Dyess’ newest senior NCO selects prep for the future

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kylsee Wisseman
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Thirty-one Dyess Airmen recently selected for promotion to master sergeant or recently promoted to E-7 participated in a local seminar to prepare them for the Air Force's highest enlisted tier.

The senior noncommissioned officer seminar is designed to augment and enhance supervisory and leadership skills, focusing on motivation and counseling, military writing and the enlisted force structure.

"Professional enhancement seminars are engineered to pull members attending towards networking with others at the leadership level," said Senior Master Sgt. Garry Myers, 7th Force Support Squadron career advisor. "The curriculum is dictated by an Air Force Instruction; however, it's the caring attitude of the briefers delivering the message that told these new senior NCOs, 'you don't need to and shouldn't go it alone.'"

The senior NCO seminar is five days long and mandatory for all NCOs and master sergeants before they can be inducted into the senior NCO tier.

"I found the course to be very informative, and I wish I would have had this information earlier in my career - due to how helpful and useful it was," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Stogner, 7th Maintenance Group instructor section NCO in charge.
The NCOs who attended this seminar also had a mentoring session with retired Chief Master Sgt. Anthony Brinkley before being inducted into the senior NCO corps. Brinkley was also the keynote speaker during the Senior NCO Induction ceremony on the last day of the seminar.

"When I was talking to those NCOs during their seminar I offered career advice to help them in their future endeavors," Brinkley said. "The key to having the biggest impact on your Airmen is to go from success to significance. Success is about you, significance is about other people and how you help them succeed and affect their life."

On the last day of the course the attendees were asked to fill out feedback worksheets. Their comments touched on everything from sessions they liked to those that could be improved upon, great briefers and topics that could be added. One common theme in all feedbacks was an overall satisfaction with the seminar and appreciation for the hard work that was put into its preparation.

"I've attended all levels of professional development as I progressed through the ranks," Stogner said. "This was different. This seminar challenged me to break the mold, step out and challenge the status-quo. I feel now that I am more prepared to make my mark on the Air Force as I enter the SNCO tier."