Top enlisteds: AF has major role in joint ops - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Top enlisteds: AF has major role in joint ops

ATLANTA — Nearly 200,000 airmen today work alongside soldiers, sailors and Marines, making it essential that they understand joint operations and what air power brings to the fight, say senior enlisted leaders for combatant commands.

The leaders, representing four combatant commands and the Air National Guard, came together Aug. 18 for a panel discussion at the annual Air Force Sergeants Association conference in Atlanta — the first time joint senior enlisted leaders had appeared together, according to Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy.

The 200,000 airmen who are serving with members of the other services represent about 40 percent of the total Air Force — active-duty, Guard and Reserve. About 133,000 airmen are assigned to combatant commands; another 40,000 are deployed, most to U.S. Central Command; and the rest are forward stationed.

Of the combatant command leaders, two are airmen — Chief Master Sgt. Tom Narofsky of U.S. Strategic Command, and Chief Master Sgt. Al Usry of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Rick Hawkins helps lead U.S. Transportation Command and Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Roy M. Maddocks Jr. is the top enlisted service member for U.S. European Command. Chief Master Sgt. Chris Muncy, command chief for the Air National Guard, stood in for Chief Master Sgt. Denise Jelinski-Hall, command chief for the unified National Guard Bureau.

Each leader briefly described the role of his command, then took questions from the crowd of noncommissioned officers, retired airmen and family members.

• Hawkins on the strength of having airmen in TRANSCOM: Airmen have the ability and the desire to learn about joint operations — and better understanding of the other services is crucial to doing a good job, the Army NCO told the audience. “If I look at Air Force stuff through Army eyes, I’ve already screwed up,” Hawkins said. “Do not use your service not to do the right NCO thing.”

• Usry on how the Air Force can prepare airmen for combatant command assignments: Members of other services have a better understanding of joint operations initially, he said. The Air Force would do airmen a favor by communicating earlier in their careers why they need to know joint terminology and how to leverage air power in a joint environment.

• Maddocks on the relationship between the U.S. and Russian militaries: European Command is struggling to find what the two militaries can work on together, Maddocks said. One area is the wildfires that have ravaged Russia in the last few weeks. Helping Russia deal with the crisis would be “the first step in developing faith, trust and confidence,” Maddocks said. Russia also wants its enlisted service members to be as professional as their American counterparts, which might be difficult to achieve because the country’s senior officer corps is intimidated by development of the enlisted corps. A student exchange would help Russia educate its troops, he said.

• Narofsky on combating cyber threats: The U.S. military has 30,000 “sweeps” of its networks every day, from traditional hackers to teens who breach security by accident. The biggest threat, though, comes from service members themselves, according to Narofsky. “You don’t like the patches your [system] administrator puts on so you disable them to make your computer faster,” he said. “Don’t circumvent what we put up.”

• Muncy on the biggest issues in the next five years: “Constant mission change and the spin-up of airmen” will undoubtedly be the top two challenges, Muncy said. “We don’t have time to sit back,” he said.

Other coverage from AFSA conference

• Leaders: Make peace with gays in military (Aug. 21)

• Airmen, retirees, civilians feted by AFSA (Aug. 21)

• JROTC teaching positions touted at convention (Aug. 18)