Job satisfaction starts with proper training

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Ray Hankins
  • 65th Security Forces Squadron
LAJES FIELD, Azores (AFPN) --  Senior NCOs are often asked what made them stay in the Air Force so long. The answers I hear usually fall into two categories: love of country and contribution to the mission.

However, many first-term airmen don't recognize their contributions as vital ones. Further, on many occasions, supervisors may fail to make their jobs exciting and challenging, and our newest recruits lose interest. This can deteriorate morale and leave our forces in a training drought.

As we have surged to meet today’s unpredictable threats, post-Sept. 11 training has slipped. The expertise needed to carry out the defense of our nation has drawn down. However, as we reconstitute and focus on the growth of our team, now is the time to focus on training.

Key to keeping our airmen's interest is commitment. We have to be committed to seeing first termers through their career development course studies while following the Career Field Education Training Plan. Combining the two creates a recipe for success: a thorough understanding of the job while gaining the fulfillment needed to be successful in every technical endeavor.

First, let's look at the importance of CDCs. Getting involved with the CDC process and ensuring the training and task accomplishment an individual needs relates to those study manuals cannot be overstated. As such, it is imperative that time is spent with our young airmen to help them understand and fulfill the requirements of those study manuals. Feedback is also essential; make the process interactive with take-home tests, verbal quizzes and researching areas of concern. In other words, get involved.

Next, show your troops how the CFETP brings it all together. The plan provides the timeline for individual success in an airman’s career. Get them invested in their on-the-job training. Explaining each task to the airman, rather than just "signing off" tasks, will make a huge impact on the ability of our wings to carry out their missions.

As supervisors, we can make the difference by doing all of these things. In return, we will reap huge rewards. The troop gets the personal gratification of learning a new trade, and the Air Force gets a certified warfighter.

There is no deeper satisfaction than seeing a newly trained airman doing a job. Just recently, I saw it here. The power went out at the security forces building and we had to call the civil engineer team power shop to fix it. Their team of folks came in, changed out a transformer, strung the power lines and had power back on line within two hours.

These well-trained troops didn't fumble around. Supervisors had trained and certified these folks to turn the power back on, and they did so with professionalism, savvy and an acumen that reflected their training.

You don't think it makes a difference? Who do you think turned the power back on in Baghdad?

Ultimately, we want our troops to feel the same love of country and draw the same satisfaction of contribution we, as senior NCOs, feel. And with a few simple steps as a part of the training process, it can be done. Make a commitment to enhance an airman’s career through proper training, CDC studies and diligent CFETP usage, and then see how the mission is more effectively orchestrated. (Courtesy of U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service)