Volunteering and education will remain an important element to produce well-rounded airmen who are active members of their communities, Brig. Gen. Brian Kelly said. But it's not going to help someone get their next stripe.

And if two airmen are both excellent at their jobs, said Kelly, director of military force management policy, the Air Force isn't going to use how much they volunteer or whether they're going to school as a sort of tiebreaker.

"Those aren't things to do in order to get promoted," Kelly said. "Those are things to do to help round us out. [Volunteering activities] have great value in it for us and are important as part of our responsibility to be great airmen. But they are not necessarily done, or shouldn't be participated in, with an eye toward, 'that's going to help me get promoted.' "

As part of a massive overhaul of its enlisted performance evaluation system, the Air Force is de-emphasizing volunteering. Airmen for years were encouraged to volunteer or further their education off-duty as part of what the Air Force calls the whole airman, or whole person, concept, and were rewarded for doing so on their evaluations. Some airmen felt this meant high-performing airmen who didn't volunteer were passed over in favor of lackluster airmen who did volunteer.

Under the new system, Kelly said that the Air Force is "decoupling" promotions from volunteering. Someone who isn't good at their job won't have a chance of getting promoted, no matter how much they volunteer, he said.

"That's what we get paid to do, first and foremost, is to be excellent at that job," Kelly said.

But Kelly said he didn't want to give the impression that the Air Force doesn't value volunteering or education anymore.

"Those things are still valued and important, but they're not going to be the driver behind what gets you promoted," Kelly said. "If you go out to a military community or a civilian community, and your children are playing Little League Baseball, somebody has volunteered to be a Little League coach. Certainly in terms of maintaining our military families and our quality of life, volunteering is an important thing for us to be able to have those kind of activities available for our families, to keep community relations up."

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

Share:
In Other News
Load More