First sergeants teach NCOs to care for Airmen

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Dillon Davis
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --   Altus AFB held a four-day First Sergeant Symposium to help prepare NCOs for assuming the temporary roles and responsibilities of being a first sergeant July 14 - 17, 2014.

The class covered numerous topics including teaching financial responsibility and providing assistance to Airmen during administrative actions.

"We set the first sergeant symposium up with the idea being that we'll expose technical and master sergeants to things that might come up given the opportunity to be acting first sergeants," said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jason Buckley, 97th Logistics Readiness Squadron first sergeant and president of the Altus AFB First Sergeant Council. "Because of the fiscal restraints that we face, it's not practical to send these Airmen down to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas to attend these classes, so the expectation is that first sergeants on any particular base will conduct these symposiums to better equip the non-commissioned officers to fill the role of a first sergeant in their absence."

The course does not replace the Air Force First Sergeant Academy, but it does allow a farther reach of professional military education and can motivate more Airmen to pursue a first sergeant special duty in the Air Force.

"We hope that we inform these NCOs enough so that they will want to do a great job when they fill in for a first sergeant or that they will be inspired enough to attend the Air Force First Sergeant Academy and become a first sergeant in the Air Force," said Buckley.

After completing the course and receiving their certificates, the NCOs are more educated on how to fulfill the role of acting first sergeant should their unit need them to.
Acting first sergeants will be provided checklists should they need to assume responsibility, but essentially, this will be information that they may not have seen or received before and they will be able to have additional preparedness, said Buckley.
Upon completion of the class, the attendees receive a certificate and are ready to take on the possibly duties of a first sergeant in a temporary capacity.

"The class enhances our skills to be able to take care of the Airmen in our squadrons," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jon Adams, 54th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator instructor and student from the course. "We learned how to handle a variety of scenarios that could happen with Airmen."