PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Ore. (AFPN) -- “It’s good enough” is not a phrase Senior Master Sgt. Rocky Hart, first sergeant for the 83rd Aerial Port Squadron in Portland, Ore., wants to hear when it comes to his Airmen.
“When someone says something like 'It’s good enough for government work,' it fires me up,” Sergeant Hart said. “My troops deserve the best, and I’m going to do everything I can to get it for them. I have a high expectation of my troops. I want them to do the best, I want them to have the best and I want them to be the best.”
The job of a first sergeant is to take care of people.
“The first sergeant is an integral part of this mission,” said Maj. Connie Jenkins, 83rd APS commander. “The first sergeant maintains the morale and discipline of the troops while being an excellent liaison between the enlisted troops and the commander.
“The work we do is done at an accelerated tempo, with millions of dollars of equipment and many lives depending upon us,” Major Jenkins said. “Sergeant Hart is the one who consistently remembers the troops whenever an issue or mission comes up that is ‘all-consuming’. He never loses focus on what is important.”
As an Army private in the late '80s, Sergeant Hart decided he wanted to be a first sergeant.
“I have always wanted to be a first sergeant,” Sergeant Hart said. “I remember as a private looking up at this guy who was giving orders, guidance and operational tempo for the day, leading (physical training) and open ranks inspections, and being the liaison to the commander, and thought that’s what I want to do.”
Although Sergeant Hart had no intentions of leaving the Army, he left in 1995 to run the family farm in Hood River, Ore., when his grandfather passed away. He left the Army as a sergeant 1st class (E-7), military policeman, performing protection services for the supreme allied commander of Europe.
In 1996, he left behind two stripes, returning to service as a staff sergeant in the Air Force Reserve. Four years later, he was selected as the squadron’s first sergeant and was again promoted to E-7.
“He truly believes the core values will make the Air Force strong," Major Jenkins said. “He has a firm, but fair, approach to things and has excellent military bearing. He is one of the finest Airmen I have ever met or had the privilege to work with.”
Sergeant Hart begins his weekend duty on Thursday mornings before the unit training assembly. He comes in around 4:30 a.m. to get everything set up and check for last-minute phone calls.
“First thing in the morning, I get phone calls from people who can’t come in to the UTA or who are having problems,” Sergeant Hart said. “I start formulating a list of who is not going to make it, why they aren’t going to make it, and how I’m going to fix any problems all before the formation begins.”
The Airmen from the 83rd sign in for duty at 6:45 a.m. and are in military formation outside ready for open ranks inspection by 7 a.m.
“The formation is an accountability issue, and it also gets them in the right frame of mind during the open-rank inspection,” Sergeant Hart said. “It allows us to pass on the maximum amount of communication, in the smallest amount of time, with the least amount of distractions.”
On any given day, Sergeant Hart works several issues simultaneously -- meals, lodging, physical fitness, training, urinalysis testing, family care, promotions, enlisted performances reports, government travel card issues and more. Yet, he still finds time to advise Airmen on their careers and help supervisors with counseling on positive as well as negative issues.
He is also the president of the first sergeants council, so he interacts extensively with wing staff agencies to coordinate with subject matter experts, gathering information for the other first sergeants to pass on to their squadrons.
During lunch, he eats with his troops.
“I want to eat with my troops and spend time with them to find out what’s going on in their lives," Sergeant Hart said. “It’s amazing how much they will tell you personally and professionally when you care about them. If I can help take care of their personal life, they’ll be better able to take care of their military life."
Sergeant Hart also keeps involved with squadron operations.
“I like being an aerial porter, so I want to make sure training is going on and we’re not cutting corners," he said.
At the end of the day, the first sergeant catches up with all of his paperwork.
“I don’t like being in my office at all,” Sergeant Hart said. “I want to be out with the troops, visiting, looking at the records, helping them and talking to them. I don’t want to be in my office during the day because I can sit at my desk and do paperwork after hours.”
The first sergeant faces a gamut of emotions daily working with his troops. All in one morning, Sergeant Hart talked to a sergeant who told him she was dying of breast cancer, had to raise his voice to effectively communicate how to fix a problem with another Airman, and then congratulated an Airman and his wife on the birth of their baby.
"Never let them see you sweat," must be this first sergeant's motto. The degree of stress in this job is evident, yet Sergeant Hart remains level-headed. Often times, first sergeants are seen as "caregivers" -- treated as if stress and hard work are only part of the job description. Sergeant Hart says he enjoys the behind-the-scenes action the most.
“I like the light you see in a troop's eyes and the enthusiasm on their face when you are able to help them with something,” Sergeant Hart said. “They might say something to you in passing or in confidence about something they want or need. So networking is huge for a first sergeant, so you are able to make a phone call and talk to people to make things happen. To be able to do this, you’ve got to have a good working relationship with other first sergeants and their commanders.”
Sergeant Hart said once he had a noncommissioned officer in the unit who wanted to be a training instructor.
“After he returned from his deployment, he and his wife stopped into my office. He told me he still wanted to be a TI," Sergeant Hart said. "So, I picked up the phone and called a first sergeant at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, who I met at the First Sergeant Academy, and made arrangements for the sergeant to shadow a TI.
“When I got off the phone and told him he was good-to-go and set up for a job shadow with a TI, I saw the look in his eyes,” Sergeant Hart said. “When he said ‘Gee, first sergeant, you know everybody,' it was priceless and proved that networking with people can make things happen.”
Sergeant Hart was promoted through the Promotion Enhance Program to senior master sergeant in 2004. And in May, he will be promoted to chief master sergeant and become superintendent of the squadron. The promotion is bittersweet.
“Taking the diamond off next month is going to be hard," he said.