Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., spoke with Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps leadership and detachment commanders Nov. 3 during the annual AFROTC symposium at Maxwell Air Force Base.

The symposium is an annual professional development event led by AFROTC leadership to provide guidance to their 145 detachment commanders.

Brown shared thoughts on leadership and how Action Order-A: Airmen in his “Accelerate Change or Lose” approach is vital to AFROTC’s mission in developing the future officer corps.

“As ROTC detachment commanders, you are somebody to these cadets and you don’t know the impact you will have,” Brown said. “Maybe they will or won’t be the next chief of staff of the Air Force, but more importantly, you shape them into having a successful military career.”

Brown stressed that the service needs to change to operate in the future, and this starts with educating the forces and retaining our talent. At ROTC and throughout their careers, he emphasized the need to develop leaders that value trust and empowerment of the people they lead.

Air Force ROTC is a national program offered at more than 1,200 colleges and universities across 47 states and Puerto Rico. AFROTC is the largest producer of active duty line officers with 2,188 Air and Space Force officers commissioned in fiscal year 2021. Through AFROTC, approximately $106 million in scholarships are awarded for high school and in-college programs.