Chief McKinley visits Wright-Patterson AFB

  • Published
  • By Mike Wallace
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley held an enlisted call at the base theater here Sept. 9 where he touched on a variety of topics, including the Air Force's near-term priorities.

The enlisted call was part of his two-day visit to the base Sept. 8 and 9. During his visit, Chief McKinley participated in the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Conference and also met with ISR agency chiefs, toured the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, toured the Human Effectiveness section and attended an Air Force uniform briefing.

During the one-and-a-half-hour enlisted call, Chief McKinley covered a few of the Air Force's priorities.

Among them, the chief said that Air Force leaders have not lowered their standards for recruiting potential Airmen, and that the Air Force has "only 15 percent of the American public to recruit from." He praised recruiters and military training instructors and asked attendees at the enlisted call to consider those jobs during their careers.

Chief McKinley mentioned extending basic training from six weeks to eight-and-a-half weeks due to a deployed environment.

"The additional training will help Airmen of the future be fired up at their first base," he said. "It's important that Airmen continue integrity, service and excellence after they leave basic training. Discipline matters. Military bearing, customs, and courtesies ... they all matter."

On the topic of supervisors, Chief McKinley challenged them to get to know their Airmen as a method of improving morale and preventing unfortunate incidents. To illustrate his point, the chief picked Airman First Class Gino Carruitero, 88th Security Forces, to stand with him and answer questions about himself, his family and his aspirations.

"It took two or three minutes for me to get to know this Airman and, at a minimum, every supervisor should take the time to learn what's important to their Airmen," Chief McKinley said.

Upgrading equipment was another topic that is among the service's priorities.

"There's a need to modernize our Air Force, but this concept applies to the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps as well," he said. "Our planes are getting old, but so are the Army's tanks and the Navy's ships."

He noted that the Air Force strength is leveled at 330,000 Airmen, but that some people may need to retrain in needed careers.

Following a question and answer session, Chief McKinley helped promote five Airmen to senior airman below the zone. Called to the stage to receive their stripes were: Gino Carruitero, 88th Security Forces Squadron; Daniel Bazen, 88th Communications Squadron; Wade Beckwith, Air Force Institute of Technology; Jeffrey Reed, 88th Diagnostic Therapeutic Squadron; and Devin Faggs, 88th Aerospace Medical Squadron.

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