that freedom to be an adult and grow up. That's why I joined. The reason I stayed, it varied. At first it was just because once again, there was nothing out there for me to go back to right now. But then as time went it was for my rock I knew I had to have a way of providing. And at that point in time the economy was not promising so I knew that staying here was the best option. Then it was, "you know what?" "Maybe school is a thing." Maybe I can go to school. So then it was like this is free money to stay in school. And now it's simply because I'm over that hump and I want to serve for those who can't. Watching those Airmen come in that get turned around because of whatever reason. I'm serving for them. It's heartbreaking, but it's motivating at the same time. It gives me that sense of like, man, there are people who are really trying to get in the spot that I'm in and they can't. So that's who I serve for now. - The privileges of being able to serve right? - Yes sir. - Wow, that's powerful. - I think I joined, for one I was at a point where I was done going to school I had gotten my Associates before I joined. I was like you know what? I'm done going to school and I can join the Air Force. And what does the Air Force tell you to do? They tell you to go to school. And I have two more Associates degrees and I just finished up my Bachelor's because it's there. It's available. You've got to continue to grow yourself throughout and I think that's one of the best parts of being in the Air Force is being able to continue to grow yourself. Whether it be through education, though meeting different walks of life and doing all these different things that we talked about with the trainees from a million different places that get an opportunity to learn so much from them. And yes, they're gonna learn a lot from us as MTIs and we're gonna teach them a lot of the basic foundational of things but it's real life experience that the trainees have brought to me. And things one person trainee who said, "My family disowned me." When I tried to give them their phone call they were like "I can't." "I can't make a phone call home" Then I gave them a separate phone call the next day and his family forgave him for all the things that came about. Those were the things that really like kept me motivated throughout this job. Just taking that extra 5, 10, 15 minutes to say "Hey, I'm gonna get you that phone call". Even though I don't have to anymore. And to see that look on their face of appreciation from a trainee who's about to become an Airman and see that difference. That's what really keeps me motivated. - I joined mainly because when I got to the states I really didn't have a direction. And I-- - So when was that? I have to ask. - It was in '98. I came here when I was 13 years old. After I graduated high school, I just didn't know anything about what it's like being an 18 year old in the United States of America. I didn't. So I did what I saw my dad and my mom do their whole entire life, work. So I got out there and I found a job. But after working for-- - Real quick. Can you restart yours? It cut out for some reason. So we're gonna clip it together. Just start right at the beginning of your question of when did you get here. Does that work? - Sure. - Okay. - You can start. - Oh, I got here in 1998. I was 13 years old, but after I graduated high school, I just didn't know what it's like to be an 18 year old in the United States of America. I didn't know where my life was gonna take me or what I was doing. So I just did what I saw my parents do every single day for the most of my life. Is get up and go to work. So I went out there and I found a job. And after working for about four years I was like, there's gotta be something bigger than just me getting up at 04:30 every morning and me coming home at 19:00 every night. Which I was like, I'm only 21, 22 years old. If I have to do like 40 more years of this stuff, I'm not gonna last. I lived right outside Buckley Air Force base in Colorado, so I just literally went on AirForce.com and filled out, put my name down and my cell phone number and like 10 minutes later it rang. It was like, "Hey this is so and so" and after talking to the recruiter I figured it was gonna be the best path for me and I signed up for four years and I was like, you know what? If I can do four years, I can do four years. If the Air Force sucks, I can do four years. But it ended up being a blessing to me. And the reason why I'm still here is because I think there's no profession, there's no job, here's no career that give you the opportunities that the United States Air Force has offered me. The places I have seen, the places I have been, and the people I have met, the support that I have, that's what keeps me here. And it's one of the biggest decisions that I had to make, but it's one of the best decisions I ever made. I used to tell my trainees the same thing. For some of you, this is really gonna be a life changing event. Some of you are gonna do your 4-6 years, you're gonna get out, you're gonna go to school. About 30-40 years from now, the Air Force is gonna be a minute thing that ever happened to you. But for some of you it's gonna be a life changing event and an impact. And that is what it was like for me. And that was one of the reasons why I stick around. Like my Sergeant Thompson said, This job, it is demanding, it is a lot of hours. It is hard on your job. It is a young man's gig, for sure. But no matter what, no matter how tired I was when I left late at night just to come back 04:30, 05:00 in the morning as soon as that Reveille hit 05:45, you bust through those doors, no matter how tired you are you're just like a machine. - It just turns on. - And it just turns on. - It's weird. - And it's crazy. It's almost like we're bipolar. - Yes. - But we're that good bipolar. - Yeah. - You know like sitting here having a good time sitting having a good time and then all of a sudden trainees over here doing something they're not supposed to do. We need to make corrections, we're like all over it. It definitely showed like, pay attention to detail and doing all these other things. - Awesome, that's awesome. - So if regaining forces. - I'm actually finance sir. - Finance? Okay. - I was in Administration. - I was Security Forces and Lead Training in Education and Training. - Okay, so Education and Training. So how do you think that this experience will help you be better when you go back out to our group - So as finance, being the guy who sits at the desk all the time. We have a couple of members here. We send an email out that says, "Hey" "We need you to do your Trav outs" we need you to do whatever the case is and being someone who's always at a desk. We assume that they're always gonna get their email. Now being as an MTI, where it's very hard to check your email because you're always on the go, this, that, and the other. Now it's more when I go back, I would go back in February, how do I reach out a different way? How do I get a hold of their supervision to let them know because they might be on the gate, they might be on patrol. They might be on 80 other things. How can I contact this person so it doesn't negatively effect