Force development prepares airmen for success Published April 30, 2003 By Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Force-development efforts are under way to ensure the Air Force’s enlisted corps remains the best in the world, said the service’s top enlisted leader.According to Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Gerald R. Murray, force development is simply a methodical approach to giving airmen the tools, training, education and experiences needed to be successful.“Enlisted-force development will let us tailor the professional development of our airmen to best meet the expeditionary needs of the Air Force today and in the future,” Murray said.The concept is a top priority of the Air Force’s senior leaders, as evidenced by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper’s Sight Picture released April 28.“Our enlisted corps is the envy of the world,” Jumper said in the document. “We must ensure our development opportunities produce the skills needed to remain the world’s premier enlisted air and space force.”Enlisted-force development efforts are focusing on the three major areas used to grow the enlisted force -- assignments, education and training, said Chief Master Sgt. Michael Gilbert, chief of enlisted-force development in the Air Force senior leader management office at the Pentagon.“We have great noncommissioned officers, leaders and supervisors out there doing what they can to help their subordinates develop, but our current system doesn’t always complement their efforts,” he said.There are certain points in an NCO’s career that require logical progressions in responsibility and experience, Gilbert said. That progression is not always factored in under the current system.“We’ve got to tweak the system to ensure we provide that experience and development to our people,” he explained.According to Gilbert, a clear example of the current system’s shortcoming is in the selection of people to work on the Air Staff who have never been given the opportunity to work at a major command or numbered Air Force.“That leap in responsibility is not only unfair to the person, but it’s also not good for the Air Force,” Gilbert said.Although many can still be successful through hard work and dedication, the Air Force should have provided them with the necessary background before that assignment, he said.Force development will prepare people not only for success on the Air Staff, but also for success in their base shops.“The majority of the enlisted force who work at the base level their entire careers will not be overlooked,” he said. “It is just as vital that we properly develop those people who are accomplishing the mission day-in and day-out.”Murray said that in the past, the Air Force has been stuck in the mindset that everybody needs to have the same professional development. With force development, that is not the case.“Force development will provide all airmen with the right professional-development opportunities to succeed in any job they do,” Murray said. “And that approach will be tailored based on people’s specialties, aspirations, potential and Air Force needs.”The intentions are to not turn this into a square-filling Air Force, Murray said.“It’s more important that our people are out there focusing on the mission and taking care of business,” Murray said. “And it’s our responsibility to focus on giving those young airmen and NCOs the right opportunities and experiences at the right times during their careers to succeed.”