Photo By Staff Sgt. Abbey Rieves | U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jordan Stidham, 316th Training Squadron student and a...... read more read more
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GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas – The 316th Training Squadron constantly shuttles Airmen in and out of its building, much like worker bees feverously constructing their hive.
At any given moment in the 316th TRS, there are over 700 fusion analyst, linguist, signal intelligence, airborne intelligence, and surveillance reconnaissance technical training students hustling and bustling through its corridors.
As tech. school students motion-blur through the day, some Airmen stand out amongst the rest. These Airmen are distinguished by either a green, yellow, or red knotted cord around their left arm.
The stoplight-colored ropes distinguish the individual as an Airmen Leader. The entry-level green rope, secondary yellow rope and final red rope respectively displays the leader’s level and responsibility.
But first, the rope must be earned based on the 316th TRS standard.
“When we are looking for Airmen Leaders, we are looking for the Whole Airmen concept,” said Staff Sgt. Alonso Hall, 316th TRS military training leader. “We don’t just want someone who’s really good at their job or school. It’s a highly visible job, these Airmen represent their squadron and their MTLs. We want the best of the best for Airmen Leaders.”
To be the best of the best, Airmen Leader candidates are held to a higher standard than the average tech. school student.
Hall said to achieve a green rope, Airmen Leader candidates must meet or exceed a monthly volunteer quota, attend a leadership course, pass a written exam, maintain an 85% average grade in school and have a favorable interview with their assigned MTL. The process takes about six weeks to complete. Once achieved, green rope Airmen Leaders have to complete a stricter set of standards to promote to a yellow or red rope.
Once an Airman becomes an Airman Leader, his or her responsibilities expand greatly.
Hall said Airmen Leaders have standard responsibilities such as marching flights, coordinating physical training at 4 a.m., conducting open rank uniform inspections, mentoring new students, taking daily accountability, running safety briefings, organizing Airmen Leader meetings, and scheduling squadron details.
In addition to operational responsibilities, Airmen Leaders mentor other Airmen on behalf of the MTLs.
“It’s important to have Airmen Leaders because we give the other students a peer network to look up to instead of going to the MTLs for everything,” said Airman 1st Class Joshua Winston, 316thTRS student and red rope level Airmen Leader. “We can help with the smaller things that a student might not actually need to go to an MTL for an answer.”
In addition to mentoring, Airmen Leaders help MTLs effectively distribute information to the squadron.
“MTLs can come to 30 Airmen Leaders with one thing that needs to get done, and we disperse it to all 700 of the students,” said Airmen 1st Class Chasen Zara, 316th TRS student and yellow rope leader. “It’s more effective than one MTL managing 700 Airmen.”
But Airmen Leader responsibilities include more than just communication and leadership to the students of the 316th TRS.
“Their tasks don’t stop there,” said Hall. “Airmen Leaders juggle a lot. They’re in school learning their future jobs, while accomplishing higher level tasks like keeping track of the Airmen Against Drunk Driving program and Airmen’s Attic, which is a huge resource that provides free military uniform pieces base-wide.”
Though Airmen Leaders are held to a higher responsibility and standard, these individuals thrive.
“The best part is being involved in so many different moving parts,” said Winston. “Once I found out I would be in casual status and would be here a while, Sergeant Hall pushed me to join the program and helped get me involved in it. Ever since then, I just love being a part of something. I enjoy having a hand in the volunteerism that goes on, and helping organize some squadron events, like Super Bowl activities and things like that. Another thing is to help out new students that get here from Basic Military Training. It’s awesome for me to get to talk to the new students and help them adapt. Being an Airmen Leader, there’s not too many downsides, the way I see it.”
Being an Airmen Leader can also help an Airman become more social and develop into the person he or she wants to be.
“The Airmen Leader program promotes personal growth,” said Hall. “It forces Airmen to come out of their comfort zone, teaches them to work with senior leadership. It helps them not think of themselves as an individual but as a team.”
Personal growth is even noticeable within the individual.
“My favorite part is helping my wingmen,” said Zara. “And the growth I’ve seen in myself too since coming to Goodfellow. I was very quiet when I first got here. Now I’m helping 90 plus Airmen.”
Though involvement as an Airman Leader develops personal growth, it can also help equip individuals with tools needed to lead successfully outside of tech. school.
“We want to set them up for their next level in their careers, which is operational Air Force,” said Hall. “Being an Airmen Leader is a way for them to get started and to think about what kind of leaders they will be.”
| Date Taken: | 05.29.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.29.2019 18:00 |
| Story ID: | 324426 |
| Location: | GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 319 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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