TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- During a recent visit to Tyndall Air Force Base, Chief Master Sgt. Robert Tappana, current 19th Air Force command chief master sergeant and incoming Air Education Training Command command chief master sergeant, sat down with the 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs office to share ideas and words of guidance to today's Airmen.
1. In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing today's Airman?
The biggest issue Airmen are facing is change. By nature, we're all resistant to change. We're comfortable with what we know, not with what we don't know. I think what is important for people to keep in mind is that the Air Force's history is built on how well we've successfully changed. We were born out of change - we've gone from planes that could just fly down the beach, in the case of the Wright brothers, to planes that can fly around the world, to unmanned planes. So, we're born out of change. We change every few years, every time new technology comes out. We just have to work through it. As long as we continue to lead the way with new technology and stick to the basics of leadership, followership and skillful application of our Core Values, we'll do fine.
2. What are the benefits of Air Force Smart Operations 21 and how will that directly impact the lives of our airmen?
Some AFSO projects are really big; you know, where the Air Force changes a process across the enterprise - that's where we get the big dollar savings. What will affect our folks mostly, I think, is what we'll see at the local level. At the local level, we won't see many multi-million dollar changes, but what we will see is efficiency changes. We won't always save dollars, but we have the ability to save time. The whole point of AFSO 21 is to look at a process and all of its pieces, and try to decide, "Does this add value?" and "What can I do away with that doesn't add value?" We're so good at what we do, that it's really easy to set back and say, "We're doing really well" - and we are. The key of AFSO 21 is saying, "We're great; how can we be greater?"
3. Having seen the full spectrum of "Total Force" operations, do you feel active-duty, Guard and Reserve forces are being utilized to the fullest in today's high-tempo Air Force?
I think they're being utilized at rates we haven't seen before. I don't know if we've proven what our fullest extent is. We're certainly deployed at an amazing rate and we have a lot of things going on. We're deployed as a very tight team with our Guard and Reserve. I will say, I've been a command chief in a deployed location and you can't tell, unless you ask, which component an Airman comes from. But it would be really presumptuous for me to say that we've met our fullest potential, because I don't think we even know what our fullest potential is. That's what AFSO 21 and things like that are going to show us - how much can we really do? We're engaged at a rate far beyond what I've seen early in my career, but I wouldn't say that we've hit our greatest achievements.
One of the things we have to get better at if we are going to find our fullest potential, is getting a better understanding of joint and coalition operations; understanding the cultures and processes of our sister services and the nations that we ally ourselves with. That's an area that we can probably do better at. My deployment was to Kyrgyzstan. It was a coalition operation mainly moving soldiers and marines down range and to Afghanistan. We did quite a bit supporting the fight during Operation Enduring Freedom and we did amazing things, but I think if we understood each other better, we could have done even more big things.
Again, I wouldn't say we've hit our greatest achievement yet, but we're doing things at a an unprecedented level.
4. Based on current operations overseas, can you predict any training or changes to the training that will better prepare our airmen for the combat environment they will find themselves in while deployed?
Air Education and Training Command has already taken the first step, and that's the expansion of basic training from six weeks to eight and a half weeks, which will get moving pretty heavily here shortly. That's the first step in the process. I think we'll have to continue to maintain that training as Airmen move out to their permanent duty stations. It may require us to take a look and see how Professional Military Education is focused, but a lot of it's just going to be the training that we do in house, making sure we don't let those skills fade. If we're going to give those Airmen a good foundation, we will need to make sure we keep their skills sharp. Making sure we continue to keep a joint focus is important, and we have to understand how our sister service teammates operate.
5. How important is it for our enlisted airmen to work in a joint/coalition environment?
If you're called to work in one, it's critically important. I think what is more important is to prepare yourself to work in a joint and coalition environment. Some of us will be called to do that regularly. That happens to (Explosive Ordinance Disposal teams) and Security Forces and others who regularly work with or support ground forces. It is also happening more and more to Air Force specialty codes that do not traditionally operate in that environment as we step in to fill mission gaps in the AOR. What's important is to be prepared so that if you're asked to serve, you're ready. Not everybody's going get the chance, but it is an absolute shame to be given a chance and not be ready.
6. Should the chance of serving in joint/coalition environments impact airmen's career planning? Should airmen seek out such opportunities doing such?
If you have the opportunity for a joint deployment or assignment, certainly go for it, because it's going to be challenging. And I think you should always take the most challenging opportunity because where there's challenge, there's growth. But, I think our primary focus should be how well we are doing the job we have today. The key to success is to always bloom where you're planted.
7. If there were three things that would define a well-balanced career for an Airman, what would they be?
Invest in our Air Force. By that I mean, make sure that you are as prepared as you can be to do your mission. Show up to work on time - prepared. Focused. Be the best at whatever you do for the Air Force.
Invest in yourself. You need to be physically fit, you need to be financially fit - there's a lot of personal leadership that you need to take. You need to be emotionally fit. You should be as educated as you can be. We have 100% tuition assistance and distance learning - there's no reason why people should not be as educated as they can be.
You better invest in your family. Where people run into trouble is when they over invest in one of the three, and under invest in the others. If you focus all your efforts on the Air Force and on your family, and don't take care of yourself, you will become ill or become unfit or in some way take away from your ability to do well and it will affect the other two. It's got to be a balance of the three. As important as the Air Force is, we serve so that our families can be safe. You do not have to sacrifice your family for a career.
We make the mistake sometimes of taking our core value of "Service before self" and making it "Service instead of self," meaning we always put the Air Force first. Service before self doesn't say the Air Force is always first, it says the Air Force is first when the mission requires it.
Those are my three things ..... and keep them in balance.
8. What has been your greatest experience as an Airman?
My greatest service experience has been watching our Airmen perform in a deployed environment - when they're furthest from home, working the longest hours and often under the toughest conditions. That's when they will amaze you with their greatness. And if you keep silent long enough, they will give you answers to the challenges better than the ones you're getting ready to give them.
9. Is there anything you would like to add?
We have a tendency sometimes to talk about the Air Force as our job. The Air Force is not a job. It is a profession, a call to serve something greater than ourselves.
When I enlisted, my older family members said, "Oh, I heard you joined the service." And they were right, this is about service. It continues to be my pleasure to serve and to meet the people that we serve with. It amazes me that while we have been at war for so long, young people, even with all the options they have to choose from, still choose to join us and take our oath, and follow our Airman's creed and live by our core values and stand between America and her people and everything that would threaten them. For me it's just an honor to be part of it all. I'm just thrilled to see the quality of people that come and serve with us.