them down the road? - You know how many people out there listening to this that say I want that guy in my office? Like I want that guy reaching out to me, figuring out like.. I mean, that bar is just taking care of people that's exactly what you guys have here right? - And hat's really that change. When you're changing your focus, you're changing the lens hat you're looking through. Because as an A1C Staff sergeant why are they not responding three days of waiting on it. Well they probably only had 15 minutes to look at a computer in a week, maybe in a month. Whatever the case is, changing that preceptive. - Yeah, and there's so many silos out there in the Air Force too. Sometimes even just reaching out, and providing preceptive to someone else so they can share with their peer group a lot of times and just understanding. Because left or right, people are childish in the Air Force a lot of time people in communities are saying like those guys, they got it easy. Those guys... There's not a lot of places in the Air Force where people are kicking their feet up. Like there's just not. Especially senior NCOs that will be your super power to be able to just reach out and just connect. And just listen to that conversation and then share. What about you? How's it gonna make you better when you get back? - So I would say in undergrad I studied organizational Communication and it's funny, because as much as I learned nothing taught me as much as being here. We talked about drill and we get down to root cause and corrective action of why they made have had their discrepancy and you translate that back in to the operational world or any organization. It's like well why do we have this problem? What's the root cause? And now what's the corrective action? So something as little as teaching drill its like I could apply this when I go back to my work center. And I think problems would just be so much easier to solve then just sitting at a table and going back and forth. So I think just providing that prescriptive and it was actually a Wingman who told me about it. This is what I've been doing and it's working out. It's like, you know when I get back I'm gonna try that. Instead of looking at it from it's your fault type thing. - Right. - What's the problem? What's the root cause here? You know, how are we gonna correct it. - I guess there's a commander out there right now that's higher than you, a superintendent, with just that attitude. Anything else you wanna add? - Oh I agree with her all the way. It's just communication. Not only here, but you not only have to communicate with people you're on a flight with, across the hall, upstairs, downstairs, leadership, just across the squadrons. Things are changing all the time you gotta definitely adapt and earned to deal with changes quickly. Because the brakes here change a lot. It's just MTI are constantly changing whether it's COVID or maybe it's OCP's things like that. And it's just communication piece of it makes the job a lot easier for MTIs. And I think it's just something that all of us had pretty well with the communication piece. And we'll get back to a career field that's one thing that I had. At least that makes it interesting. - I think you'll see a lot of times failure. LT we still good out there? - I stopped recording and I think it has something to do with how long we went - That's fine, we'll use.. I think we'll probably do a podcast anyway versus, we'll chop it up. - Yup. Anything you want to add on officers? So here's, first off, thank you all. Thank you for what you do everyday and thank you so much for your service thank you so much for reluctantly wanting to come down here but still doing it, right? Like thank you so much for even challenging yourself early on. Thank you so much for staying on the team. Please extend a thank you to your family. I mean, they serve along side you. I know in this duty right here. It is a full team effort to be able to do this and grow and produce Airmen. But this is what I would say is the message. I hope that everybody is kinda taking and realize like the growth as U.S. leaders and how you'll be better at going back into your communities. I think that a lot of times people don't know necessarily what goes on behind the scenes down here and I appreciate you just sharing as individuals, what your experiences are, every single one of you, you've got great heart. You understand what leadership is about. You understand you gotta lead yourself first. You've talked about that a lot today. But the biggest things I'll say is in order to make Airmen of character, I gotta have leaders of character. And that's what you all are, right? That's why we're gonna continue to be the greatest Air force on the planet, because we have you setting the bar continuing to raise the standard and setting the pace. So I just thank you for doing that, and for anybody that's out there, I hope that you look at this as an example of this is what this experience will do for you. It won't be easy, by any means, but it will be something that will move you forward and that the special thing about it is to be part of this team to do something rare. Right? To do something rare. You know this for a fact, and check this out, most people that, as a command team, the second time as a command chief, they probably won't ever remember my name. Right? But nobody ever forgets what? - [All] Their MTI. - Nobody ever forgets who their MTI was. You're gonna have fingerprints and an example on their life. Not just in their time as an Airmen, but for life long. And I guarantee all those conversations and especially your hats are sitting her over to the left the times they always remember you is when you speak life it's not just what goes on in the drill pad. It's when you share life lessons. And I think we just gotta continue to lean in and continue to lean in and pour into the next generation. So I appreciate y'all doing that. Thanks for taking the time with us today. Thanks for being the Warhawks you are. And thanks for what you do for our Air Force. - Yes sir. - Okay, out here. (jet engine) - Tons of goodness here from Chief Blazier and his dedicated Warhawk Wingmen who train to win every single day. Really great prescriptive from the Gateway Wing Team and their unrivaled professionalism. And we will continue to deliver exceptional Airmen of character who power the world's greatest Air Force. Thank you to Chief Blazier and all the military instructors at BMT who make this mission happen everyday. It's so inspiring to watch BMT graduation every week. By the way, you can catch that Thursdays on the USA military training Facebook page as well as for the time during COVID-19 there's graduations as well happening Fridays. So more to come. Again, episode 34 of the pod is gonna talk about the military training leaders. So we hope that you'll take the time if you're interested in that development. So as a reminder, you can follow AATC and the AATC command team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as catch up on all the latest news at www.AATC.AF.MIL for our entire AATC Public Affairs team, I'm Dan Hawkins, so long. We'll talk to you next time on The Air Force Starts Here. (upbeat music)