Page 2 - Nellis AFB Bullseye 10-9-15

2 October 9, 2015
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Balance is key
By Maj. Wesley Wade
56th Maintenance Group
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. — Whether we’re
talking about our life, family or career, it boils down to “ah-ha” moment. If he can accomplish such balance as
balance. Having a healthy balance is the only way that
we can sustain effectiveness.
I can recall times as a young officer when working
14 hours a day was common. There are times when the
mission will drive us to work extended hours, but it
shouldn’t be the norm.
Getting married and starting a family is what helped
realign my priorities because it became readily apparent
that if I wanted my family standing next to me when I
leave the Air Force, I better find a healthier balance of
my time.
One of the best commanders I had the pleasure of
working for made it a point to work reasonable hours.
His perspective was that his work hours would drive the
ALS: Rediscovering the profession of arms
By Senior Airman Katrina M. Brisbin
36th Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam
— When thinking about Airman Leader-
ship School, what thoughts come to mind?
Many Airmen may think of profes-
sional military education as boring, a box
to check, or a waste of time.
For me, ALS was none of these things.
ALS is a five-week course that prepares
senior airmen, new staff sergeants, and
sister service rank equivalents for official
supervisory and rating duties. Attending
this leadership school in residence is a
requirement for all Airmen either upon
successfully testing for promotion or
upon reaching 48 months time-in-service.
As a mandated stepping stone, to the
uninitiated, the training may come along
as just another requirement on the way to
a long-awaited promotion. For me, it was
much more than that.
In all honesty, I was apprehensive as
I took my first steps into the classroom.
Little did I know my perspective would
drastically change in just a few short
weeks.
The first few days were a blur. We spent
the majority of our time learning the
rules, getting a feel for the curriculum and
sizing up our classmates. After everything
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behavior of the squadron. In other words, the later he
worked, the later his Airmen would stay at work.
He enjoyed an active family life and ran an effec-
tive squadron. Under his leadership was when I had an
a squadron commander, then why can’t I do the same
as a captain?
Throughout the past year I found that I struggle dis-
connecting from work outside of the office, specifically
with putting down the infamous BlackBerry. My wife
graciously brought this to my attention a few months ago.
My normal routine consisted of walking in the
house, emptying my Airman Battle Uniform pockets
and immediately start scrolling through emails on my
BlackBerry; because you’ll never know when the next
earth-shattering message will hit your inbox.
She soon realized that when my BlackBerry was in
front of me, I wasn’t paying attention to her or the kids. and lead my Airmen.
I’ve changed what I call my home-life reintegration
was laid out by the commandant and
instructors, it was game on.
The 192-hour course, spread across 24
academic days, is divided into three major
curriculum areas that support the course
objective and focus on developing leadership
abilities, building effective communication,
and teaching the fundamentals of the pro-
fession of arms. Classes are also required to
positively contribute to their local commu-
nity as well as create a legacy piece to enrich
the schoolhouse for future students.
The weeks quickly were consumed with
academic work. We participated in group
discussions, wrote papers, took written tests,
stumbled through public speaking, braved
typhoon rains during our community
project, and, more importantly, bonded as
service members and future NCOs.
I learned quite a bit about what is expected
of an NCO and leader, while also learning
more about how to meet those expectations.
Studying leadership traits in our diverse
group of Airmen and Sailors helped broaden
my perspective when it came to the profes-
sion of arms — something I think is vital for
today’s leaders to understand and practice.
According to our curriculum, to be part
of the military profession of arms is to be a
skilled practitioner of or professional in the
art of warfare. The profession of arms is a
unique profession, whose customer base
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method and deliberately choose not to check my inbox
until after talking about our respective days, how the
kids’ days went, and so on.
When the Air Force published the Comprehensive
Airman Fitness program, it spoke to my conundrum of
achieving a better balance. Achieving mental, physical,
social and spiritual fitness allows us to optimize our
duty performance as well as enhance our family life.
Being disciplined and focusing our energy in these four
domains enables us to develop competencies within the
readiness and resiliency realms.
Why do I think this topic is important? It’s about lead-
ership. All of us are leaders, whether formal or informal.
Achieving balance in your life translates into being a
more effective leader. I can see it in my leadership devel-
opment. Now that I have a healthier balance, I’m better
prepared to tackle not only the challenges that arise in
my personal life, but I’m also better equipped to assist
spans the sum of our great nation.
After reading the paragraph again, I was
shocked to realize I still didn’t fully grasp
what this meant. As a public affairs Airman,
I took it upon myself to know as much as I
can about the Air Force mission, our polices
and tenets, so I could better share Airmen’s
stories with the rest of the world. However,
the true meaning of the profession of arms
eluded me.
In layman’s terms, the profession of arms
is the basic understanding that each member
brings their own unique skills to the fight.
With this definition, it’s a fairly easy concept
to understand, but one that may be difficult
to communicate.
So much is changing these days. With
a new enlisted performance report system,
forced distribution, and heavy operations
tempo, it’s hard to focus at times. It’s even
harder to stay positive and for some, see how
our daily efforts fuel the fight.
The 36th Wing’s mission is to provide
the president sovereign options to decisively
employ airpower across the entire spectrum
of engagement. It may be difficult to discern
every individual’s contribution to this daunt-
ing task.
As reflected in the various occupational
badges in our classroom, we all participate in
the same fight. Without force support squad-
ron Airmen, for instance, the dining facility
status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other
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and gym wouldn’t open. There would be no
one to provide vital combat and community
support by delivering superior morale, wel-
fare, recreation, manpower and personnel
program services. Without the finance flight
we would have to manage our own pay and
accounts while continuing our daily tasks.
The list of services goes on and in short, it
would quickly overwhelm other career fields
to cope with the additional workload.
Having our Navy brothers and sister in
the class also provided a comforting reality.
This reality is that although we are differ-
ent services, we all are NCOs, we all have
troops in some form or fashion, and we are
all leaders.
The joint leadership school experience was
neither boring nor a waste of time. Because of
our productive class dynamic and our skilled
teaching staff, I was able to walk away with a
greater understanding of what it takes to be a
supervisor in today’s service and rediscovered
my place in the profession of arms.
Each and every person plays a vital role in
our military and has an impact on our mis-
sion, and as a photojournalist I feel blessed
to be in the career field that allows me a first-
hand look at the Air Force’s missions. After
ALS, I can’t wait to share how Airmen, Sailor,
Soldiers, Marines and Coast Guardsmen’s
stories in a way that highlights their unique
contribution to the security of our nation.
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